Who Designed Maiden The Yacht?

Maiden is a 17.7-meter aluminium ocean racing yacht designed by Bruce Farr in 1979. It was bought by Edwards in 1987 to compete in the 1989–90 Whitbread Round the World Race with an all-female crew. The yacht achieved good results and broke records, leading to Edwa’s victory.

The commission for the design came from the Maiden, which was the only British yacht in the Ocean Globe Race. The yacht was skippered by 27-year-old Heather Thomas, who took a brave risk by remortgaging her house to buy the boat and mortgaged it to pay for the refit. On November 21, 2023, Maiden arrived in Cape Town, 41 days, 7800 miles from the start in the Solent on September 10. Tracy Edwards made history in 1989 as the skipper of the first all-female crew to sail around the world in the Whitbread Round the World Yacht Race.

The yacht Maiden was originally designed by Bruce Farr under the name DISQUE DOR 3, but it took so long to raise the funding that the idea was scrapped. In 1987, Tracy mortgaged the boat to pay for the refit. Over 30 years since changing the world in the 8990 Whitbread, Maiden has sailed the seas with an all-female crew once again.