Kate Ledgard (2008-2015) sailed around the world on The Maiden in the 2023 Ocean Globe Race, alongside an all-female crew. The women were not only racing, but also sailing with the purpose of supporting girls’ education around the world through The Maiden Factor Foundation. Maiden was first skippered by Tracy Edwards (MBE), leading an all-female crew in the highly challenging Whitbread Round the World Race in 1989/90. Tracy was forced to sell Maiden at the end of the race, but later brought it back to the UK when she learned the 58 ft yacht had been abandoned and was rotting in the Seychelles. After extensive restoration in Southampton, The Maiden Factor was born.
Kate has a strong sailing background, with both parents being keen sailors and her childhood spent sailing around Plymouth Sound. Kate is described as a “fine athlete” on The Maiden Factor website, and it goes on to say, “as a qualified doctor on board she is sure to be an asset, albeit the hope is that she is not called on too often!”.
Kate will feature in the next edition of The 1633, so please look out for this article. In the meantime, here’s a short snippet of what this young sailor had to say about the moment her and the crew knew they’d won, “When we left Uruguay, we needed to be 5 days ahead of the French boat Triana to win overall on corrected time IRC. For most of the final leg we didn’t know where they were, but worryingly we knew we had already missed out on winning our class that leg. When we arrived in Cowes at the finish, we were told the news that they were approximately five days behind us. We spent the next week anxiously checking the forecast, the wind was getting lighter, giving us more of a chance. We were working on the boat when we officially got the news that the five days had officially elapsed, and our competitor boat hadn’t finished. So no one could beat our corrected time overall, celebrations started immediately”.
The Exeter School community send their congratulations to all the women aboard The Maiden and look forward to hearing about Kate’s next seafaring adventure.
Thanks to ©The Maiden Factor/Kaia Bint Savage for the wonderful photography.
