Hannah White finishes OSTAR 2009

Hannah White (Pure Solo) was the first woman to cross the finish line this morning at 07.52 (EDT). Twenty six year old Hannah, from Lymington, was the fourth skipper over the finish line. She is currently lying third in IRC Class 1 on corrected time.

Hannah narrowly missed breaking Mary Falk’s record for 35 foot and under boats. Hannah reports that about one and a half miles from the finish, she had to drop her spinnaker and change course to avoid colliding with a large cargo vessel. She says that this manoeuvre may well have cost her the record in the final stages of the race.

Since Hannah’s first attempt at the OSTAR in 2005, she has been working and sailing with some of the world’s finest single handed sailors and this has paid handsome dividends for her OSTAR 2009 performance.

Hannah did the race under the RTYC burgee and thus joins - and becomes the youngest member of - a very select group of trans-Atlantic solo-racing members.

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