All language subtitles for Maiden 2018 (Maiden 2018) (ENGLISH)

The ocean's always
trying to kill you.

It doesn't take a break.

The probability of just
not making it is high.

You're on your own.

There is no hope if
anything happens.

Hello, I'm Tracy Edwards,
Skipper of Maiden, the first

all-female challenge in the
Whitbread Round the World race.

Oh, shit.

What it takes to sail
around the world is,

first of all, you have
to be a little bit crazy.

You have to be different
than the normal bloke.

You have to be different
than the normal bloke.

Hi, I'm Tracy Edwards,
Skipper of Maiden, the first

all-female Whitbread Round
the World... That is my smile.

Let's join Lisa Austen
out on the start line.

This is the overall
scene in the Solent.

Just a few minutes.

Just a few minutes before the start
of the fifth Round the World race.

And at 33,000 nautical miles,
it is the longest race on Earth.

How many times are
you told we couldn't do it?

You're not strong enough.

You're not skilled enough.

Girls don't get on.

You'll all die.

She put everything on the line.

She risked everything
for it to happen.

There wasn't a choice.

It was just
something I had to do.

My early years were idyllic.

A world of magic and
make-believe and two wonderful

parents and a kind of
semi-wonderful brother.

My mum was... she was amazing.

She'd been a dancer.

She'd been a rally driver.

She was the first woman to ride a
motorbike on the Arleban TT course.

She met my father when
she was driving go-karts.

He was her engineer.

My father was an entrepreneur
and he designed loudspeakers.

It always had
something on the go.

My parents instilled in me
a sense of determination.

If you want something,
you have to persevere.

You can't give up.

So that determination
comes from them.

My early years couldn't
have been better.

But unfortunately that all
came to an end when I was ten.

One night I was asleep
and I heard a commotion.

I thought I heard my mum
screaming but I wasn't quite sure.

I remember thinking something
really, really bad is happening.

I sat up in bed and I
pulled my cubs around me.

After a while, mum came in.

She said, Daddy's
had a heart attack.

The ambulance
couldn't get here in time.

And he's died.

Sorry.

That night would
change my life forever.

My mum tried to take
over the running of humans.

She was running
his hi-fi business.

It was a very
male-dominated industry.

I mean, there were just
no women anywhere in it.

In the end, really,
she was pushed out.

This was my first
experience of understanding

that women didn't
work in a man's world.

Especially at that time.

She had to do
something to support us.

Unfortunately for us, she then
met the man that she would marry.

We sold the house in Reading
and we moved down to Wales.

The earliest memory, I suppose, is seeing
her on the school bus when we were 12.

It was only a small village.

You didn't see new
people around very often.

And she was little,
like me, I suppose.

She was quiet initially.

I can't believe I'm saying that
about Tracey Edwards, but...

Both of us had quite a
rough journey through school.

So we were really
drawn together.

When you're teenagers, your
friends are your family, really.

They're the ones you trust.

I know that her relationship with
her stepfather was quite volatile.

This man was an
abusive alcoholic.

He hit me a few times.

I always thought I'd ask
for it because I always

punched him first or kicked
him or exploded in some way.

I just remember one occasion being
there and it became really physical.

You know, and I was
just shocked at that.

I turned from a happy,
probably quite delightful

child into an
absolutely vile teenager.

Angry, aggressive.

I hated everyone.

I was suspended 26
times before I was expelled.

My mother went in to beg
for me to be able to take

my O levels, but then
which I didn't turn up to.

Instead of asking
for help, I ran away.

I went as far away as possible.

I remember her going and I
remember really worrying about her.

But it was a real struggle to
know what to do at 15, 16 years old.

Exactly three years
from today, the most

grueling yacht race
in the world will begin.

The Whitbread was the race.

27,000 miles
divided into stages.

Sailing in those days was
very much a man's sport.

Admin and adventurers,
they were pioneers.

Sailing on kind of the edge of disaster
and one false move and it spells trouble.

A challenge like that
as a yachtsman going

around the world was
something you had to do.

It was a hell of a challenge.

It attracted the great sailors who
wanted to prove something to the world.

As a sailor, that was what
you had in front of you.

If you want to succeed.

I ended up in Greece
working in a bar.

I didn't know anyone
particularly well.

My only contact with other human
beings was going out and getting drunk.

I do remember
feeling quite lonely.

I just wanted to go home.

But I wouldn't let myself.

One night a guy came
into the bar and he said to

me, I skipper one of those
charter yachts out there.

And my stewardess has
really left me in the lurch.

Do you fancy coming
to work as a stewardess?

And the next day we
left to go to Rhodes.

We were a real mixed
bag of mostly dropouts.

Misfits and gypsies and nomads.

We were all running
away from something.

But we were family units.

I mean, surreal family units.

I didn't see my skippers as men.

I saw them as
father figures, I think.

I spent my first transatlantic
learning how to sail properly.

Sailing through my first storm.

Where they had to tie me to
the wheels because the wind was

so strong that they thought I
was going to be blown overboard.

Puking into a bucket
next to the wheel.

But loving it.

For me, sailing
was about freedom.

It was freedom of everything.

It was leaving
everything behind.

Everything that had
happened since my father died.

We didn't cross
paths during that time.

I knew that she was sailing.

I knew that she
was over in Antigua.

And I heard little
pockets about her.

It was a bit of jealousy
there, you know.

Travelling was something I
always wanted to do as well.

I was sitting on a
friend's boat one day.

And I was just looking
through his books.

And I pulled one book
out and opened it up.

And I went, what's this?

He said, oh, that's the
Whitbird round the world race.

I said, this is
absolutely incredible.

I wanted to be part of this.

I knew it was just
something I had to do.

The next day, I went
to ask for a job as a

cook on a Whitbird
round the world race boat.

I remember going to the skipper.

I said, are you
looking for a cook?

And he went, we're
not having a girl.

We're not going to be
the only professional

racing team in the world
with a girl on the boat.

Girls are for screwing
when you get into port.

And then I went back
and rejoined the boat.

Oh, I was so upset.

Then I was told we had
this really important charter.

We see this party
coming down the dock.

Someone said, that's
King Hussein of Jordan.

And... And after I'd served lunch, I
went down below to do the washing up.

And I sensed his
presence beside me.

And I turned around
and it was King Hussein.

We started chatting.

So he said, I'm fascinated
with this world that you live in.

You're like a Bedouin
travelling from place to place.

And he said, what
are you doing next?

And I said, I really want to do
the Whitbird round the world race.

He said, that's amazing.

And I said, but they don't
want a girl on the boat.

And he just said,
you must do it.

You must do this.

And within an hour, I
was completely convinced.

I had no doubt at all in my mind
that I could absolutely make it happen.

The next day, I went back and said to
the skipper, I've got to be on this boat.

I begged.

