© Pia Torelli

Three-Year World Tour to Empower Girls Through Education

New York—May 31, 2022

  • The Maiden Factor’s mission is to work with, raise funds for and support communities around the world to enable girls into education and empower and support them to remain in school through their teenage years to reach their full potential and create better futures.
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  • Global logistics leader DP World, the title sponsor ofMaiden’s 2021-2024 World Tour, employs a strategy of ‘Our World, Our Future,’ prioritizing sustainability and impact on the people, communities and environment where they operate.

Together with DP World, the iconic yachtMaiden and her all-female crew will arrive in New York on June 1, with a mission to raise awareness and funds for girls’ educational projects around the world and change the narrative around what a girl can achieve. Maiden will meet with a flotilla of boats at the iconic Statue of Liberty at 5 pm EST, where it will then be escorted to One 15 Brooklyn Marina.


© Pia Torelli

While in New York for the month of June,Maiden will engage with school children, charities, outreach programs and organizations committed to inspiring and empowering girls through education, with a particular focus on STEM. Maiden will also host boat tours, fundraising events and a screening of the award-winning documentary ‘Maiden,’ to be held at Pier 17, South Street Seaport Museum on June 13. 

Maidenshows what a girl can achieve if just one person believes in her,” said Tracy Edwards, founder of the Maiden Factor Foundation. Edwards captained Maiden when she was just 26 years old, spearheading the first all-female crew to ever sail around the world. Maiden’s vision today is a world where every girl has access to 12 years of quality education, equipping them to choose their future and fulfill their dreams.

Never has the education of girls been so important; over 130 million girls are not in education and, as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic and conflict around the world, it is estimated that an additional 11 million+ girls will not return to school or be able to access remote learning opportunities. This will affect the most vulnerable girls throughout the world, impacting their lives now and in the future. 

Maiden began her current three-year world tour in Dubai in December 2021; to date, she has made her way through the Suez Canal with a stop in Palma, Majorca to prepare for the Trans-Atlantic crossing. She arrived in Miami at the end of April 2021 and will now sail up the East Coast with stopover hubs in Miami, Charleston, Annapolis, Nauticus, Kingston (hosted by our friends at the Hudson River Maritime Museum), Long Island, Saint John (Canada) and back to Newport. In October, Maiden will sail to the Azores and on to Dakar, finishing the first year of the world tour at sea between stopovers from Cape Town to Maputo, Mozambique.

A full schedule of events and activities in New York is available here.