A Services training yacht has left Gosport on a voyage to St Petersburg, where she will be handed over as a gift to the Russian Navy.

Manned by a joint Royal Navy and Russian Navy crew, Adventure, a Nicholson 55 yacht, will be handed over by the Prince of Wales during his visit.

Adventure has been operated by the Joint Services Adventurous Sail Training Centre (JSASTC) in Gosport for the past 31 years.

But now Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon has authorised the gift of the yacht to the Russians to mark the 300th anniversary of the founding of the Baltic Fleet and St Petersburg.

The yacht was built for the Royal Navy in 1972 by Camper and Nicholson at Gosport, and she has an illustrious career – she was second in the 1974 Whitbread Round the World Race, and has since sailed the world on adventurous sail training expeditions with personnel from all three Services.

Maintained to the highest standards by the Ministry of Defence, she retains her Lloyd’s certification. She was withdrawn from service last year when the MOD bought the larger Challenge-class yachts, and Adventure has since undergone a complete structural and safety refit by Camper and Nicholson to prepare her for her new owners.

The presentation of the yacht is an example of the RN’s co-operation programme with Russia, which builds working links with the Baltic Fleet and St Petersburg in particular, with its naval training schools, cadets and academies.

Adventure is skippered on her ‘delivery voyage’ by Ray King, until recently the head of the JSASTC, and her crew is made up of ten RN officers and ratings and five Russians, including the navy’s Deputy Head of Physical Training, Capt Vladimir Sorokin.

The yacht will be taken to her destination via the Kiel Canal and a number of Baltic ports. She is due to arrive on July 11.