I was dictating my copy
in a telephone booth.

And there was this slip of a
girl in the next booth to me

saying, Mum, Mum, I've got
a ride on the Whitbird boat.

I'm going to be cook.

Half the programme is coming live from
Gosport, where tomorrow, 15 yachts set

sail in the Whitbird round
the world yacht race.

Well, last minute preparations
are hectic, not least

for one of the youngest crew
members, the cook on board.

Let's meet that cook.

It's Tracey Edwards, the only girl on a
British boat on the round the world race.

Now, Tracey, what is the responsibility
of a cook on a boat like this?

First responsibility is
to keep them healthy.

Second one is to
keep them happy.

You decide how many calories they need
a day, how you can split that up into the

different meals and
still keep it nice so that

they're going to enjoy
what you're giving them.

So you're really a major
part of the crew, aren't you?

Without you...

It's two weeks out at sea.

Food seems to become a
very important part of your life.

Tracey, thank you very much
and good luck around the world.

She was there to do the
cooking and cleaning, basically.

Everybody made it
perfectly plain to her.

As soon as the race started,
that's what her role was.

All spectator craft are to
clear the line between HMS

Glasgow and TS Royalist to
allow the start to take place.

Ten, nine, eight, seven, six,
five, four, three, two, one, go!

There's the gun now.

For the start of the fourth,
Whitbread round the world...

There were only
four girls on that race.

230 crew and four of them girls.

I was one of them.

I don't think she really
wanted to cook at all, but she

did because it enabled her to
go round the world on a boat.

Oh, it was awful.

I was treated like a servant.

They did not make life easy.

At one point, they
wrote on the back of my

thermal underwear, for
sale, one case of beer.

But, oh, I've never wanted anything so much
in my life as to fit in with those guys.

That was a nice,
depressing thought.

MUSIC PLAYS The
cooking was horrendous.

I loved the sailing.

Well, when they
let me up on deck.

And then we won the leg.

It's just jammed as people
have thronged down from the

eastern suburbs all over
Auckland to see aerobic privateer.

There goes the gun and
the command is there.

Force going off across the Waitemata
Harbour and aerobic privateer has taken

the gun for line-oners in the
second leg of the fourth Whitbread.

The guys on the boat have
been really, really good.

They're very, very nice guys.

Few of them had a little bit of
reserve about having a girl on the boat.

I mean, even though they're
friends, but they put up with it gallantly.

I thought, I'm not going to
put up with this any more.

I wanted to go round
as a proper sailor.

I didn't want to go round again
cooking for a boat full of men.

MUSIC FADES MUSIC FADES
They weren't going to let me do that.

I had to make it happen myself.

And that's when I made the decision
to put an all-female crew into the race.

Well, after we got off the boat, I
called my mum and I said to her,

what do you think about
me putting an all-female

crew in the next Whitbread
Round the World race?

She sort of took a pause and then she
said, I think if you were truly committed,

you would do it.

She said, but you've never
stuck at anything in your life.

MUSIC FADES Four days later at Southampton
Boat Show, I made the announcement.

Go to any boat show and you'll meet
people dreaming of great adventures.

Now, there was such a girl at
the Southampton Boat Show today.

Her name is Tracey Edwards
and her dream is to compete in

the world's toughest yacht
race with the first all-girl crew.

Why do you want
an all-woman crew?

People are going to argue.

Men are going to say that
they can't do it and women

are going to say that they
can do it until time ends.

So someone has to
do it to prove either way.

OK, looking at me.

OK, smiling.

Of course, Jo was
the first person I called.

That was my dream
when I was a teenager.

It didn't matter that the only role I could
have was cook because I didn't have

the racing experience.

So I came down and
I said, I can do that.

And she said, yep,
I know you can.

How do you know?

How do you know?

And then I met Howard.

I met Howard Gibbons.

He became my project manager.

She had a great idea, but
how was she going to put it off?

You know, that
was the big question.

So we met in the pub,
back of a beer mat.

We wrote down,
how do we do this?

We interviewed very few people.

I mean, I interviewed Sally, but she
walked in through the door, laughed and

told a joke and I thought,
well, she'll be on the boat.

LAUGHTER I knew I
really wanted to do it and

I was going to do
everything I could to do it.

It was a very good idea, but it didn't
have anything apart from a good idea.

I didn't want a real
job, I wanted adventure.

I don't know.

You don't know.

Being a cook was really the only
way onto a boat and that wasn't me.

It was never going to be me.

That was a compromise too
far, as far as I was concerned.

They were looking for a girl.

Who could sail, who was a
doctor, who really had no ties.

And I just thought,
that would be fantastic.

A friend of mine said, you know, there's
an all-women's boat going around the world.

And my first reaction
was, are you kidding me?

I don't want to sail with women.

There aren't any
other women that sail.

I'm the only one out
here that's any good.

And she literally said, come
on, don't be so arrogant.

I happened to meet Tracey Edwards
in a bar in Cork, as only the Irish can do.

I just thought, God,
I'd love to do this.

I was finally realising a dream.

Being a girl is like being
disabled in the sailing world.

So you can't join
a male project.

That's impossible.

It's as simple as that.

I think I would have been a man.

I would have done it
at least once already.

It took ten years to get to a boat
that was going to do the Wilbride.

Marie-Claude was an extraordinarily
experienced sailor with a great career.

She had a great reputation.

What is your
position on this boat?

I am the first mate.

I am in charge of the
sailing side of the boat.

I am the one who has to
make the boat going fast.

I have selected a
crew of nine dedicated,

professional and highly
skilled women sailors.

This was not an easy choice.

There are many women
from all over the world

who are quite capable
of doing this race.

I, like many others, know that
we will succeed in our venture.

Are you a feminist or...?

Not at all.

I hate that word.

I hate the word feminist.

I like to be allowed to do
what I want to do and I don't

see why I shouldn't be
allowed to sail because I'm a girl.

And I think it's about
time men realised that

women enjoy sailing
just as much as they do.

And they're just as good at it.

We were doing something that we believed
in and we were taking very seriously.

But the world around us kind
of didn't really see us that way.

Well, I think, like most
people, we all poo-pooed it.

We sort of, you know,
had a bit of a chuckle

about it and didn't
really take it seriously.

We were a kind of
rather unusual sideshow.

There were
sceptics in the press.

I thought, you know, first of all,
where are you going to get the money?

How are you going to get a boat?

And how are you going
to get in on the race?

I think we felt patronised.

You know, we were all
the little ladies, you know,

they're all going to be
there having a little scrap.

What about the
packing allowances?

Lots of Vaseline for chapped
lips and no waterproof mascara.

That's right.

There's the physical side.

All we were told, so
they were looking for us,

just broke straight for
the ignorance, really.

There's the emotional side.

