THE FIRST ever women-only trans-Atlantic sailing race has been launched in Plymouth.

Details of the inaugural 'WOW' (Women's Offshore World Series) race were officially revealed yesterday at The Royal Western Yacht Club.

On October 28 this year female competitors from around the world will set off from Plymouth heading for Falmouth Harbour in Antigua.

Event organisers say the 3,300-mile race has generated a "tremendous" amount of interest from female sailors all over the world, with teams from France, Germany, Norway, Italy, Spain and South Africa expected to join the British crews on the start line.

One of the first teams to sign up to the event was the British duo Hannah Jenner and Sammie Evans.

Sammie, an experienced offshore sailor, is from Torquay and is a Plymouth University graduate.

The race is being organised by Team Concise in association with the Royal Western Yacht Club and Antigua Yacht Club.

Tony Lawson, founder of Team Concise, said: "These are challenging times to get a new sailing event off the ground. But the women deserve their own event.

"I am really pleased with the amount of encouragement and support we have had from racers, yacht clubs and Plymouth businesses.

"As well as putting on a great race we intend to use the event to promote women and children's charities.

"We will be asking the crews to nominate organisations they would like to see us adopt and hopefully over the course of the next year we will be able to raise a significant amount of money for their chosen charities. "