The 58 ft. yacht Maiden, that raced in the 1989/90 Whitbread Round the World Race will visit St. Maarten this week. Maiden has been fully restored and is currently on a round-the-world tour raising funds and awareness for girls' education initiatives. (Photo: Kurt Arrigo.)
SIMPSON BAY-- Yacht Maiden is set to sail into St. Maarten Thursday and go throught the 5:00pm Simpson Bay Bridge.
Maiden carried the first all-female crew to ever sail around the world when Tracy Edwards skippered her in the 1989/90 Whitbread Round the World Race (now known as the Volvo Ocean Race). Tracy and her team battled the odds and the cynics and sailed into the record books winning two legs of the world’s toughest sailing race and placing second overall, the best result for a British yacht since 1977 and unbeaten to this day.
Maiden was sold after the race and fell into disrepair before being discovered again by Edwards in 2014, rotting away in the Seychelles. The boat has since undergone an extensive refit and has been restored to her former glory.
Now, the 58 ft. yacht Maiden is sailing around the world again with an all-female crew on a new mission to raise awareness and funds for girls’ education around the globe on a two-year world tour on behalf of the Maiden Factor Foundation.
The highly acclaimed and award winning documentary film “Maiden” has recently been taking the world by storm and will be shown at the Caribbean Cinema Megaplex 7 in Cole Bay while the boat is on-island for 2 special matinee screenings this Saturday and Sunday, at 2:00pm, with a Q & A afterwards with the crew.
The boat will be hosting an “Open Day” to the public on Saturday from 9:00-12:00 at the Sint Maarten Yacht Club dock to come on board and tour this iconic yacht with a suggested donation of $10 to go to the Maiden Factor Foundation. A presentation at the SMYC is scheduled for Sunday at 6:30, also open to the public at no charge.
While on their stopover to St. Maarten, the Maiden crew will be doing presentations at four local high schools, as well as taking teenagers out sailing on Friday, Sunday, and Monday from the Kids at Sea program and the SMYC Sailing School.
“The arrival of Maiden the yacht and “Maiden” the film is such an exciting event for our community. We are thrilled to welcome this remarkable yacht and crew to our island, spreading their message of hope while raising funds to empower underserved girls and women unable to access an education, especially in poverty stricken countries,” said Janet Robertson-Morton, Board of Directors of the SMYC.
The trailer to the film can be seen at https://www.sonyclassics.com/maiden/
For more information on the Maiden Factor Foundation, visit www.themaidenfactor.org.
