YACHTSMAN Andy Hindley is getting ready to sail the seas again on the revolutionary catamaran which spectacularly broke apart during its maiden voyage.

Andy, 33, from Accrington, is second-in-command on the Team Philips yacht, which was launched in January.

Despite its claims as being the biggest, fastest, most technologically advanced racing yacht ever built, the 120 ft vessel became unstuck when its port bow broke off near the Isles of Scilly in March.

The crippled catamaran limped back to base in Devon where repairs have been undertaken without changing its radical design.

And next month Team Philips is set to sail again in preparation for 'The Race' -- a no rules, no limits competition to race around the world starting at the end of December.

The yacht will have two new engines added as a safety precaution as well as carbon strips to strengthen bow hulls and will be tested on a 12 mile stretch of river before returning to the marina where final preparations will be made for her first seagoing trip at the end of September.

Skipper Pete Goss said this was the moment Andy and the rest of the crew had been waiting for.

"We can't wait to get her out sailing again and to show what she can really do," he said.

Andy, whose parents live in Hollins Lane, lives in Twickenham with wife Julie and has twice circumnavigated the globe already.

He skippered the Save the Children boat in the 96/97 BT Global Challenge and completed the gruelling Two Handed Round Britain and Ireland Race, finishing first in class one and third overall. IN ACTION: Andy Hindley at the helm in an earlier race at sea