HAMPSHIRE yachtswoman Emma Richards has revealed how she feared pirates were about to threaten her continued progress in the Around Alone challenge.

The 28-year-old, pictured, from Hamble, near Southampton, was confronted in the middle of the night by a mystery ship, which was trying to make contact with her.

After plucking up the courage to communicate, Emma, the youngest and only female competitor in the race, tried to make contact with the ship but to no avail.

She said: "I was so desperate not to let them know I was on my own so I put on Lord of the Rings in the background.

"I knocked the microphone switch on the radio so I could be heard and said 'shut-up, I'm on the radio.'"

Currently lying third, Emma changed course but the ship did not follow.

She added: "I am probably just tired and people forget there are dangers like this at sea. Roll on the Southern Atlantic trades."