Tracy Edwards

The former Maiden skipper spoke to James Boyd about her latest plans for the Jules Verne Trophy

There has been much gurgling in the pipeline that is rumour central recently about Tracy Edwards, champion of women's offshore racing and the prospects of her making another attempt on the Jules Verne Trophy. madforsailing caught up with the former Maiden Great Britain skipper and her 18 month old daughter McKenna at the recent launch of Alphagraphics, Helena Darvelid's female-crewed entry in the EDS Atlantic Challenge.

Tracy likes cats. She caught the bug in a big way when she was campaigning the former Formule TAG/ ENZA New Zealand with her all-girl team in the Jules Verne Trophy.

Royal & SunAlliance's attempt on the non-stop round the world record came to an abrupt halt when she dismasted the wrong side of Cape Horn, although the team could console themselves - at the time they were ahead of the existing record.

Ever since then, Tracy has felt a strong sense of unfinished business and has been looking for funds to mount a new attempt on the Jules Verne in another big multihull.

For the last three years or so though the Jules Verne Trophy has been overshadowed by The Race, an event which Tracy had built into her sponsorship proposal. Unfortunately she had no success raising a sponsor in time. She attributes this to a wrinkly, attention seeking new feature of her life - her new born baby, McKenna.

"I was full on, looking after her and paying the mortgage. It is the first time I've failed to raise money, but I did have my hands full with the baby," she explains. In fact despite the distractions, Tracy admits her heart was not completely in The Race. "It was a distraction for us. We wanted to do the Jules Verne."

As a new mother, Tracy has adapted her role in her prospective team to suit. She will not be sailing, but will continue to be the team's figurehead and Project Manager. This will allow her to keep an eye on McKenna while acting as shore-side liaision for the project.

"Most people hate the management part of a project, but I love it. I love organising the logistics. It is a match made in heaven...and I can do it from home without getting cold, wet and miserable."

Fortunately she says that all her original team have expressed an interest in coming back. "The great thing about having the same team is we've all done it before," she comments. "The boat will be bigger and faster, but there won't be much difference with the basics."

During our interview there is some confusion over when her team hopes to make its Jules Verne attempt. I assume it is this winter, as Tracy is talking about getting her boat then, but in fact wisely she is looking at taking a year to let the crew get used to sailing the new boat. Their attempt will not be until the winter of 2002/3.

The advantage of this is that many of her crew will be tied up this winter with Volvo Ocean Race, Open 60 and trimaran projects, but should be available next year. "It will help us run a more relaxed project," she says. "And all the stuff they do is such a great experience for the Jules Verne."

But a downside to setting off 18 months from now is that the record may well be much harder to break by then. Currently the Jules Verne Trophy is held by Frenchman Olivier de Kersauson who set a time of 71 days 14 hours 18 minutes and 8 seconds in 1997 aboard his trimaran Sport Elec. However several people will be mounting challenges to break his record this coming winter and with the new generation of larger multihulls built for The Race chomping at the bit to have a crack at this record, the chances of it falling are good.

Among the candidates are Steve Fossett who like Edwards has always had the Jules Verne, rather than The Race, as his primary goal and de Kersauson himself who at present has the world's largest racing trimaran under construction to make a new assault on his record.

Tracy is adamant about the year of preparation and in this respect her program strongly ressembles that of Royal & SunAlliance. In fact her work up program will be nearly identical with the same schedule of record attempts including the west to east transatlantic (from New York to the Lizard), round Britain, Cowes to St Malo (a record which Royal & SunAlliance still holds) and the 24 hour record. Sailing with a female crew gives you the advantage of a possible double whammy - if you don't break the main record you can normally set a women's record.

See page two to find out what her new boat will be...