All-female team to sail in Volvo Ocean Race Legends Regatta
Tracy Edwards will be reunited with her all-female crew from the 1989-1990 Whitbread Race at the Volvo Ocean Race Legends Regatta later this year.
The two-day regatta will be before the start of the 2011-2012 Ocean Race in Alicante in November.
More than 12 racing crews that either won the round-the-world race or caused a major change in the sport will participate in the regatta.
And Edwards (pictured above) is adamant that her team aboard Maiden was one such crew. She said: ‘Maiden transcended sailing because it wasn’t just about getting girls on the water. It was much more than that – it was about breaking moulds and proving that anything was possible.
‘It encouraged more girls to get out on the water and there was a flurry of all female crews entering the race after that though it seems to have gone backwards now that the race is no longer a Corinthian event.’
Sir Chay Blyth’s Great Britain II, line honours victor in 1973-1974, will also appear at the regatta. Lawrie Smith’s Rothmans, one of Maiden’s rivals from 1989-1990, is signed up and it is hoped that winner of that race, Sir Peter Blake’s Steinlager 2, will also attend.
Subscribe to Yachting Monthly magazine for all the latest sailing news and reviews.