Heather Thomas and her all-women Maiden crew have been crowned the 2023 McIntyre Ocean Globe champions during a lavish mid-summer day poolside prize-giving party, hosted by and at Marco Trombetti’s Translated villa headquarters in Rome.
The party, attended by VIPs from around the world and some 200 OGR crew members flying in from 13 of the yachts to have completed the gruelling 27,000 mile round the world yacht race around Cape Horn, celebrated long into the night. Thomas and her crew, the first all women team to win a crewed global race, were among the first to jump into the pool to celebrate.
Marco Trombetti, who raced aboard his company-sponsored Swan 65 yacht Translated 9 (previously ADC Accutrac in the 1977 Whitbread race skippered by the first female skipper Clare Francis) said of this amateur inspired race marking the 50th anniversary of the first Whitbread Round Race back in 1973:
“This race has had a marked effect on all of us. It has certainly changed me. We won two legs … and also broke our boat … twice! But we persevered to complete the course. It has all been an extraordinary life-changing experience!” – MARCO TROMBETTI, LEG 1 & 3 CO-SKIPPER OF TRANSLATED 9 & CO-FOUNDER/CHAIRMAN AT TRANSLATED
Heather Thomas was full of praise, not only for her Maiden crew who came from all walks of life and 12 nationalities, but for Tracy Edwards whose drive and vision masterminded a repeat of her own all women adventure in the same yacht during the 1989/90 Whitbread.
“I’m so proud of this crew and what we have achieved. There is such a strong bond between us. We’ve achieved our goal of showing what women can do, raising several £100,000s for Tracy’s ‘Maiden Factor’ charity campaign to raise awareness about the millions of girls worldwide who are unable to access an education.” – HEATHER THOMAS, SKIPPER OF MAIDEN