If you accept the fact that the two
genders do have differences, if you don't

accept that, then, you know, you're in hot
water if you start promoting these ideas,

you know, so you've
got to be very careful.

Yeah.

Months of design and planning
goes into a new Whitbread boat.

Preparation has been the key
to winning past Whitbread races.

Money tends to follow men.

The bottom line of a
maxing project for this fifth

running of the Whitbread
was close to $6 million.

I mean, the problems start, of
course, when you've got to find all the

sponsorship, to raise a
million pounds in sponsorship.

Yes.

I mean, how do you get that sort of
money out of businessmen when you're this

gorgeous slip of a young girl?

With great difficulty.

Mm-hm.

It has been very difficult, not only to
convince companies that all-female crew

can do this, but that also it's something
that they want to do, that it's something

that fits into their policy of
sponsorship or whatever.

We went to hundreds of companies
and got absolutely nothing back.

No-one was the
slightest bit interested.

The project is geared to winning,
on our own boat at the moment.

And it's quite heartbreaking seeing
the plans of the boat and, you know,

sort of, we hadn't
started building it yet.

There was that sort
of unspoken fear that

we weren't going to
be able to cope with it.

We were a high-risk crew.

You want the rudder to go up?

The letters we got back, some
of them were quite extraordinary.

One of them said, ''The thought of 12
of my wife sailing around the world ''fills

me with horror.'' We had the one saying,
''We really love this, ''but it's just too

much of a risk with adverse publicity ''if
something were to happen.'' It would be a

tragedy, but we weren't doing it with
the belief that we were going to die.

We were doing it with
the belief that we could sail

around the world and do
it competitively, you know.

Someone will step forward.

This is too good an
opportunity to be missed.

I spent two years looking
for the sponsorship.

We just couldn't
raise the money.

She was honest and said,
''We're living day to day.''

Actually, it was borderline
whether it was going to make it.

I knew something had to change.

We were bashing our head against a
brick wall and there wasn't even a crack.

I was asleep one night, woke up 2 o'clock
in the morning, sat bolt upright in bed,

and I thought, ''We've got to buy a
second-hand boat.'' Everyone went,

''And how are we going to do that?'' I
went, ''I'm going to remortgage my house

''and borrow the money and get the boat.''
And then I said, ''If we had to do that,

''we'll remortgage the
boat to pay for the refit.''

She put everything
on the line, didn't she?

You know, she put
her home on the line.

She risked everything,
really, for it to happen.

The ship came into
Southampton and we were there

on the dock to see this
quite scruffy-looking boat.

I thought, ''Bloody hell.

''Just look at the state of that.''
I had a lot of convincing to do.

But that's what we could afford,
so that's what we had to get on with.

So it was a bit
of a, ''Holy hell.

''OK, this is one
hell of a project.

'' I said, ''OK,
get your overalls.

We've got work to do.

'' You don't see women working in
a boatyard, so this was another first.

I wanted a role, so
I learnt plumbing.

I mean, if there's anything I could
do, it was cope with bodily fluids.

I pretty much run almost
every cable in that boat.

Coming from the racing world
and having built racing boats

before, I had some experience,
so I was quite confident.

The challenges were more
a relationship with Tracey.

As the time went on, it
became more and more difficult.

We were, like,
trading on eggs a bit.

''Is she going to
be in a bad mood?

Is she going to be in a
good mood?'' Tracey was

not a comfortable person
at times to be around.

I think we had no idea how
much pressure she was under.

There was the negativity
coming from the outside.

The struggle for money
was becoming really wearing.

But it was my own insecurities that really
were my biggest problem at that time.

Inside, all I was thinking was,
''Am I the right person to do this?

'' I was so full of
doubt and fear.

I was trying to deal with anxiety,
panic attacks, waking up in the middle of

the night in a cold sweat,
but I guess, oh, yeah, I guess

things used to get thrown
and stuff like that, you know?

I remember us being out once and she was
angry and shouting at everyone and it was

like, ''For goodness sake, Tracey,
these people are your friends.

'' It did feel self-destructive.

But she'd always had that anger.

It really was... That
was a really dark time.

This 58-foot aluminium racing yacht is
currently called the Maiden Great Britain,

but the crew still need
£940,000 over the next year.

No sponsor has yet come forward
and the project could be in jeopardy.

Without a major sponsor, the
girls have to go back to their

jobs and this incredible British
venture will never happen.

If we fail this time, it
won't happen again.

This was the point that I really, in
total frustration, called King Hussein.

King Hussein arrived in
Britain earlier this month

for a sinus operation at
a private London hospital.

This morning, he looked fit and
relaxed at the Southampton boat show.

We'd kept in touch
over the years.

I would not have asked for
his help if I could have seen any

other way of getting to where
he was supposed to be getting.

You just said, ''Oh, for goodness sake,
you've come so far, you can't stop now.

'' Royal Jordanian
Airlines will sponsor it.

I'll sponsor it.

Title sponsorship,
finally, of our project.

God bless her and
all who sail him.

Today, the diminutive Tracey Edwards
launched the 58-foot yacht with still the

yachting fraternity
doubting Maiden's ability.

People were scathing.

I remember I went out racing
with some guys that I hadn't met.

One of them said to me, ''So, when
does the race start?'' I said, ''September.

'' He said, ''And when will you be
back?'' I said, ''The following May.

'' He went, ''Ha, more like October,
dear.'' So, that's the way they saw it.

It seemed like the further we
got, the nastier this stuff would get.

They said it was impossible
for us to get a boat.

We've got the boat and we've got the
crew and now we're going to go racing.

And maybe we just have
to prove that we can do it.

We can go racing.

With only a matter of
days to go, nearly half

the entries line up
for a dress rehearsal.

The Fastnet race was the big sort of
curtain raiser because it was only a very

short amount of time between the finish of
that race and the start of the whip raid.

By that point, I was having
huge problems with Marie-Claude.

Ten seconds left.

The fleet races for the line.

Five seconds and all
eyes are on the flag.

The race starts
the instant they did.

Marie-Claude was in charge.

And there was no two ways about
it, Marie-Claude was in charge.

I'd pushed Tracey into sailing in an area
where she was completely out of confidence.

It was like she held a mirror
up to me and I kept seeing

myself as this person
that couldn't skip the boat.

Outwardly, I was agreeing with her
and, OK, fine, yeah, we'll do it like that.

But I knew it was
building up in me.

It's making Tracey
question her leadership.

We were just about to
get to the Fastnet Rock.

The atmosphere was
crackling with tension.

I went down below
to look for a sail.

And the boat jerked
and I fell and put my

hand out to stop myself
and I broke my wrist.

Claire came up on deck and
said, um, Jo's broken her wrist, um,

you know, we need to go back.

And I went, well, no, we're nearly at the
rock, you know, morphine and strap it up.

That's what I got
the medical kit for.

