“For me, sailing is about freedom — freedom of everything. I was leaving everything behind,” says Tracy Edwards in a new trailer for “Maiden.” The documentary revisits Edwards’ dream come true: sailing the world. Then 24 and working as a cook in charter boats, she became the skipper of the first-ever all-female crew to enter the Whitbread Round the World in 1989, a time when sailing was very male-dominated.
“My parents instilled in me a sense of determination,” Edwards explains. That determination proved key in her 33,000 mile journey. Told that they weren’t strong or skilled enough and that they’d die, Edwards and her crew persisted, ignoring their sexist critics. “It was the first time in my life I stood up for something I believed in, and the harder it became, the more I wanted to do it,” she recalls.
“Maiden” made its world premiere at the 2018 Toronto International Film Festival and will screen for the first time in the U.S. at Sundance today, January 25. The film hits theaters June 28.
Check out the trailer to see the amazing greeting Edwards and Co. received after completing the first leg of the race.
