Last week an innovative sponsorship plan was conceived as the Hamble community rallies round Miranda Merron to get her on the start line of the forthcoming Artemis Transat single-handed yacht race.

Boat owner Peter Harding has kindly lent Miranda the boat, and provided funding towards the race, but there is still a shortfall of £10,000.

The concept, initiated by the Hamble pub The Bugle, is to get one hundred local businesses to contribute £100 or more, to raise the £10,000. After just three days of fund raising, the project is gathering momentum, many businesses are donating much more than the requested amount. The village is already over a third of the way towards the goal. Miranda’s yacht will carry the branding “Hamble, the home of yachting”.

Miranda’s yacht racing career was temporarily halted last year when she suffered a small brain haemorrhage and underwent a routine procedure in hospital. This thwarted her plans to race for a mere 2 months as she continued to train herself back to full fitness with a winter of skiing, running, swimming and mountain climbing. Having been given the all clear recently from the doctors, she was once again able to focus on her goal of racing solo across the Atlantic.

Matt Boyle owner of The Bugle commented: “Miranda is well respected by the local community and in recognition of her guts and determination we want to back her as much as we can. It is not a hard-sell and so far every company we have talked to has been delighted to help.”

Miranda added: “I can’t believe people are doing this for me, it is really kind. Last year was a little difficult at times, but that’s behind me now and I know how lucky I am to be back to full fitness and to have such an amazing group of friends in Hamble. I’m really looking forward to the race, and proud to be carrying the name of Hamble across the Atlantic. For those that are wondering, health-wise I am now safer on the boat than I was before. The problem has been fixed.”

If you are a local business and would like to sponsor Miranda, please contact Sophy Williams on 44 (0)7966 444992 or sw@sophywilliamsltd.com .