Maiden Movie

The Maiden Story Continues – Saving SUPs and Seeking a Spin

Cary Kaczowka Adventure Sailing, Community, Women Sailors 0 Comment
The Maiden Story Continues – Saving SUPs and Seeking a Spin

Ed. Note. a few days ago we learned PNWer Cary Kaczowka is a member of Maiden‘s important world voyage crew. Here she gives us some insight into life aboard, reveals big plans for Maiden, and relays a request for help. Anyone got a spare chute?

Our location as of Sat Nov 16th at 1pm is 16° 44′ N, 102° 26′ W.  Light wind and motoring conditions, it’s hot and sunny! My First 1000 miles on Maiden have been extremely enlightening and I’m enjoying learning from the incredibly experienced crew on board.

Cary and the SUP on the foredeck.

It sounds like I couldn’t have lucked out any better with this route – we’ve had quite a few days of beautiful downwind sailing and reaching. We’ve put almost every sail out, reefed the main at times, and are only now starting to motor for a longer stretch of time as we head inland and avoid tropical storm Raymond.  The majority of their round the world journey is upwind so this leg from Los Angeles to Antigua via the canal with some downwind Pacific sailing has been a great change of pace for the regular crew.

Sailing on a bigger boat than I’m used to in a moderate sea state certainly put me in my place at times. Sail changes are quite different than on my Catalina 34. Not a roller furler around, a lot more load, and few more halyards to navigate.

One of our biggest concerns and major discussion point currently is the possibility of getting ice cream upon reaching Panama. (We’re very hopeful, as it’s super hot on board.)

The spin that really shouldn’t be used up too quickly. Photo by Amalia Infante.

Another discussion point is the possibility of Maiden finding another asymmetrical spinnaker that fits the boat. When I first met the Maiden crew at their talk at CYC Seattle, someone was kind enough to ask if they needed anything. Their answer was another asym so they could keep the current (used) sail in one piece. They have been visiting schools globally and asking kids to place their handprint on the sail, creating a spiral which grows with each stop. These handprints represent the next generation’s desire for equality and belief in the potential of girls. Handprints will keep being added until the sail is completely covered. It looks beautiful up!  The message that sail carries is too important to lose, so it gets taken down quite early if it’s ever flown. 

As Maiden’s journey continues today it sounds like more racing is in her future. Tracy Edwards announced their intent to enter the 2023 Ocean Globe Race, and I would guess there shall be a few race entries between now and then – including talk of the Caribbean 600 this winter. Revisiting that talk in August that inspired me to apply, I was so proud of our Seattle sailing community for taking initiative to see how we can help. In addition to donations to the Maiden Factor Foundation charity, it would be amazing to find an asymmetrical spinnaker that fits their rig. 
So here’s the ask again: Does anyone have a gently used kite taking up space to donate to a very worthy cause? A2 or A3? Below are dimensions and contact info. Let’s do this PNW!

Dimensions of current A2: 
Foot: 12.1m Luff: 20.7m Leech: 23m Area: 219.1m²

Contact: Erica Lush, Email: Erica@themaidenfactor.org

Maiden’s Northwest Crew

Kurt Hoehne Adventure Sailing, Community 0 Comment
Maiden’s Northwest Crew
Cary Kaczowka’s selfie before shoving off from San Diego.

The Maiden movie and her visit to Seattle have been over-the-top successes, bringing light to that groundbreaking effort in the 80s and putting a spotlight on the fact that sailing is for women as much as it is for men. We even found a solid PNW connection to the original crew.

The whole phenomenon has been a great message that has been too long in the shadows. As a journalist it’s been fun and a little surprising to watch. As a sailor it’s been thrilling.

The story continues as the boat heads to Antigua via the Panama Canal, and then the US East Coast and Europe. It turns out there are PNW connections to Maiden‘s current voyage with Seattle liveaboard Cary Kaczowka and Julia Briggs who apprenticed with Brian Toss in Port Townsend onboard as “mile builders” crew.

Maiden back in the day.

I’m hoping to have more insights and info from Cary in the weeks to come. So far, she says “We have a few New Englanders aboard, a new Skipper Liz Wardley (her blog is up on themaidenfactor.org website and it’s really great). I’m really getting used to a boat this size, a watch system and flying a staysail for the first time. I’ve never been on one tack for multiple days either! Mind is blown.

I’m looking forward to relaying Cary’s experiences with Sailish readers. This is a lot more than a boat, a crew or a passage.