The full kit and the
splints weren't on

board because I'd been
told to take them off.

I went, what do you mean
you haven't got the medical kit?

She said, Marie-Claude
told me not to bring it.

I went, who is in
charge of this boat?

And she went, quite frankly,
Tracey, we don't know.

So we had to abandon the
race and go back to Plymouth.

I still remember
how angry I was.

I mean, I was so
angry, I was crying.

I just, I wanted to, I
wanted to rip her throat out.

That was the final straw.

We got off the boat.

And I just said to
Marie-Claude, right, that's it.

I can't have you on the boat.

And I fired her.

And it was too late to rebuild.

Been involved really
two years by then.

It were three weeks
before the start.

Of course, I was distraught.

I wasn't going to do the race.

But at the same time, I was relieved
because I knew it wouldn't have been easy.

It was kind of like the media
was waiting for this moment.

It was kind of like the media
was waiting for this moment.

I wanted to leave.

They had no faith in me.

Marie-Claude was a critically
important person to me and to a lot of us.

Yeah, I mean,
Marie-Claude was a big loss.

I must admit, I did take a
big breath in because then I

just thought, oh, my God,
who's going to steer this boat?

I begged.

I begged them to stay.

If you do the first leg and you don't
think I can do this, I'll fly you home.

But please, please don't
break the team up now.

I thought maybe she was right,
that I couldn't skipper this boat.

But I couldn't pull out.

I just have to keep going forwards
because I have no other choice.

That's how we set
off on the first leg.

It was me pretty much on trial.

Town Quay, Southampton, 7am.

And the dawn of the
fifth round-the-world race.

To actually wake up that morning and
think, OK, today we have to set off and

sail round the world is a
little bit of a daunting morning.

I didn't sleep much the
night before, I remember.

And driving down to Ocean
Village and then walking into

this overwhelming mass of
noise and people and movement.

If you're not on edge
already, you are at that point.

Welcome to the Solent.

Where we're only minutes away from one
of the most spectacular sights in sport.

The start of the Whitbread
round-the-world race.

You're all ready?

I'm raring to go, I bet.

Yes, it's definitely
time to go now.

It's been three
and a half years.

This time last year we really
didn't think we'd be here.

We really didn't think
we'd be on the start line.

So we're all pretty
emotional, yes.

I didn't want everybody hugging each
other and everybody waving and cheering.

I just wanted to go.

Malcolm, we'll talk again in just a couple
of minutes, but the atmosphere is really

building, as you say, because the
boats are now leaving Town Quay.

This is the bow of Fisher
& Paykel, just coming up to

Rothmans, the British entry,
skippered by Laurie Smith.

There's Steinlager 2 of New Zealand,
one of the favourites to win this race.

A load of us left the
dock at the same time.

You're looking to left and right and
you're going, there's Steinlager and

there's Fisher & Paykel with
all these legendary skippers.

On board Maiden, the
Helmholtz, there's a woman looking

over there at Fisher &
Paykel, the New Zealand catch.

The tension's
starting to build now.

You've never done
this before, right?

It's monumental.

You can see now where
they're manoeuvring

for the start with just
three minutes to go.

This is a very tense time
for any racing helmsman.

If people couldn't hear my heart, it
would be amazing, because it was actually.

my T-shirt was moving.

It was pounding so hard.

They're the girls in
mate, doing their best.

They look like they're
going through yellow.

They're going to change.

They're trying as
hard as they can.

Five, four, three, two, one.

Gun.

They're off.

The fifth Whitbread round-the-world yacht
race is underway on the first leg from

Southampton, England,
to Ponte del Este, Uruguay.

And it's Fortuna from Spain, Fazzisi from
the Soviet Union who've got the best start.

Hey!

Hey!

And on board mate is Tracy
Edwards, cool, calm and collected.

Ah, nearly four
years, hard work.

6,000 miles to go to Ponte.

That's a sight they won't see now again
for another nine months until they get

back to the Isle of Wight, having gone
right round the world, 33,000 miles in all.

One by one, the boats peel off.

Our support boat with all our friends and
family on, it was one of the last boats to

leave us and then they finally
waved and you waved to everyone.

The last thing that happens is the
land disappears and then it's just you.

When they left Southampton and all
the press are gathering in their watering

holes, somebody started a book, how far
do you think the girls are going to get?

Well, we didn't
think they would...

even finish the first leg.

The closest to home was that they
would only get as far as the Needles.

Then some people thought they
might get as far as the Canary Islands.

But none of them thought they would
get to the end of leg one in Uruguay.

Well, it was an all-woman crew.

Yes, I'm not surprised people
were prepared to bet against them.

There was nothing to
show that they would...

ever be...

really acknowledged for
anything other than failure.

The first leg takes the fleet across
the North Atlantic south to Uruguay.

They had divided the fleet up into
different groups at that point so that

similar-sized yachts were
competing against each other in

classes rather than everybody
goes out in one division.

We were in a class with Rock & All
Sports, L'Esprit de Liberté and La Poste.

Everyone in our class
was hugely competitive.

I'm not sure they were that happy about
us being in their class, if I'm honest.

You know, it was in
1989, you know, they

decided to come up
with a full team of girls.

It's not an easy one.

We know by a fact that it was
hard for girls to go for maiden.

We'd just lost Marie-Claude.

Jo wasn't there because of her
wrist, so we had a different cook.

Yeah, I was gutted.

Absolutely gutted.

So, you know, it wasn't quite
what we were all expecting.

There were 12 of us.

Tracey, as the skipper
and navigator, was out of the

watch system and Cook
was out of the watch system.

So the ten of us were
split into two teams.

And we did four hours on and four hours
off, religiously, come hell or high water.

Four hours on, four hours off,
four hours on, four hours off.

Best thing was just that.

Just to keep racing.

Cos that kept
you sane, actually.

It's a distance race.

It's an endurance race.

That's the game.

I was working so hard
to try to find the wind.

Trying to prove
that I could do this.

Tracey lived in that cubicle.

I made a couple of really
stupid choices very early on.

And so we lost time.

But finally, the wind came in.

The spinnaker filled.

And then we were off.

All of a sudden, other people that
weren't necessarily allowed to step up,

stepped up.

And we're incredibly good.

Our fear that we couldn't
get somebody that could helm

the boat in terrible conditions
was completely misfounded.

Team Spirit.

It was very good.

And we became
stronger and stronger.

Happy birthday, dear Angela.

Happy birthday to you.

Happy birthday to you.

Thank you.

Blow the killer.

Woo!

I thought by the time we got to the
equator, we were doing really well.

Welcome to Punta
del Este in Uruguay.

For the spectacular
red-red round the world race.

Early morning on day 26.

Steinlager 2 first
into Punta del Este.

Seven boats finish within seven hours
of each other in the night of the maxis.

