Tracy Edwards
About
Tracy skippered the first all-female crew in the Whitbread Round the World Yacht Race (in 1989), becoming the first woman to receive the Yachtsman of the Year Trophy and was awarded the Order of the British Empire.
Tracy Edwards MBE was born in Britain on 5 September 1962, at Pangbourne, Berkshire. When she was ten, her father died. Her mother, Patricia, remarried, and the family moved to Gower, near Swansea. She was educated at Highlands School, Reading, and Gowerton Comprehensive School.
In 1985 she became the first woman to take part in the Whitbread Round The World Race. In the 1989-90 Whitbread Race she skippered the first all-female crew. The Yachting Journalists Association voted her ‘Yachtsman of the Year’.
Tracy Edwards won international fame 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 boat won two legs and came second overall in her class. The best result for a British boat since 1977.
In 1990 Tracy was awarded Sportswoman of the Year and an MBE. She was the first woman to achieve acceptance by the British yachting community and paved the way for other women.
In 2005 Tracy staged the first ever round the work sailing event to start and finish in the Middle East by putting on The Oryx Quest 05 in Qatar.
She has twice been married. At the end of 1999, after the birth of her daughter, Mackenna, Tracy retired from yacht racing. She began organising sailing projects internationally, and she has become a motivational speaker. She is closely involved in several organisations helping to give disadvantaged youngsters a second chance.
Tracy dedicates a large amount of her time to charity. Her three main charity commitments are as Patron of Regenerate UK, a small but highly effective charity working in Roehampton with disadvantaged young people, to the NSPCC as an Ambassador and as an Ambassador to Gingerbread which gives free advice and help to single parents.
Tracy is an accomplished motivational speaker who shows how to prepare for a contest by setting up potentially challenging situations and asking individuals to work out exactly what they would do in each.