Maiden * * * * ½

        I hate boats.  Put me on one of those things and I end up vomiting every time.  But if someone else want's to do it for me and bring back the footage I'm okay with that.  A bit like outer space.
        This remarkable documentary is about an event from thirty years ago. I'm amazed that it's taken this long before someone made it. I'm even more surprised that no one has attempted to turn it into a feature film.  It's got all the drama and excitement you could want.
          There was a famous race called the Whitbread.  I later learnt that it has been renamed twice and it's one of many round the world yacht races. But the 1989 Whitbread was about the most challenging and grueling race ever.  At 32,000 nautical miles, participants could expect to be sailing for eight months at least, with just a few short breaks.

Girls just wanna have fun...and beat ya!

        Yacht racing has always been a bit of a mans sport apparently and they don't want any wimpy vomit boys like me on board. So you can imagine how they felt about girls wanting to participate.
        Tracy Edwards came from a troubled background.  At sixteen she left home and went backpacking. She ended up in Greece, which is where she learnt how to sail and cook.  She learnt about the Whitbread race when she was working as a cook/deckhand on a yacht.  She became obsessed with it. But no team would take a girl on.  However they'd let her be a galley slave, working downstairs cooking for the crew (nice guys hey?).  Sick of rejection, or being offered "girls work", in the end Tracy decided she was going to get her own boat and do it herself -  and her crew would be all girls.  She'll show 'em.
        Aside from the challenge of acquiring a yacht worth more than a house, she'd also need sponsorship.  I'm sure sponsors today would jump on board, but back then her all-girl crew was considered a joke. They wouldn't even write serious articles about her.
       Did she succeed?  What was the outcome?  Who was the surprise backer of  Tracy and her crew in the end? Not telling you. It'd be an absolute spoiler.
       This is an excellent documentary.  Somehow director Alex Holmes has managed to collate enough old footage from film and television - along with interviews today - to make it visually enthralling. The fact that it all happened thirty years ago doesn't matter. It's wonderful inspiring stuff.  If you don't know the story don't read about it first, you'll regret it - just go sea see.  And if you know a girl that needs some inspiration take her with you.