A BASINGSTOKE mother is part of the first Girlguiding team to take part in an offshore yachting race.

Amy Mossop was selected to join the association’s Fastnet Divas in this year’s Fastnet Race, which will see the world’s largest, most diverse fleet of offshore racing yachts set sail from the Solent on August 16 in the Royal Ocean Racing Club’s biennial event.

The 40-year-old mother-of-three is part of a team of 16 ranging in age from 17 to 57 and has been in training to prepare for the event, which will see 350 boats sail a 603 mile course along the south coast of England.

Amy, who is a Guide leader for the 11th Basingstoke (St Michael’s) Guide unit, said she saw an advert to take part in the challenge, adding: “Girlguiding was putting together its first ever team to take part in the race in order to show that girls can do whatever they choose. I thought that it would be really fab to have a go.”

Having been out of sailing practice for 20 years, Amy was shocked to discover she had a place on the team, who will sail in a 72ft Challenger yacht, originally designed for the Global Challenge - a round-the-world race for amateurs.

She said: “Training kicked off with a bang – how to survive when it all goes wrong followed by how to prevent things going wrong.”

She added: “The morning started with details of the 1979 race where 15 sailors died, five boats sank and at least 75 boats flipped upside down, closely followed by footage from the Sydney Hobart race in 1998 where of 115 yachts, only 44 actually made it to Hobart – a direct result of this tragedy was the mandatory training that we are undertaking now – a fairly sobering start for everyone and a sure-fire way to make you pay attention.

“There followed a session at the pool, with practice jumping from ‘boat’ into sea and climbing into a life-raft.”

Thankfully Amy and her team survived the challenge in mock stormy conditions, with buckets of water being thrown at them.

She then found out what is included in a life-raft survival pack before learning how to prevent a disaster.

She has since spent three days training in the Solent, with overnight stops in Cowes.