Tracy Edwards Still Breaking the Waves

By Katherine Monk

VANCOUVER — Look up quotes about sailing and you’ll find more free-flowing metaphors about politics and personal ambition than existential cogitations on the meaning of actually, and quite literally, being at sea. Robert Kennedy spoke of “sailing toward the shores of liberty and justice for all,” while Supreme Court Jurist Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. said “To reach the port of heaven, sometimes you must sail with the wind, and sometimes against it —but we must sail, and not drift.”

Big ideas are easy to translate into sailing imagery because nothing quite captures the core of the human endeavour like a little boat on the open ocean — a fragile vessel tossed by the elements, but capable of going great distances with enough knowledge, confidence and commitment to the goal at hand. One can’t be passive on a sailboat. Like life itself, you have to be engaged with your environment if you want to get somewhere.

Tracy Edwards probably knows this better than anyone, because she has truly been at sea — in every sense possible. As the first woman to skipper an all-female crew in an around-the-world yachting race, Edwards had to fight against gales of male chauvinism to even get a chance at the helm.

Practically speaking, that meant first begging for a job as a cook on a boat competing in the Whitbread Round the World Race, then assembling an elite group of female sailors in Europe, finding enough big money to buy a racing yacht they would dub Maiden, and training for the big race.

Held every three years and demanding over 32,000 miles of navigation through some of the most dangerous water on earth, the Whitbread was considered the biggest trophy in sailing, and by default and design, a man’s event. Sponsored by the British hotel chain and distiller known for Beefeater Gin, the Whitbread was first held in 1973, but was rebranded as Volvo Ocean Race in 2001, and once again this year. Now called simply called The Ocean Race, it remains the most gruelling event on the calendar and the most coveted win, demanding nine months or more of sailing over several legs that cross every meridian on the globe.

It’s the most difficult of journeys in the best of times. For Edwards, it was life-altering — and life-affirming. At sea, success meant engaging with the wind, the water and the Maiden Factor sisterhood that surrounded her on the journey that took them around the world, and into history. Maiden not only completed the 1989-90 race, it won two tough legs, and came second in its class. Edwards was named the U.K.’s Yachtsman of the Year, then went on to break one record after another.

It’s the stuff movies are made of, but it wasn’t London-based director Alex Holmes accompanied his daughter to career night and heard Tracy Edwards tell her story that the wheels started to turn — and another Maiden journey was born. Releasing in select markets this month, Maiden retraces Edwards’s incredible tale of unpredicted success, as well as the waves of opposition that would eventually steer her into her current position: psychologist and global advocate for women’s education.

The Ex-Press caught up with Edwards in New York, where Maiden had its U.S. theatrical premiere in June.

Ex-Press: So, you’re in New York. How did the premiere go?

Tracy Edwards: Yeah, we are. It’s been wonderful. They managed to get a lot of the girls to New York, and so it’s a great chance to see everyone and watch the film.

Ex-Press: Have you watched it all together before?

Tracy Edwards: Yes. Exactly a year ago today.

Ex-Press: That’s an interesting coincidence.

Tracy Edwards: It was surreal. And what was truly really amazing was we managed to get 11 of us, which is the most we’ve been able to gather at one time. It was at BAFTA, for us and our friends and families. And watching it together for the first time was extraordinary. We all had different reactions, but we all loved the film and we all loved what Alex had done, and how he told our story.

The crew of Maiden reunites in New York City this June. Photo from Sail World.

Ex-Press: How did you feel? Seeing yourself in archive that was almost lost?

Tracy Edwards: I found it hard to identify with my younger self. I never remembered really being that sensible, and saying that many sensible things. I certainly didn’t remember that. I remember myself being a little bit of an idiot. I was watching myself doing those interviews and being all calm and cool and collected and of course, that’s not what was going on in my head at the time. It was panic and fear. The feeling of what am I doing? Yet, going and watching that footage — some of it for the first time ever — was truly amazing.

Ex-Press: Women have a hard time accepting credit for their achievements. Does having this outside light shine on you, and affirm you, does it help you to own your achievements?

Tracy Edwards: I couldn’t have put it any better myself. Yeah, I think women have this imposter syndrome. I definitely have it. And I’m a female Englishman Catholic, and God, I’ve felt guilty pretty much all of my life. I’ve always found it hard when people said: ‘oh, it’s so incredible what you did, and I think you are so incredible…’ For me, it’s like oh, please don’t say that. Where the film has, and I think all of us have reached points in our lives where we do feel incredibly proud of what we did. Especially at this time, when there are so many great collaborations going on with women and there’s conversation and the coming together of so many women’s groups, and the power that I feel from that makes it seem like such an apt time to be able to say I’m so proud of what we achieved.

Ex-Press: Why not sooner?