Eventually, after 36 days, the all-female
crew finish in third place in their class.

Maybe they have a chance
of finishing this marathon.

This was a real surprise to us all when
they came in and we thought, blimey.

Coming third into Uruguay was
actually a real disappointment.

And we were gutted.

Of course, everyone else
was just happy we were alive.

It's been a long two days.

It's taken a long
time to get in.

The winds dropped
and it just seemed like

someone didn't want
us to get here very much.

We saw ourselves as a
professional sailing team

who had entered a
race with a goal to win it.

The world saw us as
a human interest story.

Oh, and haven't the girls
done well for even arriving?

I was embarrassed.

I was embarrassed that there were
B Theatre girls and balloons and stuff.

I'm like, really?

You're very clever to come in the daylight
because the pictures are that much better.

Oh, good.

Oh, good.

We looked at the questions or the
articles written about us at the time.

We were always digging for stories
on, well, who's boyfriend, girlfriend?

Are you lesbians?

Are you sleeping around?

Or surely you're not
getting on that well.

A bunch of women
on a boat that size.

There must be a
lot of squabbles.

What about the crew?

A bunch of girls.

How did you all get on?

Remarkably well.

You never saw them ask
the guys those questions.

They would be asked about
tactics, challenges, you know, sail.

Sensible, spoiling questions.

We almost never got
asked those questions.

Why?

Everybody's got on very well.

We've sailed the boat.

We're all very happy with
the way we've sailed the boat.

Wish we could have
come in in a bit better place.

But everybody's got
on very well together.

And a few people were
giving you a sort of hard time

in the media in the week
or so leading up to the start.

I mean, are you just happy
to keep sailing at the moment?

Er... If I listened to what everyone
said about me, I wouldn't be here now.

So the people that count
think this is a good thing.

I think it's a good thing.

And I'm just really pleased
that we've been allowed to do it.

There's a very well-known
yachting journalist who

referred to us as a
tin full of tarts initially.

And it seemed to me an all-girls
crew fitted the bill quite well.

And I was very
scathing about that.

My coverage wasn't quite as chauvinistic
as Bob Fisher's in The Guardian.

But there was an
edge to it, certainly.

And third on the
left time, Maiden.

What the press rescue did was it
galvanised me and it focused me.

And when we left
Uruguay, I have never felt

more ready in my life
to take something on.

And we all were.

We were absolutely determined.

Sailing in the Southern Ocean is like
nothing you've ever experienced before.

And nothing will
prepare you for it.

It's not a place
that takes prisoners.

Some people call it
the sea of certain death.

You're on your own.

There is no hope if
anything happens.

If you go over the side, your
chances of being rescued are...

...next to zero.

How are your crew
feeling about it?

I think obviously they're
a bit apprehensive.

I think you'd be silly not to.

You have to have a very healthy
respect of the Southern Ocean.

But I see them all very confident,
very strong and ready to go.

It just goes on day after
day of hard physical work.

And the guys are pretty fit.

I think to a man they'd be
much fitter than the other crews.

John, is everyone looking forward
now to the Southern Ocean leg?

No.

I don't know.

A certain amount of trepidation,
I suppose, that's inevitable.

What do you see as your
main priority on this leg?

Well, my priority in the
whole race, really, is...

I don't want to hurt
anyone or lose anyone.

That would take the thing
out of them completely.

Have you got Joe back on board?

Yes, Joe's back.

Arms mended.

And she's very happy to be back.

I was there with
my bag, ready to go.

Take me to the Southern Ocean.

The second marathon leg to Western
Australia charts the Southern Oceans,

which threaten constantly changing stormy
weather, freezing conditions and icebergs.

Everyone's sort of a
little bit nervous at the

moment because we
know the ice is well north.

Where are the icebergs?

Well, nobody
knows that for sure.

So it's a case of thinking
who's going to be the

boldest, who is actually
going to get in amongst the ice.

The weather down
there is very severe.

I've seen a few weather
maps and I haven't seen

loads like that ever before
in the Southern Ocean.

I don't think we'll see boats
going very far south this time.

I was very clear that I
was going to take a really

southerly route, go as
far south as possible.

The fleet are given a rousing
farewell as they chart the new course.

If you imagine the bottom of the world,
this far south means that you're almost

doing a straight line, and
that's the shortest route.

There's always a risk in every decision
you make, especially if you're making a

decision opposite to what
everyone else is doing.

Where are we going, Chelsea?

We're here.

Where are we going?

We're on there.

Where?

Where it's warm.

It was the most extreme, debilitating
temperatures you've ever lived in.

Minus 20 with the wind chill.

That is really hard.

When

you're doing 14 knots
at night, that is a bit hard.

I'll never forget
doing biolodge.

When it was really foggy, you did need
a sacrificial victim at the front of the

boat that would just
hit the iceberg first.

And you'd be strapped on,
you'd have three face masks on.

You could barely last
20 minutes up there.

Big white chunks of skin that
would start flaking off your face.

It took the girls half an hour to get
dressed and half an hour to get undressed.

It took the girls half an hour to get
dressed and half an hour to get undressed.

By the time you got into your clothing,
you really didn't have an awful lot of

sleeping time, so you were
getting quite sleep deprived.

On Crichton's Naturally,
there's an early problem,

a broken cap shroud that's
cost them several days.

The waves are just huge.

All you could see was a bank of
water that you were going to sail.

You'll get picked up.

You'll almost feel like you're
looking vertically down at the tip.

And then, of course,
you know, you just start

surfing, you know, like
you're on a surfboard.

And a big rooster tail out the
back as you surf your way down.

I mean, it's
absolutely exhilarating.

I did really relish
the hard adventure.

I loved that.

I love those big seas.

I love surfing.

You know, you can get overconfident
and you can think you know it all.

Crichton's Naturally,
Crichton's Naturally, lady.

I remember Nancy waking me up and saying
that there'd been a horrendous accident.

Can anyone hear
Crichton's Naturally?

Tracy took the
call on the radio.

John Chisholm and the
skipper had a situation on deck.

They'd lost two crew
members over the side.

You would have minutes
before hypothermia sets in.

You've got to turn these huge
boats round and then get to

people, which in itself is
an incredible feat of skill.

Seeing a tiny little head dot
in the dark is incredibly difficult.

Equity in law, madam.

John Chisholm said they'd both been
recovered, but they didn't have a doctor.

So Claire came to the radio.

And talked them through saving the
life of one of them, Bart Vanden Dwey.

We sort of knew that there
were two people involved.

But we were only helping one.

Anthony Phillips, they think,
hit his head as he went over.

He was floating face down in
the water when they got to them.

Yeah, that was devastating.

So devastating.

And that he lost his life.

The ocean's always
trying to kill you.

It doesn't take a break.

We couldn't afford
to make mistakes.

