POOLE'S Pip Hare has taken line honours at the inaugural Lonely Rock Race.

The new yacht race followed the historic Fastnet course from Ryde on the Isle of Wight, round the Fastnet Rock off the Southern tip of Ireland and finishing in Plymouth.

The race got underway in light winds, but a bad storm forecast to hit the fleet as it rounded the Fastnet Rock meant organisers made the decision to shorten the course to keep everyone safe.

And Hare, on board her IMOCA class racing yacht Medallia, crossed the line first.

"This was my first race on Medallia since her refit and my last before the start of the Vendee Globe," she said.

"We were faced with everything from squalls and rain, to no-wind conditions and we used pretty much every sail we had on board to respond to the changing weather.

"It was a good test before I head off around the world, on my own in November's Vendee Globe."

The Vendee Globe is a 24,000 mile non-stop race across the globe, which begins at Les Sables d'Olonne in France on November 8. Fewer than 100 skippers have ever completed the course.

Her goal is to break the current female record of 94 days, four hours and 25 minutes set by Ellen MacArthur back in 2001.