Tracy Edwards MBE joins the Oceans of Hope UK team!
It is with great pleasure that we can announce that the trailblazing sailor Tracy Edwards MBE has become a patron of Oceans of Hope UK.
Tracy won international fame in 1990 as the skipper of the first all-female crew to sail around the world when they raced Maiden in the 1989/90 Whitbread round the world race.
Despite fierce opposition and sexism, Tracy and her team won two of the toughest legs on the course and came second overall. It was a landmark moment for the sailing world and opened the door for competitive female sailing. Tracy and her team showed everybody that despite all the people that doubted her and all the challenges that faced her; if you “just stick to it,” anything is achievable.
The Maiden Factor foundation was set up to promote and fundraise for the education of 130 million girls worldwide who are currently denied this basic right. Maiden is now back on the water and sailing 90,000 miles, visiting forty destinations in 22 countries over the next three years.
“Tracy’s attributes and achievements truly reflect our own values and hopes. These are to face our fears and accept our challenges, then to get up and overcome them with vigour, humour, and courage!” – Robert Munns
Having Tracy on board, not only as a world-beating sailor, but as a daughter and a mother is a huge honour and milestone in the story of Oceans of Hope UK. Tracy has first-hand experience of dealing with Multiple Sclerosis and this makes her motivation, and our association even stronger.
“My Mum battled MS for years and was always looking for ways to stay active. Sailing is perfect to help combat this awful disease. I am delighted to support Oceans of Hope UK!” – Tracy Edwards
“As a young girl I was inspired by Tracy Edwards and the Maiden crew. She showed me that girls can sail and race too! She inspired me to sail and challenge myself with sailing adventures. So, it means a lot to me personally to have such an incredible patron for our charity.” Nicola Kaufman, Trustee.
For more information on the progress of Maiden, please go to The Maiden Factor.
To see Tracy’s journey and to inspire you to come sailing, please watch her brilliant film “Maiden” now available on Netflix!
At Oceans of Hope, it is our goal to create more opportunities for people with MS to go sailing. Having Tracy with us on our journey will help us reach out and connect with a much wider audience, enabling us to build better associations and credibility throughout the sailing world and hopefully achieve this goal even sooner.
For more information on The Maiden Factor go to www.themaidenfactor.org
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