We were literally harnessed on
from the minute the hatch was open.

The whole time you're aware
that this tragedy has unfolded

on another boat and they're
still having to cope with it.

And keep yourself safe and work your
watchers and try and make the boat go fast.

Things just keep
going and you just do it.

And that's what we did.

It was a tough leg, for sure.

I think it took five weeks.

We do not sail five
weeks anymore.

In the Whitbread or
the Volvo Ocean Race.

Five weeks was long.

What I discovered in
the second leg is that as

a human you can go
much further than you think.

A race like that is won
and lost on its navigation.

You could see sometimes other boats and
they hadn't taken their big sails down and

we had early and then they'd
catch up with us but then the wind

would kick in and we would be
under control and we'd take off.

I think that's when
I suddenly thought,

crikey, we actually
could do really well here.

As we were coming out
of the Southern Ocean up

towards Australia you're
starting to see blue sky.

The colour of the
sea starts to change.

It's like being reborn again.

Land smells and you can smell it days
and days out and particularly Australia.

All the eucalyptus and
this deep, hot earth smell.

The final few hours
coming out of the Southern

Ocean we hadn't got
any of the positions.

As we were sailing to the finishing line
the boats were coming out to meet us.

That's when we realised...

We've won it.

We've won it.

We've won this leg.

We've won this leg.

I mean it was mega.

It was absolutely mega.

The first time in 12
years a British boat has

won a leg of the Whitbread
Round the World Race.

As they crossed the line
the elation was obvious as the

crew celebrated the victory
many had said was impossible.

And soon afterwards they
replaced Maiden Sail with the

battle flag that summed up
the spirit of female defiance.

French boat L'Esprit de Liberté is endued
into Fremantle until tomorrow morning.

That was the leg we were all
meant to fail and then to have won

it and to have won it so
convincingly was more than anything.

I turned round and David Pritchard-Barrett
handed me the Beefeater trophy.

I'd followed the Whitbread
Round the World Race since 1974

and I had seen these Whitbread
trophies being waved around.

And all of a sudden one of
them was presented to our boat.

Couldn't have been happier.

I was like doing cartwheels.

That's what that was like.

The girls say their victory is
a victory for all women sailors.

You're a woman, you're told you have to
look like this, be like that, you have to

use this, use that, you
can't have spots, you

can't have this, you have
to wear the right things.

A German sailor knows she's spent 28
days, you know, had to wash, you know,

had to dress properly, you
know, had to do your hair.

It's great.

We loved it.

It was amazing.

What's the first
thing you want to do?

Get drunk.

Get drunk and eat
a bacon sandwich.

My mum was standing there with
this massive beaming smile on her face.

It's fantastic.

I hope my mascara's not running because
I've just been crying and crying with

pride and I'm just
going to burst, I'm sure.

I can't believe that that
little horror grew up to do this.

I really can't.

She was absolutely right.

Never stuck at anything,
gave up a drop of a hat.

This is the first time in my life I had
stood up for something I believed in.

And the harder it became, the
more I wanted to do it for her.

The guys from Rukenup,
they were not very happy.

They didn't like
to finish behind us.

The Belgians on Rukenor are
heard to say Maiden's win was a fluke.

We were beat by
Maiden with that leg.

They managed to perform
well and push the boat hard.

And I'm sure we said, OK, the Chicks won
and let's try to beat them the next leg,

so...

These girls were beating the guys on the
water and they were looking a bit sheepish.

I think a lot of people wanted
to dismiss it as a one-off.

Lucky leg, yeah.

Yeah.

I don't think we were
seen as the best.

I don't think we were seen
as the best boat to beat.

I remember thinking, why
wasn't it taken seriously?

The reason Maiden
entered the whip row was to

prove that women can
do things as well as men.

What the aggression
against Maiden did was

made me realise maybe
I am actually a feminist.

I'd begun a fight that I
didn't realise I was having.

Two seconds,
one, there's the gun.

And it's a really good start.

The next leg started a couple
of days before Christmas.

The popular is
nine miles behind.

S3 is nine miles behind.

And across the
lake is six behind.

Oh!

It's Christmas Day.

It's time to get up.

This is the best thing at home.

I know.

I didn't do any stupid underwear
that my mum always gives me.

Happy Christmas, everybody.

Cheers.

Cheers.

Go.

This is nice.

Lucky we've all got one.

The third leg from Fremantle
to Auckland is the shortest.

3,400 miles is
quite a short hop.

Now it's down to tactics.

And tactics is not
my strong point.

When you're racing boat against boat,
when you can see each other, it's that

they've tacked, we need to tack.

It's all quite tense.

Luckily, Dawn and Michelle and
Mickey were all really hot on tactics.

I think we were so
focused on doing well.

Knife it, stuff indeed.

In these conditions, one
mistake could mean disaster.

At one point, we were match racing
Rock and Ore, and we could see her.

We were close to
each other all the time.

I especially remember along the salt
shore of Australia where we were downwind,

jibing and crossing.

When there is another
sail on the horizon of one of

your competitors, you will
always find an extra gear.

She was in front of us, and
we spent all day overtaking her.

But Esprit de Liberté
was still ahead of us.

It looks like you can
see the writing of Liberté.

Very intense, it's very focused.

You are doing everything
you can to squeeze

the last bit of boat
speed out of that boat.

This is constant stress.

I started just sleeping
in the nav station

because it seemed pointless
going back to my bunk.

Most of us didn't sleep for
the last two or three days.

Just couldn't.

For the last few hours, we were match
racing down the coast of New Zealand.

And then it got dark.

Then we didn't have
any more positions.

There is nothing more
scary than ghosting

through the darkness not
knowing where they were.

We kind of thought by
the time we got in, midnight

on a Sunday, no one's
going to be out and about.

As we were coming
in, Dawn said, Is that...

Is that loads of little birds on
the top of that wharf over there?

What is that?

And we realised it's people.

It's people.

Thousands of people.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE MUSIC
PLAYS MUSIC FADES MUSIC FADES

MUSIC FADES MUSIC FADES MUSIC FADES MUSIC
FADES We crossed the finishing line and

that's when we realised that
L'Esprit wasn't out behind us.

It was just after midnight when Maiden
slipped across the line an hour ahead of

arch-rival, the French
shot, L'Esprit de Liberté.

To win such a long Southern Ocean
leg and then to go and do the tactical one.

Yeah, that was really
the icing on the cake now.

Nobody believed that we
were going to do as well.

By the time we got to
Auckland, we were walking tall.

Everybody was beside themselves.

It proved, if there had
been any doubts, that the

all-women win in the
previous leg was no fluke.

They were quite simply the
best crew, male or female.

The sideshow started.

We sort of started moving
into the main circus tent.

You look pretty tired though.

You've been trying hard
with these Frenchmen and

Belgians and Germans
coming at you from all directions.

