Maiden sets sail with six charity partners in collaborative girls’ education campaign
Melanie May | 7 September 2018 | News
Maiden, the first vessel to be sailed around the world by an all-female crew, is to set sail once more to promote girls’ education in a collaborative campaign with six charities and The Maiden Factor Foundation.
The Maiden was sailed by the all-female crew in the 1989-90 Whitbread Round The World Race, and has recently been restored. On 22 September, she will set sail for a three-year world tour that sees The Maiden Factor Foundation, the charity set up by Maiden owner and sailor Tracey Edwards MBE, and six charity partners unite to raise funds and campaign against the barriers stopping girls from reaching their full potential.
The Maiden Factor Foundation has teamed up with Fields of Life, Just a Drop, Orchid Project, Room to Read, The Girls’ Network and Why Comics?. Together, they aim to raise funds and campaign to ‘empower a girl, and change the world together’.
Thank you to @FieldsofLife @Just_a_Drop @WhyComicsOrg @OrchidProject @TheGirlsNet @RoomtoRead for partnering with @maidenfactor and for your incredible and inspirational work getting girls into education. You rock! #Humbled #inspired #girlpower pic.twitter.com/3rLecnRVAF
— Tracy Edwards (@TracyEdwardsMBE) September 5, 2018
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Yesterday (5 September) saw The Maiden Factor Foundation and its charity partners unite for the first time aboard the yacht to launch the campaign. Decorated yachtswomen Dee Caffari MBE, Wendy Tuck and Nikki Henderson, all confirmed as skippers for legs of the tour, were also there to meet the charities, along with Prince Charles and The Duchess of Cornwall, and Princess Haya Bint Al Hussein.
Thank you to Amelia Ralphs, Belle Henry, Tilly Ajanko, Mezza Sutherland, Nikki Henderson, Wendo Tuck and Dee Caffari for everything you have done and are doing for @maidenfactor – You are all just amazing! #Maideninspires @AIP_World #AnythingisPossible #sailing pic.twitter.com/BVvWfZFDXB
— Tracy Edwards (@TracyEdwardsMBE) September 5, 2018
The restoration and the yacht’s upcoming journey has been made possible by the support of Princess Haya Bint Al Hussein, in a tribute to her father King Hussein I, who was integral in making the original Maiden journey possible.
Maiden will set sail from the Southampton Boat Show at 2pm on 22 September to begin the world tour, which will take in 30 destinations in 22 countries. At each stop, the crew will dock and meet with community-led, and girl-centred programmes to promote girls’ rights and schooling for all. Maiden will be sailed by an all-female crew throughout the journey, but men will also be allowed to sail on Maiden as paying guests to help to raise funds for girls’ education.
Tracy Edwards said:
“Very few believed in Maiden and the all-female crew behind her record-breaking achievements. I know what it’s like to have barriers, and voices of doubt around you. But, I also know what it feels like to break them, and that you can’t do it alone. It takes grit and hard work but most importantly I believe it takes support. That’s what Maiden’s new voyage is about. It’s about campaigning and raising funds to help ensure that every girl has the support she needs to reach her full potential, because with that support – anything is possible. “
About Melanie May
Melanie May is a journalist and copywriter specialising in writing both for and about the charity and marketing services sectors since 2001. She can be reached via thepurplepim.com.