'Perfect storm' hits yachtswoman

Emma Richards said it was the worst weather yet

British yachtswoman Emma Richards has survived a battering by what she described as "the perfect storm" just 250 miles from the end of a 29,000-mile round-the-world race.

The 28-year-old from Cowes, Isle of Wight, and her 60 foot racer Pindar, were battered for 10 hours by the storm off the east coast of the United States of America.

"She was genuinely pretty scared as she was hit by gusts of up to 70 miles per hour and horrendous waves, and said it was like being in a washing machine," said her race spokesman Victoria Fuller.

Richards is due to finish the Round Alone Race in Newport, Rhode Island, on Sunday.

If she crosses the finish line she will become the first woman and youngest person ever to complete the five-leg solo competition.

"Battered and bruised"

The forecast bad weather hit Richards on Friday night.

In a 10-minute call to her shore team she told how Pindar had been "crashing from wave to wave", flinging her around the cabin and leaving her battered and bruised.

She told her team: "The waves have been picking me up and spitting me out."

Ms Fuller said: "She was only on the phone for 10 minutes and we could hardly hear her because of the crash, crash of the waves.

"Emma had read the book The Perfect Storm and seen the film and she is in the same waters where it happened.

"Emma said 'if ever you can live the perfect storm I am going through it right now'."

She was unable to tell whether Pindar had been damaged in what she described as the worst weather she had experienced on the voyage.

Richards is now due to come in last in her class, but will be fourth overall in the race if all goes well.