Maiden: All-female crew hailed after round-the-world sail

Family and friends were there to greet and celebrate with the crew

A sailor from West Yorkshire has paid tribute to her crew after they successfully sailed around the world.

The 12-strong crew, led by Heather Thomas from Otley, crossed the finish line at the Isle of Wight on Tuesday.

Their voyage on board the vessel Maiden, as part of the Ocean Globe Race, took eight months to complete and covered 27,000 nautical miles.

Ms Thomas, 26, said the achievement was "testament to how amazing these women are".

"Even when things weren't going to plan, we still stayed together as a team and we still got the boat back safely," she added.

The Ocean Globe Race comprised four legs, with boats racing from Cowes to Cape Town, Auckland, and Punta del Este, Uruguay, before returning to the UK.

Maiden was the fifth boat to cross the finish line.

Maiden set sail in September

In 1989 Maiden became the first boat with an all-female crew to participate in the Whitbread Round the World Race - the predecessor to the Ocean Globe Race.

Tracy Edwards, was skipper of the boat in the 1989-90 race and is director of The Maiden Factor Foundation, a charity dedicated to the education of women and girls.

She said: "We are so proud of this talented and courageous, international all-female crew who have battled extremely unusual weather conditions around the world with only a sextant and paper charts."

Ms Edwards was among those to congratulate the crew when they finished

The 2023-24 Ocean Globe Race saw 14 boats representing eight countries taking part all without the use of modern technology.

Ms Thomas said some advice from a former coach had helped her at sea.

"I used to have a coach at Otley Sailing Club who said 'if you can sail at Otley, you can sail anywhere'," she recalled.

"I'm not sure he really realised how accurate that was."

The Maiden crew, which featured five Britons, completed the race at 11:52 BST on Tuesday.

"The first person we saw was Tracy, of course," said Ms Thomas.

"That was amazing and we've had an amazing welcome back here on land."