Axxess Marine Supports S/Y Maiden’s Global Mission

Posted: Mar 19, 2020
Sailing Yacht Maiden carried the first all-female crew to sail around the world when Tracy Edwards MBE skippered her in the 1989/90 Whitbread Round the World Race. Despite fierce opposition, sexism and criticism, Tracy and her team not only reached the start and raced around the world, they won two of the toughest legs and came second overall. The man who believed in Maiden when no-one else did was HM King Hussein of Jordan, who funded the project through Royal Jordanian Airlines. Maiden was then sold at the end of the race and whilst Tracy went onto run further all-female crews, sadly Maiden deteriorated and was eventually abandoned in the Seychelles.

Fortunately Tracy rediscovered Maiden in 2015 and raised the funds to buy back her iconic yacht, and ship her back to the UK where HRH Princess Haya bint Hussein graciously funded the complete restoration, in honour of her father King Hussein of Jordan. Maiden set sail in November 2018 on a three-year, 90,000 mile world tour covering over 40 stops in over 20 countries. Maiden now has a new mission; to highlight and create awareness of the 130 million girls worldwide who currently are not afforded an education, having already raised funds for charities currently facilitating that basic human right.

Maiden will be challenging social norms and through the presence of the boat and her massive global reach, will be changing the narrative around what girls can achieve. The Maiden Factor aims to increase their already significant impact by reaching millions of girls and their families and communities in countries around the world, to reshape how people think about girls and how they are valued.

At each stopover Maiden engages with the local communities, where the team coordinates various initiatives; presentations at schools and yacht clubs, ‘Open Days’ on the boat, fundraising for The Maiden Factor and working with young people to understand and challenge social norms.

Axxess Marine are pleased to be able support The Maiden Factor with a donation of a Pepwave World LTEA router and AX antenna, to ensure Maiden and her crew are equipped with state of the art LTEA cellular communications throughout their challenging voyage.

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