Tracy Edwards: The Whitbread did use bits and pieces for the program. But we weren’t in charge of the footage. You know the Whitbread gave us the cameras and we handed over the footage at stopovers. And I guess, there it stayed until 25 years later Alex came along and started looking for it. And it took him two years to find the footage.

Ex-Press: And how long to find Maiden rotting away in the Seychelles?

Tracy Edwards: Well, funny, but I wasn’t actually looking for her. But what is really funny, is I got an email from this marina in the Seychelles saying do you know that your boat is sitting here, and we don’t know what to do with her, and she’s in a terrible state and if no one comes to claim her, we’re going to take her out and sink her. And sell off the scrap metal. And then two weeks later, I met Alex, and he tells me he wants to make a movie about Maiden. I thought, Bloody hell! It was like Maiden had blasted back into my life … and everything kind of felt like it was coming together. There was Maiden, saying “Helloooo! I’m here!” And so we raised the funds to buy her in 2016, which is about the same time Alex found the money to make the film. He had a struggle to find the money and then as we brought her back and started restoring her, he was making the documentary. And the month that Alex brought her to Toronto is the month that Maiden started her world tour, so it’s all been a bit weird.

Ex-Press: One thing you make note of early on in the film is just how male-dominated the world of sailing really is. I’m a sailor… and I recently completed some course work in navigation, radio and mechanics… and I found, for the most part, I was the only woman in most of my classes.

Tracy Edwards: Ha. Well, I can tell you that you are now officially more qualified than I am…. I never took any exams or qualifications.

Ex-Press: I don’t know, you used that parallel ruler really well in the movie.

Tracy Edwards: Well, of course I learned how to navigate, but I never did formal course work like get my skipper’s licence or Yachtmasters. So I’m now not allowed to skipper my own boat, because of health and safety and insurance …. But you are absolutely right. And I’m really struggling to understand this time around, thirty years later, not much of the landscape has changed. I think sailing is a patriarchy, in England especially.

Ex-Press: Tell me about that, because I live in British Columbia, a lot of my sailing friends are English — and it was funny how they would encourage all the men around me at work to become sailors, and start racing, yet I actually was a sailor, and no one ever asked me to join their crew. It seems there’s such a tradition in the UK… so much of sailing is part of that identity. Is it just an inherent part of the British psyche — as an island nation?

It is something that is drilled into us from an early age: Girls do these things, and boys do these things.

Tracy Edwards: I think you are right there. It is something that is drilled into us from an early age: Girls do these things, and boys do these things. And there aren’t many, well there weren’t then, but there are more men who would like to see more women become involved in sailing. But then, it was no, no, no. This is our world. It belongs to us. Why do you want to be a part of it? Go away. But there is still that, in some areas of racing especially. What’s happening in the UK, and I am rather optimistic about, is I see a lot of young girls get into dinghy sailing. The Royal Association has done a good job getting women involved at a grassroots level. But something weird happens as girls get older, and hit their teenage years, a lot of them drop out of sailing. And I don’t know why… If I did I could make myself a fortune, but this is an ongoing discussion with a lot of women, and a lot of women’s sports groups, about why this happens. I think there are a lot of great women at the top level: Americans, Kiwis, the British. Amazing women sailors, but they still have problems getting onto big race boats. It’s hard to believe, still, but I guess it’s going to take another generation before it becomes the norm and for the people at the top of our sport to bugger off, essentially.

“A Tinful of Tarts” with hearts of pirates. British yachting journalists described the Maiden crew in sexist terms, but Tracy Edwards and her Maiden team shrugged it off, and kept right on sailing. Courtesy of Mongrel.

Ex-Press: Ha! When you watch the film, I have to say, the gentlemen who appear on camera, they still seem like absolute chauvinists. I didn’t detect a whole lot of repentance in their tone.

Tracy Edwards: Oh… I don’t know. I’m not sure about all of them, but I know for sure Bob Fisher [boating reporter for The Guardian] has had a huge change of heart. And what I do respect about Bob is that Alex asked him to be very honest. And not be tempted to say, oh of course I thought they could do it. So I respect the fact he was honest about what he was thinking then. And he did call us a “Tinful of Tarts” — but when we came in to New Zealand first, he did then write “They aren’t just a tinful of tarts, they’re a tinful of smart, fast tarts.”

Ex-Press: Ha ha!…

Tracy Edwards: Which we loved, and we thought “Hey, we’ve made it. Bob Fisher thinks we’re a boat of smart, fast tarts. Until someone pointed out, hey, you know the word tart is still in that sentence.

Ex-Press: Right?