Oh yeah.

We're a very competitive class.

They wanted revenge, this leg.

And we were determined
they weren't going to have it.

They've pushed us very hard.

We've pushed them very hard.

We've all enjoyed it.

And we feel that
definitely this leg accepted

us as equals and raced
against us as such.

And in Division D at the halfway
stage, Maiden leads L'Esprit.

And in Division III,
Liberté by 16 hours.

The public reaction
was overwhelming.

They were like gods.

It was really cool.

They were heroines.

Well, heroes they were.

Because they were
regarded as men by that time.

What's your name?

Joyce.

What's your name?

Sorry?

Helen.

Helen.

You felt like a pop
star, but you aren't.

People at street
say, hey, Tonya.

We didn't know that
people knew us like that.

Two Maiden girls are a
lot, lot better than boys.

All of a sudden it dawned on
us that actually we could win.

Even I became competitive
because I'm not competitive at all.

And even I was saying, you
know, yeah, we can do this.

We can do this.

When kids come down to the boats and they
know everyone's name, they know all the

crew's name, they know what we all
do, what job on the boat, it's really good.

I should have been now supremely
confident that we could win the next legs.

But actually, I was
gripped by fear.

I thought, if we lose
now, I've lost this for us.

The lowest leg.

But I was now more terrified of not doing
well than I ever had been at the start.

These ladies, they really had the idea,
we're going to just get around the world

and now they're winning
their division and they want

to really prove that they
can do something here.

There's the gun and the
Whitbeck fleet is on its way.

We weren't naive.

We knew it was going to be long.

We knew it was going to be wet.

We knew it was going to be hard.

Smile!

And you could feel the jitters.

I could feel the
jitters in all of us.

At this point, we were getting
towards the end of the race, really.

The idea was that
you'd build up a big lead,

then you take your
chances around Cape Horn.

Often, I just sat there on my
own in the middle of the night.

Glow of the instruments, everyone's
on watch, other people are asleep,

re-going over everything.

I'll just have another
look at that weather chart

and I'll just have
another think about this.

I overthought it, basically.

And I put us in a really bad position
to come up towards Cape Horn.

Nine days and we
haven't reached 11 knots.

Mark this off because
there's no fucking wind.

She just got more and
more stressed, really.

And was permanently
sleeping in her chair.

You know, she was exhausted.

As we came up to Cape Horn, I
could see the other boats doing well.

25th February and we're 10
miles away from Cape Horn.

We've got not that much wind.

We've got the wind
dead behind us.

But she'll be able to
come up pretty soon.

Esprit is 55 miles
in front of us.

Hopefully, we'll get enough
wind to get us round Cape Horn.

We went round Cape Horn and then there was
the possibility of some options opening up

for us to be able to
pick up some ground.

So I decided to go for it.

Turning up and going up past
the Falklands, it got a bit busy.

There's only been a few times
in my life that it's been that rough.

Off and on a boat, you
know, you'll find the shortest

distances straight into
the wind, for example.

Well, boats don't sail into the
wind, so how far off do you go?

It's like hitting a brick wall in a car
without your seatbelt on every ten seconds.

It's just relentless.

There's a lot of slamming.

It takes a lot out of the boat.

I was in the nav station one night and
I suddenly realised my feet were wet.

I went up and saw who
was on deck and I said,

could you just have
a look at this water?

And by that point, it
was up to the first bunk.

We couldn't figure out where
the hell it was coming from.

We actually stopped in the boat.

Your mind starts racing.

You're like, aluminum boat, cracking
mast, maybe there's a crack in the hull,

so is there a possibility that
we're actually splitting the boat?

Are we breaking the
hull in these waves?

Are we pounding that much?

You've got to fix it.

You don't have a choice
about, OK, well, we've

done our best now, let's
call the repair people.

There are no repair people.

At some point, clearly,
your focus has to shift

to, OK, do we need to do
something more serious?

At one point, we called the Falkland
Islands and they scrambled an RAF Hercules.

They were on
standby for a mayday.

Well, Laura is being toughed
up and it's falling out again, so...

When you've rebuilt it
with your own hands, it

gives you an intimate
knowledge of the boat.

In the end, it was coming
in through the mast

because the boat was
taking such an uphill pounding.

Eventually, we sorted the
problem out and we got moving.

That really scuppered their
chances of doing anything in that leg.

Esprit de liberté, esprit
de liberté, maiden.

We'd had an overall lead of 18 hours
and we were now 16 hours behind.

She took on the job as skipper and
navigator, and most skippers will blame

the navigator and most
navigators blame the skipper, so

she really took on a huge
responsibility herself for that.

She just got more and more isolated
from the crew, if that makes sense.

You cannot lie in
the offshore sailing.

It's impossible to lie.

When you are three weeks, four
weeks at sea, there is no change.

You have to be yourself.

So you learn a lot about that.

You don't know that you
are learning, but at the end

you realise that you learn
and you are a different man.

I was pretty down in the dumps and finding
it quite hard to get myself out of that.

I actually had to pull her
up, bring her back into the

moment and say, you know,
this is what we are doing now.

We were very conscious of the fact
that when we came into Fort Lauderdale,

there would be criticism
of our performance.

We talked about
distracting the press a little

bit from the fact that
we had done so badly.

We call this shaving.

We also call it
shearing or carving.

All of the girls would have one clean,
It's a clean set of clothes and basically

that was put on just
before the finish line.

Tracy comes up and says, Sam, how about
we put on those bathing suits, you know?

Oh, well, which colour will I
have, the grey or the white?

We

had these very, these really
wonderful looking swimsuits.

We were all up for it,
it'd be a bit of a laugh.

In hindsight, we didn't
really think that through

enough with a, you
know, media savvy hat on.

It had quite an effect.

It was the most syndicated
sports photograph that year.

I still felt awful, I
mean really awful.

Everyone else wants you
to be happy, so you smile.

We thought if you can't
win, wear swimsuits.

You have responsibility to your shore team
and to everyone that's come to see you in.

Then you go to your hotel room, you burst
into tears and you drink a lot of alcohol.

Tracy admits she's made one or two wrong
decisions on this leg and yet it seems

that the women stand by here
and don't make a fuss about it.

Oh, she's the skipper and what she says
goes and we'll always stand behind her.

We've been together for a long
time now and it's, we're very close.

We know each other very
well and it's, it is a special crew.

And you've known Tracy
for even longer, haven't you?

I have, yeah.

How long?

Uh, 15 years.

We worked it out the other day.

It's quite a long time,
since we were 12.

And when you were 12-year-olds,
did you ever talk about this?

No.

No.

No, you wouldn't think that
anything like this was going to happen.

It's just amazing to
think that you're doing

what you want to do,
sailing around the world.

It's amazing.

