It was a historic day for British sailing on April 12th in Cowes when HRH The Princess Royal named "Wight Lightning", the first ever modern America's Cup boat to be designed and built in Great Britain.

It was also a proud moment for Hamble Olympic medallist Ian Walker, who will skipper the yacht and Rob Humphreys, the Lymington yacht designer who has headed the design team in the UK. The whole project is the brainchild of Peter Harrison, an entrepreneur and himself a keen competitive sailor, who has so far spent in the region of £22 million getting the GBR Challenge campaign into the 31st America's Cup event.

Princess Anne delighted the audience in describing "Wight Lightning" as most definitely a "she" - in contradiction to Lloyd's List who have a new policy of referring to all ships as "it". As Ian Walker had earlier admitted talking to his boats, the Princess, President of the Royal Yachting Association, said a "she" would make the conversation much easier!

The name had been chosen through a competition by BBC Blue Peter viewers and the three successful youngsters had front row seats for the ceremony. GBR Challenge also announced a broadcasting deal with the BBC Sport who will cover live races, highlights and documentaries.

Andrew Thompson, Head of New Media and Sport News said: "After the success of the British sailing team in the Olympics and the amazing exploits of Ellen MacArthur which captured the nation's imagination, the America's Cup and the British challenge have all the potential to be a major British sporting moment at the end of this year."

The long-awaited yacht had been developed by a team of 10 designers in under a year, taking the 34 strong build team 24,000 man-hours to complete over five months. "Wight Lightning" is now ready for shipping to New Zealand where the Louis Vuitton Challenger Series starts in October this year.