Tracy Edwards is an inspiration to anyone harboring a grand ambition who is starting at ground zero with no money, no experience, and no resources. And her story is especially inspiration to young women looking to compete in a male-dominated field. The movie is a documentary about a young woman, Tracy Edwards, who amazes the world with her round-the-world ocean racing success. It is an inspiring story of grit, determination, and never taking “no” as an answer.
The movie chronicles Tracy’s life starting with when she leaves school at age 15 and lands a job as a charter yacht crew in the Mediterranean. One day she spots a fleet of Maxi yachts in port for their ocean race stop-over and quickly becomes captivated by the dream of signing on as crew in the Whitbread Round the World Race which, at the time, was an exclusively male sport. Through perseverance and constancy of purpose, she becomes the first woman to sail around the world on a Maxi yacht, but her dreams didn’t end there. In her early 20’s, shortly after her first circumnavigation, Tracy set out to launch and skipper her own boat in the Whitbread with an all-female crew.
The obstacles she had to overcome were massive: raising millions in funds for the campaign, finding female crew with ocean sailing experience, training… And she does all this with a variety of negative reactions from the press and sailing community including ridicule, disbelief, and general dismissiveness. Despite the many hurdles, Tracy and her crew go on to win two legs of the 1990 Whitbread race, finished in second place overall in their class, and had the best performance of a British boat in 17 years. For her accomplishments, Tracy was the first female recipient of the Yachtsman of the Year award. Her endeavors radically changed the perception of women in ocean racing and paved the way for many others to follow.
Not only is this a great film for its inspirational story about never giving up, it also has great footage and action for those intrigued by ocean sailing.