Nikki Curwen receives first Team SCA Bursary

Nikki Curwen (right) receives her Team SCA Bursary from Sam Davies © Team SCA

Nikki Curwen, the British Mini Transat sailor, has received the first Team SCA Bursary from skipper Sam Davies.

Each member of the 15-strong Team SCA squad has been asked to nominate a club or individual to receive a Team SCA Bursary. In this way the all-female team, that completed the Volvo Ocean Race at the end of June, can continue to support and encourage women to participate and compete in the sport.

The Team SCA Bursary program, which includes a €1000 donation and Team SCA clothing, will be rolled out through the Autumn and is part of the legacy of the first all-female team to compete in the Volvo Ocean Race in over a decade.

For Sam, it was a simple choice to donate her Bursary to Nikki. "This is a very fitting way for me to be able to donate my Team SCA Bursary. The Mini Transat paved the way for me in my career and I am sure that if I hadn't taken part, I would not have got to where I am now. Nikki has qualified for this years' Mini Transat Race but with a very tight budget. She is very serious and has been racing shorthanded offshore since she was young and is very, very keen."

"I will be in Douarnenez to send her off and I wish Nikki and all the Mini sailors a great race this year," she added.

The Mini Transat is single-handed 4020-mile race from Douarnenez, France with a stopover in Arrecife, Lanzarote before finishing in Pointe-á-Pitre in Guadaloupe. The race is sailed in 6.5 metre boats and as entries are limited to just 80 boats, so qualifying to enter is a race in itself.

The race is sailing in its purest form with only paper charts and basic GPS for navigation - no computers, phones or chart plotters are allowed onboard.

Team SCA has strong links to the Mini Transat with Sam having raced in the event in 2001 and her fellow crew member Justine Mettraux finishing in second place in the 2013 edition of the race.

The Mini Transat starts today, September 19, 2015.