Maiden (yacht)

Maiden is a 58 foot (18 m) aluminium ocean racing yacht built in 1979, designed by Bruce Farr and raced by Pierre Fehlmann, Bertie Reed and Tracy Edwards.

Maiden
Other namesDisque D'Or 3
Stabilo Boss
Prestige
NationUK
Designer(s)Bruce Farr
Launched1979
Racing career
SkippersPierre Fehlmann, Bertie Reed, Tracy Edwards
Specifications
TypeSingle-hull (aluminium)
Displacement21.773 tonnes
Length58 feet (18 m)
Beam16 feet (4.9 m)
Draft10 feet (3.0 m)
Mast height75 feet (23 m)
Sail areaBermuda rig
Crew1 to 12

Edwards bought the yacht in 1987 to compete in the 1989–90 Whitbread Round the World Race with an all-female crew. The yacht achieved good results and broke records, leading to Edwards becoming the first female winner of the Yachtsman of the Year Trophy, changing the perception of women in ocean racing.

Edwards sold Maiden after the race; the yacht subsequently had several different owners. The last of these abandoned her in the Seychelles. She was brought back to England by Edwards in 2017 after a fundraising drive. After a major refit, the boat set off on a global voyage in 2018 to raise funds and awareness for girls' education under the foundation "The Maiden Factor".

In 2018, a documentary about Maiden was made by New Black Films; its premiere showing was at the 2018 Toronto International Film Festival.[1]

Racing career

1979–1987

The 58 foot (18 m)[2][3] aluminium-hulled racing yacht was commissioned by the Swiss Ocean Racing Club. Designed by Bruce Farr and named Disque D'Or 3 (or Disque D'Or III) in 1979, she came fourth in the 1981–82 Whitbread Round the World Race, skippered by Swiss sailor Pierre Fehlmann. She was renamed Stabilo Boss for the 1986-87 BOC single-handed challenge, and came seventh, skippered by South African Bertie Reed.[4]

Whitbread 1989–90
Whitbread race route
1989 Maiden crew

The boat, then named Prestige, was bought by Tracy Edwards in 1987 with the intention of entering the first all-female crew in the 1989–90 Whitbread Round the World Race; in the previous race, only five women had been among the 200 sailors. Edwards remortgaged her house to buy the boat, and was supported by King Hussein of Jordan.[5] Edwards recruited a 12-woman crew; the boat nearly sank in the River Hamble on the way to the boatyard,[6] but they rebuilt the boat from scratch in 1988. She was christened Maiden by Sarah, Duchess of York. The 1989 Fastnet race was intended to be a warm-up, but was abandoned after the start owing to injury.[7] In the Whitbread race, Maiden finished second in her class, winning two out of six individual legs of the race,[8] the best finish by a British boat for 17 years. Edwards was awarded the Yachtsman of the Year Trophy, the first woman to receive it, and made a MBE.[9][10]

The crew (not all for the whole race) were Tracy Edwards (skipper), Mandi Swan (Amanda Swan Neal), Mikaela Von Koskull, Claire Warren, Michele Paret, Tanja Visser, Sally Creaser, Dawn Riley, Nancy Hill, Jeni Mundy, Jo Gooding (from Leg 2), Sarah Davies (reserve), Kristin Harris (Leg 1)[11] and Angela Farrell.[12][13]

After Whitbread

Having taken out loans to buy the boat, Edwards sold her after the race. In 1990 Edwards published an account in Maiden, co-authored with Tim Madge.[14] There were several subsequent owners. The last of these abandoned the yacht in a marina in the Seychelles. The marina seized the boat and offered it to Edwards, who was reunited with the boat after a break of 27 years and was shocked at her condition.[15] Nevertheless, the intention, after fundraising and some restoration work in Cape Town, was to sail her back to England with original crew members and use her for fundraising to promote girls' education under the banner "Maiden Rescue".[16] In the event, the yacht, considered unfit to be sailed, left Cape Town on 26 March 2017 by cargo ship.[2] The shipping was arranged by Peters and May, who had worked with the Maiden team in the Whitbread race.[17]

Return to England

Maiden arrived in Southampton in April 2017[18] and the original crew reunited.[11] The yacht was refitted by Hamble Yacht Services[19] in Hamble, near Southampton,[20] in the same shed where she had been refitted in 1988.[9] She was re-rigged by Ocean Yacht Systems, the same firm that had rigged her in the 1980s.[21]

Global voyage 2018
HRH Princess Haya of Jordan (left) with Tracy Edwards, 2017

Maiden was re-launched in the summer of 2018 and in September 2018 departed from Southampton Boat Show with a new crew of women, to prepare for a three-year world tour on behalf of the charity "The Maiden Factor Foundation", which was set up by Edwards with the support of the late King Hussein of Jordan's daughter, Princess Haya. A principal project of the charity is to use Maiden to raise funds and awareness for girls' education globally.[22][23] The yacht left Hamble in November, and called into Plymouth for repairs. Their first scheduled stop would be Kerala, India.[24] They were headed for the Strait of Gibraltar on 26 November.[25] On the voyage, crews and skippers will be rotated; among the guest skippers will be Dee Caffari, Sharon Ferris and Wendy Tuck; the first is Nikki Henderson.[5][26]

