Tracy Edwards
The multihulls of the The Race generation are currently extremely popular record breakers: The former "Innovation Explorer" is currently racing non-stop around the globe as "Orange", and Grant Dalton's former? Club Med? is ready to go in Cadiz and is waiting for a suitable weather window to tackle the 3884 nautical miles to San Salvador, the so-called Route of Discovery.
The special thing about it: The crew around skipper Tracy Edwards should only consist of women. But the team is still mixed. Warriors like Brian Thompson ("Playstation"), Paul Larsen ("Team Philips") or Guillermo Altadil (The Race, Volvo Ocean Race) are still on board the giant ship for this first official appearance of the project.
Skipper Tracy Edwards, who in 1989 led the first all-women crew to the Whitbread race with "Maiden" and was awarded by the British Queen for this and for her achievements during the regatta, remains ashore. Sponsorship negotiations are on Edwards' calendar. On the trip she will be represented by the experienced women Adrienne Cahalan from Australia (she navigated the Whitbread and the Open 60 "Kingfisher" and was already part of the German Admiral's Cup team) and Helen Darvelid from Sweden (skippered the Open 60 "AlphGraphics" at the EDS Atlantic Challenge last year).
The record for the transatlantic route is currently 10 days, 14 hours, 53 minutes and 44 seconds. He is held - which is not without a certain irony - by the boat on which Edwards' troop set out to break him: "Club Med". Tracy Edwards: "This is a very difficult record. If the weather conditions are not exactly right, it will be difficult. But even if it does not work, we will use the passage as intensive training."
