La OSTAR en rose, four the women who will brave the North Atlantic

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Pip Hidesley in Felixstowe after her 6,500 miles voyage from Uruguay

Today Hannah White announced she will enter the 13th edition of the OSTAR on a Figaro II named after her newly signed sponsor PureSolo, a new London-based music company.

With Hannah, the number of female skippers entering the 2009 edition of the OSTAR has risen to four, proving again the popularity of solo offshore sailing with the kinder sex. Hannah White had taken part to the 2005 edition of the race aboard a 40’ when she became the youngest female skipper to brave the 2800 miles course from Plymouth UK to Newport RI in the US but was forced to retire with a broken autopilot on day 7 of the race. Hannah is now in Port Le Foret with her new boat and she is preparing to set off for her qualifier.

This year Hannah will join three other female skippers on the start line.

Pip Hildesley, from Titchfield, has no need to worry about the 500 miles qualifier which will sound like to childplay for her as she has just finished a 6,500-mile voyage from Uruguay in South America to Felixstowe in Suffolk to join the OSTAR fleet. After her amazing trip to the UK, Pip is busy getting her 39ft Oyster Longwave named “The Shed” ready again for the race.

Katie Miller, 21, will be sailing an identical boat to Hannah’s, a Figaro II named bluQube after her main sponsor.

Anne Caseneuve is a tough breton and record woman, on the podium of the Route du Rhum in 1998 she established the record for fastest solo west to east crossing of the North Atlantic in 2002, fastest 24 hours run in 2002 and 2003, she took part to the Transat Jacque Vabre in 2003 and 2005 when she set a new record for fastest woman around Guadalupe on her 50ft tri.

Quite interestingly Hannah, Katie, and Anne are sponsored entries in this race, with all the men left with the hefty bill of solo ocean racing to foot by themselves, the kinder sex has it better when it comes to winning the hearts of the followers of an ocean race. This comes as no surprise; Sam Davies might have not crossed the line first at the Vendee Globe but what she achieved in terms of media attention was unmatched even by the overall winner Michel Desjoyeaux who finished more than 10 days ahead of the public favorite Sam.

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