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★★★★ Dir: Alex Holmes Starring: Tracy Edwards, Angela Heath

12A 97m

One of the most impressive sporting achievements of recent decades, Tracy Edwards defied convention, naysayers and a tsunami of sexism by skippering her all-female crew to a successful finish in the 1989 Whitbread Round the World yacht race. Maiden tells the story of that fateful race using a combination of contemporary, on-board footage and the recollections of the crew, 30 years on. It’s a measure of the power of Alex Holmes’ remarkable and moving documentary that knowing the outcome of the race doesn’t diminish the potency of the feat, nor indeed the number of goosebumps that appear when Maiden sails past the finish line in Southampton, having covering 32,000 nautical miles and set a number of records along the way.

While Maiden concentrates on the story of skipper Tracy Edwards, whose troubled childhood was a spur for her ambitious challenge, the rest of the crew has plenty to contribute, including the one Irish sailor aboard, sail-trimmer Angela Heath. Just as fascinating is the shameful reaction of some male journalists and sailors who recall their disbelief at the likelihood of Maiden succeeding, even taking bets on how long the boat would stay afloat. (One reporter infamously described the vessel as “a tin full of tarts”.) How these 12 women shattered every stereotype and nautical obstacle in their path will have audiences cheering in the aisles.