Tracy Edwards: But he really has allowed his mind to change, and I have to say, when we rescued Maiden, and brought her back to Hamble Shipyards….. he was there. He came down to see her in. It was so great to see him, and he was wearing his Sunday best suit. And he asked if I could do an interview….I said okay. And we sat down and the first thing he asked me about was “so, tell me about girls’ education.” And I said Bob, you have come a long way! And he said, “Well, I had a good teacher.”

Ex-Press: Now this approaches a point I still wrestle with, and that’s learning to overcome the fear. I have fear. I am afraid of things going wrong on the water. I’m not sure what it is, but I really recognize the difference between men and women when it comes to that fear. I don’t find it’s the same in men. Men get a boat and the first thing they do is fire it up and take it off the dock without really worrying about anything. I worry about everything. It’s why I’ve done so many courses… I find women have fears men don’t. Do you? Is it learned, do you think?

Tracy Edwards: I agree with you completely. Absolutely. I do think there’s a difference between men and women but that’s the thing, you look at business — and I was talking to someone the other day who had read a book written by a woman all about how we don’t ask. And we don’t get because we don’t ask. If there’s a job being advertised, a man who has about 30 per cent of the qualifications needed will go for the job, but a woman, even if she has 70 per cent of the qualifications, won’t apply because she doesn’t think she’s good enough. I don’t know what we do about this, but we have got to stop it. I don’t think that is true of the younger generation. We’ve got this amazing crew on Maiden at the moment, and they are all in their late 20s and early 30s. And they are brimming with confidence.

Ex-Press: Wow!

Tracy Edwards: Yeah! And it’s so refreshing. They are so bold and I just love watching them sail Maiden, and how they interact. And every single one of them said they were inspired by Maiden, which is rather special now that they’re helping to sail and undertake that girls’ education mission. But there is a difference. Even I am more nervous than they are. It’s so weird.

If there’s a job being advertised, a man who has about 30 per cent of the qualifications needed will go for the job, but a woman, even if she has 70 per cent of the qualifications, won’t apply because she doesn’t think she’s good enough. I don’t know what we do about this, but we have got to stop it.

Ex-Press: I know… and I wonder where I learned that fear. Is it something passed on to me from my parents? Is it inherent? Or are women just hardwired to make sure the next generation makes it to adulthood?

Tracy Edwards: Well, I think there’s an element in truth in that. But my mother encouraged me to do things. I am who I am because of my mother. She’s the one who told me if you don’t like what you see in the world, go and change it. Forget the doubt and get on with it. She was an amazing woman, full of bravery and you know, the number of times she had to restart her life, and she did it. And she did it without complaining which I find quite phenomenal. For me, I think it’s an age thing. I did not have that fear when I was younger. I was afraid of nothing. I went out there and I did it. And now, I’m a lot more nervous.

I am who I am because of my mother. She’s the one who told me if you don’t like what you see in the world, go and change it. Forget the doubt and get on with it. She was an amazing woman, full of bravery and you know, the number of times she had to restart her life, and she did it. And she did it without complaining which I find quite phenomenal.

Ex-Press: I agree. I’m on that page too. I think we’re in the same age bracket and it’s something I have to work hard on — to remind myself that I can do things. Things I’ve done all my life. Risks I never had a problem with, but do now. And I hate being afraid.

Tracy Edwards: Yes. I hate it too. And I find I get way more nervous when I travel now. And I never used to be like that. Maybe partly it has to do with having a child. I know that when I had my daughter, I went from not being afraid of anything, and risking my life, to looking twenty times before I crossed the road. I think because I knew I needed to survive for my daughter’s sake. I gave up the dangerous stuff when I had her.

Ex-Press: Was it because you wanted to? Your partner wanted you to? A family discussion?

Tracy Edwards: I’ve been a single mum since my daughter was born. And it was my decision. No one else’s. No one has made me do something I didn’t want to do. I wanted her to have the quality of life that she wouldn’t have had if I had been sailing all the time. But I do think there’s a juxtaposition here because I have amazing female friends who are at the top of banking and business, and they don’t have this anxiety. Unless they aren’t telling me what’s going on inside… I have to say what I see and I don’t see any lack of confidence. I mean Jeni Mundy who was on Maiden as our electrician, she now runs Visa in Europe. (Prior to that, she was chief technology officer for Vodafone). She’s phenomenal. She’s confident. And she’s sassy. I mean, she’s definitely the grown up among the team, I have to say.

I’ve been a single mum since my daughter was born. And it was my decision. No one else’s. No one has made me do something I didn’t want to do. I wanted her to have the quality of life that she wouldn’t have had if I had been sailing all the time.

Ex-Press: As far as the female dynamics on the team… the one part of the film that makes me a little sad is that you and Marie-Claude couldn’t figure it out together. What went wrong? In my experience, sometimes, I’ve found women in competitive environments can be unfathomably cruel and backstabbing. In fact, every time I’ve ever felt the dagger between my shoulder blades, I’ve turned around to see a female face.

