Inside Sailing – Tracy Edwards, Skipper of Maiden

We had the pleasure of interviewing ocean racer Tracy Edwards in anticipation of a fantastic new sailing documentary called Maiden that tells the story of Tracy and her all-female crew racing around the world in the Whitbread Round the World Race back in the late 80s, early 90s. It’s an action-packed film that is as much about sailing as it is about the evolution of a society’s attitudes and mores towards women.

Maiden is in theaters now and definitely worth seeing on the big screen. 

Maiden is the story of how Tracy Edwards, a 24-year-old cook in charter boats, became the skipper of the first ever all-female crew to enter the Whitbread Round the World in 1989. Tracy’s inspirational dream was opposed on all sides: her male competitors thought an all-women crew would never make it, the chauvinistic yachting press took bets on her failure, and potential sponsors rejected her, fearing they would die at sea and generate bad publicity. But Tracy refused to give up: she remortgaged her home and bought a secondhand boat, putting everything on the line to ensure the team made it to the start line. Although blessed with tremendous self-belief Tracy was also beset by crippling doubts and was only able to make it through with the support of her remarkable crew. With their help she went on to shock the sport world and prove that women are very much the equal of men.

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