Maiden documentary: How Tracy Edwards and all-female crew overcame rampant sexism to make sailing history

Three decades on, Tracy Edwards laughs with disbelief as she watches herself back on the big screen in Maiden, barely able to recognise her younger self.

Skipper of the first all-female crew in the notoriously hazardous 1989 Whitbread Round the World Race, she said: “Watching the film is like ‘bloody hell, what were we thinking?’ I was a 22-year-old cook who’d never done any racing so, of course, everyone thought ‘bloody upstart, who the bloody hell do you think you are?’”

Maiden was the shell of a vessel that she remortgaged her home to refit and is, aptly, the name of the 90-minute documentary retelling the remarkable story of how she and her all-female crew took on million pound-plus behemoths on the water.

When she first volunteered as a cook in the previous Whitbread, the skipper told her “girls are only for screwing”. But a chance, and highly unlikely, encounter with King Hussein of Jordan while working on a chartered yacht in Greece persuaded her to push for that initial cook’s role.

On the ensuing voyage, she was treated like a servant and had the words “for sale for one case of beer” written across her underwear. Her treatment was so bad that, with no financial backing, she decided, “I’m not going to put up with this any more” and made the decision — aged 22 — to put together an all-female crew for the 1989 race.

The initial plan was written on the back of a beer mat in a pub and Edwards had little on her CV to convince financial backers: she had been suspended from school 26 times before being expelled and, by her own admission, was not particularly adept at sticking to one task. To underline the point, if Maiden hadn’t happened, she said: “I’d still be bumming around on boats somewhere. Maiden changed my life, she made me who I am. She showed me what’s possible. Oh my God, I can’t imagine my life without Maiden — it’s quite a horrible thought.”

It is the one time the effervescent Edwards is lost for words when discussing this unlikeliest of sporting stories, of which the film’s director, Alex Holmes, said: “Most sports stories are about winning but this is a story that didn’t win the race.”

Maiden made it to the big screen only because Edwards spoke at Holmes’ daughter’s end-of-year assembly. Initially, his ambition was to make a drama until Edwards revealed the entire voyage had been filmed. That material, pieced together with other race footage, took two years to edit and merges perfectly with crew interviews recalling some extraordinary highs and lows.

At first, the reaction to Edwards’ plan was shocking. Maiden was labelled a “tin full of tarts”, rival skippers warned they would die, and in a sweepstake of sailing journalists, not one predicted they would complete the first leg.Edwards, who got the venture launched thanks to backing from King Hussein, had other ideas.

“When we got to the end of the first leg third [in class] everyone was like ‘you’re alive’,” she recalled. “But we were gutted. That lit something.” Against the odds, they won leg two and became instant sailing folklore.

The film ends with an emotional finale on the race’s completion in Southampton. Edwards cuts a disconsolate figure, knowing she had missed out on victory. Then, hundreds of boats come to greet Maiden and the horizon is filled with well-wishers. Even now, though, Edwards blames herself for a navigation error around Cape Horn which she believes cost them the win. “I’m still not okay,” she said. “I wake up at 5am thinking, ‘oh God’. I’ll never accept that, but accept there’s a bigger picture.”

Edwards never had any doubts she would complete the trip successfully and safely. That was not the case for everyone, however, and Anthony Phillips died after being swept overboard from Creighton’s Naturally.

It is not in the film but Claire Warren, a Maiden crew member, also went overboard, only saved by Edwards’ insistence that her crew be clipped on throughout. “That saved Claire’s life,” she said. “She was flipped over the side, head first into the waves. No one noticed at first but someone said ‘where’s Claire?’ I’ve never forgotten — she was hanging by her safety harness. It took 11 of us a full hour to get her back.”

Maiden permeates every part of Edwards’ life even now — her daughter refers to the boat as her ‘first born’, the two ‘daughters’ meeting for the first time when Edwards salvaged and restored Maiden two years ago.

Thirty years earlier, Edwards had met astonishing sexism and misogyny head on, a fight she hopes the film continues. “It has changed, but not enough. Then it was in your face. It was easy if someone said ‘you can’t do that’, I could go ‘yes, I can’. But that sexism and misogyny has gone a bit underground, so the fight still has to go on and will.

“As for me, I’ve spent 30 years with imposter syndrome and I’m British plus female, so I cannot take compliments. But I’m getting better. If people praise us now, I say thank you. I’m proud of what we did.” A happy ending of sorts.

Maiden will be released in UK cinemas on 8th March, with nationwide previews and live Q+A with Tracy Edwards MBE on March 7. www.Maiden.film

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in