PROCEEDINGS have begun into the dramatic accident that left Hampshire powerboat champion Shelley Jory-Leigh, with horrific injuries and shattered her world title hopes.

Legal investigations hope to find out why the sportswoman’s boat exploded into pieces when it clipped a wave while she was racing in Sardinia sending her and her co-pilot smashing into the boat as it abruptly stopped.

She said: “The accident last year hasn’t been brushed under the carpet. The boat shouldn’t have done what it did that day so we won’t let it slip away and it won’t be forgotten.”

It comes as the 41-year-old, who said she is 99 per cent recovered, has officially announced plans for her next challenge – to be the fastest person to circumnavigate the world in a powerboat – with six men.

Shelley agreed to the mammoth challenge just a month after her horrific 83mph accident where she was thrown against the boat as it slammed to a halt. Three weeks earlier she escaped from a 90mph spin-out while racing in Malta.

She said: “It was in August when Alan Priddy asked me. I was still recovering and he put a picture of a boat in front of me (inset) and said ‘Do you want to come round the world with me?’ I said OK let’s do it.

“I’m the only woman but I think they are mad taking me! It will be a totally different ball game to me.”

The six-man and one-woman team is the brainchild of Mr Priddy, who has gained over 37 world records in the past ten years and they plan to set off in November this year.

The aluminium wave-piercing powerboat is being especially designed by Mr Priddy to smash the world record of 61 days and Shelley said the team aim to cover 24,000 miles at sea in under 50 days.

But for Shelley, it will be a far cry from high-speed powerboat racing and her three fears are sea-sickness, gigantic waves and sleep deprivation.

She said: “I’ve never been a lover of rough conditions. I prefer it flat and calm.

“I also love my sleep but we will be in two teams and each having to get up every four hours. When I told my mum, she looked at me and said ‘I don’t believe it, you are 41 years old, why can’t you sit still?’ “One thing I won’t miss though is my husband’s snoring for 50 days!”