Two of Northland's top women sailors are sailing 7000km through the Pacific Ocean as part of a global sailing campaign on Maiden, the first Whitbread Round the World Race yacht with an all-female crew.
Olympian Sharon Ferris-Choat, from Kerikeri, and Rebecca Gmuer Hornell, from Russell, sailed from Auckland for Hawaii on Sunday as part of Maiden's global campaign boosting education for 130 million girls across the world who do not go to school.
Pioneering British yachtswoman Tracy Edwards MBE, created the two-year Maiden Factor campaign, which began from England in September last year. It is supported by Princess Haya bint Al Hussein of Jordan, daughter of the late King Hussein of Jordan who helped fund Maiden in the 80s.
Edwards wrote a new chapter in sailing history 30 years ago by skippering Maiden with the world's first all-women round-the-world race sailing crew, winning two of the race's five legs and arriving into Auckland in 1989. The sailors broke new ground in a male-dominated sport where Edwards was told women couldn't achieve.
Two-time Olympian Ferris-Choat, 45, has already been in two round-the-world sailing challenges with Edwards. She co-skippered Maiden on its Sydney-Auckland leg last month and is co-skippering the yacht to Hawaii.
