Superyacht returns to sea

Team Phillips travels on the River Dart to Dartmouth

Hundreds of people have watched £4m "superyacht" Team Phillips set sail, six months after its maiden sea voyage ended in disaster.

The racer left Dartmouth Harbour, Devon, on Saturday, under clear skies and in light winds exactly a week after it was lowered back into the water following a £250,000 repair job.

A 40ft section snapped off the catamaran's 120ft port bow off the Isles of Scilly in March.

Skipper Pete Goss told the BBC: "Since the bow broke off, we have shifted Heaven and Earth to go for our first sail."

Stuck on

On the outside, Team Phillips looks exactly the same as it did before the disaster on 29 March.

The broken section has been "stuck" back on, but strengthening strips, which designers believe makes it far more capable of withstanding rough seas, have been laid inside the entire length of the twin hulls.

There was plenty of support for the repaired vessel

While waiting for suitable weather, the six-man crew oversaw the fitting of the sails to the rotating twin 135ft masts.

The boat is being relaunched in order for Mr Goss to calibrate its navigational instruments.

The 38-year-old and his crew planned to sail the catamaran down the coast between Dartmouth and Plymouth later on Saturday.

After home waters sea trials, the world's largest carbon structure - the size of Wimbledon Centre Court - will sail on her first major voyage across the Atlantic to New York, prior to voyaging to Monaco.

Then, if everything goes to plan, it will take part in The Race - a no-holds-barred, non-stop round-the-world adventure starting from Barcelona on New Year's Eve.

Mr Goss became a global hero when he turned back in a Southern Ocean hurricane to rescue fellow competitor Raphael Dinelli in the 1996-1997 Vendee Globe round-the-world single-handed race.