Tracy Edwards: Well, on that score, I couldn’t disagree with you more, actually.

Ex-Press: Yay!

Tracy Edwards: Marie-Claude and I would have been at loggerheads the entire time. We had a complete personality clash. The sad thing is I didn’t deal with it sooner. And I put her through hell because I didn’t have the confidence and the knowledge to say, okay Marie-Claude, you’re going to have to something else, or this isn’t going to work. I went along with her sailing the boat until I absolutely had to do deal with it. And it was only when I was forced into it that I let her go. But we’re best mates now, and she’s here with me in New York. Because we all feel she’s a Maiden but I have never been stabbed in the back by a woman. I live in a world of professional sports women, sailors, and we all support each other. And I think something really spectacular is happening with women this year. And not just in my world. I look at all these women’s movements and think in the past there have been issues about who’s woman’s group was more important than the other’s, but for the first time I really feel a coming together. We’re working with different groups — and there’s a sense of common purpose in fighting the system. I’ve never felt that more strongly than I do now. I feel so heartened by that and it feels so positive.

I think something really spectacular is happening with women this year. And not just in my world. I look at all these women’s movements and think in the past there have been issues about who’s woman’s group was more important than the other’s, but for the first time I really feel a coming together. We’re working with different groups — and there’s a sense of common purpose in fighting the system.

Ex-Press: That’s such good news, and your enthusiasm and optimism are infecting me… so thank you. So what is it, given that sailing is one of those things that can give you confidence and puts you on the water where you get this fantastic perspective on the world, and all the petty worries of daily life… what has the world of sailing given you? What can it give other people?

Tracy Edwards: I think it is a way of finding out who you are. I mean there is nowhere to hide on a boat. You can’t pretend for that length of time. You have to be you, and that is an interesting experience. Because it’s quite rare in life that you’re going to spend so many weeks with eleven other people where you can’t pretend to be something you are not. So that’s an interesting exercise, because you are learning: “Oh. I actually am this person.” And the one thing I think about sailing is you can’t NOT be a part of the team. There is nowhere to hide. You can’t pretend to be a seaman, you have to commit 100 per cent of you into the team, and for me, that was just a brilliant experience. And that is something I have taken with me through life and that is no woman is an island. You need people around you. The teamwork to me was the most special aspect of it, and what I got out of it. But it’s different for everyone. I do charity work that aims to get more young people on the water, and it’s life changing.

Ex-Press: It is life-changing. So when you got back from this life-altering voyage, did you find a way to keep challenging yourself?

Tracy Edwards: Oh yeah. I’ve never stopped. I got married, then I got divorced three months later.

Ex-Press: Oh dear!

Tracy Edwards: I know. I wasn’t very good at it. We parted as good friends and realized we’d made an awful  mistake. But I then went with an all-female crew to set a non-stop around the world record … and then I was part of the first mixed gender professional racing team of six guys and six girls on a 125-foot catamaran called Maiden II. Then did another round the world race which started in the Middle East, and that didn’t end well. They didn’t pay and and it took a long time to recover from that. Then along came Maiden, and it all feels as though it’s come full circle.

Ex-Press: Beautiful! Do you feel that there is some kind of magical pattern? I know it’s a sense I get on a boat when the land disappears and you feel very different about your place on the planet, and being a human being. It’s a metaphysical thing… maybe. I’m at a loss for how to describe it. But it feels of a spiritual, existential nature. I don’t know… and this may sound too big, but how does it frame the meaning of life for you?

Tracy Edwards and the new Maiden crew.

Tracy Edwards: I think for me it’s about connection. I am happiest when I am around people I like, and as we get on in life, we to cut out the people we don’t life and not take any shit, which I quite like, I mean I love making new connections. And the people from Maiden are best friends, and will be til the day we die. But I love collecting new people in my life. And I would say the purpose of my life is to fight injustice, and make as many changes as I can possibly make before I die. You know my mum always said if you don’t like the way the world looks, don’t moan about it. Change it. So for me, that’s been a life-long pursuit and I think you touched on it with this pattern, and this journey, I so think as long as we get out there and start the journey — we will find our way. We will find the path. It’s there somewhere…

Ex-Press: I sadly have to let you go. I’ve had you for more time than I was allotted. But thank you, thank you, thank you for the inspiration and the courage. I’ll be watching for Maiden in port… and in theatres. Cheers!

Tracy Edwards: Cheers!

For more information on Tracy Edwards, her foundation to promote women’s education and the current Maiden tour, please visit The Maiden Factor website or  Tracy Edwards website.

@katherinemonk

THE EX-PRESS, July 24, 2019

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