The yacht arrived in Malta on 13 December 2018,[27] and was passing through the Suez Canal in February 2019.[28] Skippered by Wendy Tuck, Maiden reached Auckland, New Zealand, on 1 May 2019.[29][30]

In November 2019, having crossed the Pacific Ocean to the USA, the yacht left San Diego en route for the Panama Canal, skippered by Liz Wardley.[31]

gollark: Well, this is... *interesting*.
gollark: I ran into some unfathomable elliptic-curve-related error, so I'm working on that now.
gollark: I suppose I'll edit my thing, then.
gollark: In any case, I was able to work around that problem and introduce new ones.
gollark: Oh right, call it, yes.

See also

References
  1. Harvey, Dennis (20 September 2018). "Film Review: "Maiden"". Variety. Retrieved 19 January 2019.
  2. Stef Bottinelli (28 June 2018). "Tracy Edwards and her 1990 Whitbread Round the World Race crew mark restoration of the Maiden". Yachting and Boating World. Retrieved 27 November 2018.
  3. Edwards, Tracy; Madge, Tim (1990). Maiden. Simon & Schuster. p. 28. ISBN 978-0-671-71027-9.
  4. "The Maiden Factor: The story so far". Retrieved 27 November 2018.
  5. Melissa van-der-Klugt (17 August 2018). "Sailor Tracy Edwards on bankruptcy, divorce, and being back on deck with her feisty female crew". Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 27 November 2018.
  6. "The Maiden Factor". Retrieved 27 November 2018.
  7. Edwards, Tracy; Madge, Tim (1990). Maiden. Simon & Schuster. p. 25. ISBN 978-0-671-71027-9.
  8. "Volvo Ocean Race 1989-90". Retrieved 9 December 2018.
  9. Bianca Britton (15 August 2018). "Tracy Edwards: 'Maiden was either met with antipathy or aggression'". CNN. Retrieved 27 November 2018.
  10. Price, Oliver (1 October 2006). "Triumph and despair: Tracy Edwards". Observer Sport Monthly.
  11. Libby Mudditt (29 June 2018). "Record-breaking all-female 'Maiden' crew reunites after 30 years". Yacht and Yachting. Retrieved 27 November 2018.
  12. "Dublin Sailor Angela Heath Reunites with Tracy Edwards Maiden Crew". Afloat. 29 June 2018. Retrieved 27 November 2018.
  13. Edwards, Tracy; Madge, Tim (1990). Maiden. Simon & Schuster. p. 32. ISBN 978-0-671-71027-9.
  14. Edwards, Tracy; Madge, Tim (1990). Maiden. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 978-0-671-71027-9.
  15. Danny Buckland and Laura Hodgetts (3 February 2017). "Tracy Edwards sees Maiden for the first time in 27 years!". Practical Boat Owner. Retrieved 27 November 2018.
  16. "Tracy Edwards' 'Maiden' returning to UK". Yachting Monthly. 19 February 2016. Retrieved 27 November 2018.
  17. "A tailor-made solution for shipping the old Farr 58 'Maiden' yacht to Southampton". Retrieved 27 November 2018.
  18. "History-making Maiden yacht in Southampton restoration return". BBC News. 25 April 2017. Retrieved 27 November 2018.
  19. Gael Pawson (27 April 2017). "Maiden: the return of a legend". Yachtworld. Retrieved 27 November 2018.
  20. "History-making Maiden yacht in girls' education voyage". BBC News. 7 November 2018. Retrieved 27 November 2018.
  21. "OYS: Two iconic yachts side by side". Retrieved 27 November 2018.
  22. Tracy Edwards. "Educate a Girl - Change the World". Retrieved 15 June 2018.
  23. Tracy Edwards. "Current Timeline". Retrieved 15 June 2018.
  24. "Maiden yacht world voyage halted after 36 hours". BBC News. 16 November 2018. Retrieved 16 November 2018.
  25. "Maiden yacht re-starts sail to India after repairs". BBC News. 26 November 2018. Retrieved 26 November 2018.
  26. "The Maiden Factor: Crew". Retrieved 16 March 2019.
  27. Maria Vella-Galea (12 December 2018). "Jarhead Young Sailors and Olwyn Foundation welcome the iconic yacht Maiden to Malta". Independent, Malta. Retrieved 14 December 2018.
  28. "Paragon Charitable Trust: The Maiden Factor Project". Retrieved 22 February 2019.
  29. "Sails Magazine: Wendy Tuck, skipper of Maiden, and her crew have shared insights from the first leg on their global journey of inspiration and education". Retrieved 3 May 2019.
  30. "My Ship Tracking". Retrieved 3 May 2019.
  31. Libby Mudditt (7 November 2019). "Iconic yacht 'Maiden' leaves the USA to continue on world tour". Sail World. Retrieved 1 May 2019.
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