Maiden heads to India for Maiden Factor World Tour

Tracy Edwards MBE, founder of The Maiden Factor project, is delighted to see the iconic yacht Maiden and her all-female crew making her way through Suez and on to Kerala, India for the first stopover of the world tour on their mission to raise awareness of girls’ education.

“We are so grateful to the Anything Is Possible global initiative, launched by HRH Princess Haya Bint Al Hussein, honouring the legacy of HM King Hussein I, which aims to support, promote and inspire the best in people,” said Tracy.

“The generous and unwavering support we received in the rescue and restoration of Maiden was vital for us to overcome the bumps and obstacles we faced to get Maiden into the water. Now Anything Is Possible’s role is complete with Maiden restored to her former glory, she and the new crew can begin their new journey we are now officially on The Maiden Factor World Tour with over 50,000 nautical miles ahead of us, heading for our first stopover in Kerala, India.” she added.

The Maiden Factor team is working with some amazing organisations and initiatives in India who facilitate girls into education, transform their lives and life choices; some of their support programmes continue outside the classroom, such as providing dormitories for students to stay in while they take their exams as they have no electricity in their homes to revise. These students and their teachers will be guests of honour when Maiden reaches Kerala in February 2019.

Iconic yacht Maiden – photo © Kaia Bint Savage

The Maiden Factor world tour will take in over 23 destinations in 13 countries, where the skipper and crew will dock and meet schools, schoolchildren, teachers and with charities supporting equal access to education and community-led educational projects. The all-female crew will listen to the girls’ stories and achievements, and carry those stories around the world to inspire others.

The crew of the 58ft (17m) Maiden yacht, led by skipper Tracy Edwards MBE, inspired a generation of women and defied critics at a time when the ability of an all-female crew to compete in the notoriously difficult 1989/90 Whitbread Round the World Race was questioned.

The crew won two legs of the race and came second overall, the best result for a British boat since 1977, and which remains unmatched to this day.

Tracy concluded: “Maiden changed my life and now she can help change the lives of girls who are not in education. Sailing on Maiden with a team of women proved to me that anything was possible and through hard work and following my dreams I could reach my full potential. Education can give girls that possibility to increase their life opportunities, as Maiden did for me, my team and others who were inspired by her.”

For further information themaidenfactor.org or email media@themaidenfactor.org

Muktangan School – photo © Kaia Bint Savage