Tracy Edwards

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

And who will be the sponsor?
"At present we're talking to three companies. We're quite far down the road with them," Tracy says. She will not divulge their names for obvious reasons at this stage, but confirms that one is looking to carry the complete sponsorship, while the other two are looking to bring other sub-sponsors on board.

Rather like Pete Goss after he finished the Vendee Globe, Edwards speaks about getting sponsor from the perspective of someone who knows this cat and mouse game well. Her attitude, like Pete's was then, is not whether she will get sponsorship, but when.

"I've built up a good network of business contacts," she explains. This is not only from when she has been on the sponsorship trail before, but also through her current work as a motivational speaker. Her company Tracy Edwards Associates Motivation, which conveniently spells the acronym TEAM, has other sports people on its books such as David Gower, Randulph Fiennes and Seb Coe and deals in 'the ideals learned from sport and adventure and transferring them to the business place'.

"Everyone has been so helpful this time. I think Ellen has done a lot of good. I think Kingfisher have shown what you can do with sponsorship if you you put your heart and soul into it." She also says that the Olympics have done "a truckload of good" to raise corporate awareness of sailing as a worthwhile sport to sponsor, as has Peter Harrison's GBR Challenge America's Cup campaign.
The budget for her campaign is £5-6 million over 2.5 years.

To read about Tracy's views on women's sailing see page 4...