The things that used to get talked
about, the expectation of how we'd be,

that we'd be a bunch of bitches or we'd
be, you know, pulling each other's hair

out and, and arguing all the time
just wasn't a true reflection at all.

Actually, we were a great team.

Well, no, no, no,
we'll just get on with it.

We won together as a team
and we lost together as a team.

But that didn't
make it any better.

I still felt miserable.

What she was thinking was,
oh, we can't win this race now.

What I and others were
trying to say to her was,

we can't write it off,
anything could happen.

Anything could happen to any
boat like it's just happened to us.

You are only allowed one bag.

We were very conscious of not
taking any excess weight on the last leg.

I hope that we were
going to go for this.

One bag.

And that is really it.

It's very strict.

Sorry.

We can't afford
anything more than that.

The mood was definitely, right,
this is it, this is our last shot.

Five, four, three, two, one.

So it should be a spectacular and all
action start then as the fleet head down

Fort Lauderdale Beach to the turning
mark around six miles away from here.

We had a good start.

When we thought, right, we are going to
win this and we're not just here to be the

first girls anymore, we're
here to be the first girls that win.

The optimism faded
extremely quickly.

Wind, there was no wind.

This was a long, slow leg.

Very few opportunities to do
anything different from the other boats.

The disadvantage
of being heavier.

So far we've been out here an
awful lot longer than we expected.

It's been a very elongated leg and I think
we're all finding it a little bit hard to

believe we are actually
ever going to get there.

You cannot change the wind.

You cannot change the direction.

So we had to deal with it.

It's not over till it's over.

All sorts of things can happen.

So you never stop racing
until right up to the very end.

They are a little bit tired too.

They have spent four months
in the air in front of the sun.

They are a little
bit in a bad state.

We were very, very
close to England.

We knew they were behind.

They are two miles ahead of me.

It was a night with three
knots of current wind.

It was a night and they
were just sitting spinnaker.

We were against the current.

We decided to go as close
as we could to the banks.

And suddenly, BANG!

We hit the banks.

We could see Rackanore up ahead.

We were stuck on a sandbank.

We had a full crew on
the boom to heal the boat.

And I could hear the noise of the sand
and everything and the current on the keel.

And we were hitting that.

We realised that we had
the chance to overtake.

They could have
stuck there for a while.

We were sort of grooving up behind
and then the wind kept dropping on us.

And, you know, the gods
were not in our favour.

We managed to get moving again.

So we were quite happy.

We could relax.

It was really in the last few days that
we realised we couldn't make up the time.

That we weren't
going to be first.

I was heartbroken.

I was just absolutely
devastated.

I felt like we'd
achieved nothing.

I'd seen a glimpse
of what we could do.

We could have won.

I was absolutely
dreading the end.

Oh, I just didn't
want to go home.

We'd spotted the
needles at sunrise.

It was a really calm day.

Calm on the boat.

Everybody was doing what we do.

By that time, we didn't need to talk
to do any of the manoeuvres we did.

We thought each other's thoughts
before we realised we were thinking them.

I didn't feel the need to speak.

I didn't feel the need
to say anything at all.

It was just the closeness.

That was the special thing.

We respected each other.

We trusted each other.

There was never an argument.

I remember thinking, what a huge
journey we've all been through.

That amazing adventure
would be over, you know?

And I'd miss those girls deeply.

We saw a boat on
the horizon coming out.

A little tiny dinghy appeared
with a couple of kids in it.

Kids not very old,
maybe twelve-ish.

I think Nancy said, oh,
there must be a race.

And we said, oh,
isn't that fantastic?

They're starting early.

And they just came alongside.

We said, hello.

They said, hello.

We said, are you just going
to come up this island with us?

They said, yeah.

And then we saw another boat.

We thought they were
going to motor past.

And then they sort of turned round
and started motoring alongside us.

And then more and more
and more boats turned up.

It was an awakening.

I mean, it was just
surreal, the whole thing.

It just kept getting bigger
and bigger and bigger.

We didn't know.

Nobody told us that
it would be like that.

I remember the boat we took.

All the photographers.

Is that all for us?

It

didn't make any sense to me.

I actually thought there must be somebody
more important coming up behind us.

Because it just didn't
make any sense.

It's just that thing of
disbelief, you know?

Just looking around at all these
people that have come out to...

to see you.

And one of the boats has
got all our families on board.

I'm

getting emotional now.

Sorry.

I wasn't expecting that.

It was brilliant.

It was brilliant.

It was brilliant.

I mean, no one cared
that we hadn't won.

There was a bigger
picture than winning.

We had done so much more
than what we had set out to do.

We were doing something that
we were told that we couldn't do.

I think if you believe in
everything that people tell

you you can't do, what would
humankind have achieved?

Right?

Michelle handed the wheel over to me and
as she was handing the wheel over to me,

all the ship's horns in
Southampton docks went

off and all the boats
around us blew their horns.

And the noise was, sorry, the noise
was just, it was completely overwhelming.

It just really cemented that
moment in everyone's heads,

you know, it was just that
moment was there forever.

We came around
the corner into Ocean

Village and it was
just wall to wall people.

That was without a doubt
one of the great welcomes that

any crew has ever had in
the Whip Red Race at all times.

We arrived in Southampton
in front of Maiden.

Hundreds, thousands
of people on the dock.

They were not there for us.

It was the first step
that Tracy made to show

the world that girls
could do a fantastic job.

And it was an open
door to other girls after.

I remember being deeply
proud of Tracy actually

and what she had
achieved to get us there.

She did it.

She got us there.

Fair play.

Let's face it, without Tracy
there would be no Maiden.

Tracy Edwards is the first woman to be
named Britain's Yachtsman of the Year.

Look at the little duck,
ladies and gentlemen.

This is Tracy Edwards.

Very, very, very, very well
done from the rest of the world.

The experience of sailing
around the world with this...

Sorry.

Amazing group of women.

Just took everything to a
whole new level in my life.

They had a skipper
that was learning on the

job and they taught me
so much about myself.

They allowed me to be who I was.

You know, and I have some
horrendous flaws and they...

didn't matter.

Didn't matter.

Ladies and gentlemen,
the first ever...

women to receive the Yachtsman
of the Year trophy, Tracy Edwards.

I don't know what I need to say.

Which is unusual for me.

All I can say is that this should be
a reward for not only myself but for...

the marvellous
crew which I sail with.

Without whom none of
this could have happened.

It doesn't just take a skipper.

It takes a brilliant crew.

And that's what I've got.

And I'd like to say thank
you very much to them

for believing in me enough
to do the race with me.

I've worked with young
people who have a dream

but they don't believe
that they can achieve it.

And they say, oh, what
if I tell you a story about a

young girl who had a dream
about sailing around the world.

And they go...

And I think, OK, what if I tell
you that it did happen, you know.