MY MISSION TO SAVE MAIDEN FROM RUIN
Round-the-world yachtswoman Tracy Edwards tells DANNY BUCKLAND of her joy to be bringing the iconic boat home after it was abandoned
efforts to raise funds to buy, kit out a boat and sustain a five-month voyage were rebuffed by 350 corporations, many with a sneer.
Edwards, 54, who now lives in south-west London with her 17-year-old daughter Mackenna, says: “We were turned down by virtually everyone and the really dispiriting thing was that the few women who were CEOs were worse than the men. The guys were at least honest and said they didn’t think we’d make it. But I felt that women CEOs – who maybe had had to become very male in their outlook to survive at the top – were even harder on us.”
She remortgaged her house to buy and fit out Maiden and was down to the breadline when King Hussein of Jordan, who had once hired the boat on which she was cook, stepped in to help.
The Maiden crew was given little chance of surviving the event but won two legs and were greeted by a 50,000-strong crowd as they crossed the line first in Australia. They continued to make waves, arrived at the Fort Lauderdale finish dressed in swimsuits.
“It was our way of saying we can do this race and look like this. It was a different time and everyone loved it,” adds Edwards, who was awarded an MBE after the race.
Twice-married, she set a string of sailing records before retiring to get a psychology degree and work as a motivational speaker.
“My personal life definitely suffered from sailing because it is such a haphazard existence,” she says. “But I have been on my own for 17 years and purposefully so, even though I haven’t been doing major sailing projects in that time.
“I used to need someone. I was very insecure and needed a boyfriend or a husband all the time, even when sailing Maiden. Having my daughter changed me. I knew I was going to be a single mother and it was the right choice although it has been hard.”
The raven hair has been replaced by grey, which came after she turned 30 but was disguised by regular visits to the hairdressers. “It was really liberating to go grey and I guess that is a part of growing into who I am,” she adds.
“I’m not closed to another relationship but being a single mother is a huge responsibility. You don’t want people coming in and out of your life. But I’m happy with who I SAD SIGHT: The gutted and mouldy interior of Maiden on Mahé now am and with life.” Edwards’s fire was re-ignited when she was told Maiden had been abandoned at the Eden Island Marina, on Mahé, in the Seychelles, with unpaid mooring fees.
HAVING launched a £60,000 fundraising campaign to rescue the boat she now also has the support of King Hussein’s daughter, HRH Princess Haya bint Al Hussein. “We first met when she was 12 and I was 22 and it was very emotional to get a call from her. She wants this to be part of her father’s legacy.
“Maiden will help empower young girls so that they can go out and achieve their dreams. My daughter and her generation cannot imagine what it was like back then and I’m glad they because that is a sign of we’ve achieved,” she adds.
“We’ve had fantastic support from people around the world writing in to say how much they were inspired by Maiden and how they want her to inspire another generation.”
The boat will be transported back to the UK on a cargo ship next month and refitted for a launch to coincide with the finish of the 2017-18 Volvo Round The World Yacht Race.
“Maiden is an icon and has proved what women can do,” adds Edwards. “She showed me that we are all able to do much more than we think, providing we just have someone to show us the way – and Maiden is just the woman for the job.” themaidenfactor.org can’t what