A little more about Cary from the Maiden web site:

Cary Kaczowka

Cary, 28, is originally from Seekonk, Massachussetts, USA and attended Bishop Feehan High School. She graduated with a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering and Design Innovation & Society from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 2013, and holds a M.S. in Materials Engineering from the University of Southern California. Cary has worked as an engineer with The Boeing


Company in Seattle, Washington for six years. She is active in the Society of Women Engineers, where she volunteers as a leadership coach. Sailing has been a part of her life since age 13 when she learned to sail on Yarmouth

Recreation’s wooden knockabouts in Cape Cod, MA, USA. During summer internships she was able to race weeknights in both Newport, RI and Charleston, SC – always the highlight of the week. Upon making her way out to Seattle, WA she began volunteering as an instructor at the Centre for Wooden Boats. She began racing locally, and she eventually bought her first home: a 34’ sailboat, a Catalina 34, S/V Sea Haven. Much of her free time is spent racing on local boats, maintaining her sailboat, cruising the Puget Sound and Salish Sea, and racing Sea Haven in local events such as Sloop Tavern Yacht Club’s Race Your House annual regatta. Owning her first big boat has been empowering and certainly changed the course of her life, and has helped reinforce her confidence as an engineer. She finds fulfilment sharing and teaching sailing, especially with women who are looking to refine their skills and get comfortable on the water.

Cary was eager to sail with the Maiden crew in order to gain offshore experience, improve her racing skills and learn from a talented crew of sailors, and looks forward to sharing her experiences with the local racing and sailing community.

Maiden, the Movie. Maiden, the boat will be in Seattle.

Kurt Hoehne Community, Women Sailors , 1 Comment
Maiden, the Movie. Maiden, the boat will be in Seattle.

Go see the movie “Maiden.” Take your daughters. Just as importantly, take your sons.

The movie shows just what it took for Tracy Edwards, impressive and flawed as she was, to get the first female round the world crewed boat to both the start and finish lines of the Whibread Round the World Race in 1989-90. By the end of the movie, it’s pretty clear how much force of will it took for Edwards to overcome the inertia, and, yes, resistance to fielding an all-woman entry.

I’m lucky. I grew up sailing where a woman (my mom) was an indispensible part of the crew. When a rock star was signed up on the crew and suggested they dump my mom, the crew said, “No Enid, no us.” When we couldn’t get our C&C 27 out of its own way, my dad asked for help from Judy Nye (yes that Nye, and if you don’t know the name, Google Murphy and Nye) The best helmsmen I’ve ever sailed with were women. And yes, I’m aware of the irony of that statement.

Basically, those women were sailors, just as men onboard were sailors. As were the women on Tracy Edwards’ crew. But they were taking on the professional men on the water and jaded journalists on shore. They had to overcome a lot of preconceptions.

I wasn’t there, but I doubt there was a lot of intentional “hold the women down” Neanderthals among the male sailors. I’m guessing those male sailors felt they were the best, and didn’t give much credence to anyone crashing into their world. And it seems some of them, notably and not surprisingly Steinlager II skipper Peter Blake, did more than their share to help them along.

Back to the movie. It does a great job painting the picture of Tracy Edwards, an overwhelmed 20-something year old that grabbed on to the Whitbread like a lioness, and wouldn’t let go. She’d be the first to admit lack of experience going into the race. But that didn’t stop her. It showed the thrill of victory and agony of defeat, as the saying goes. But as Maiden crossed the finish line, the footage shows just what it meant to the world. You’d be a fool not to feel it too sitting in the audience.

No sailing movie is perfect, and few even rate OK in my book. But “Maiden” is very good. I wanted to hear more about the actual sailing and more backstories of the crew, but there simply wasn’t the time. Also, sailing an old IOR warhorse around the world was a lot more physically demanding than the movie showed. One of the things that could have easily been pointed out, was that the staggering performance of Steinlager II was the main show of the Whitbread that year. Had it not been for that, no doubt the Maiden team would have gotten even more notoriety.

Tracy Edward, with binocs, during the Whitbread.

My wife was amazed that after that performance by the women, more women aren’t sailing at the top level. It is surprising, in a way. In fact, the organizing authorities had to allow extra crew (an advantage) to encourage racers to include women on the crew in the last round the world race. Unfortunately, there are few boats racing at that level, and more qualified male racers all the time. The pickings are slim for anyone to crack into the top echelon.

Hey, the US women’s soccer team has won the World Cup four times and is still seeking the appropriate level of respect.

The actual boat Maiden will be in Seattle in a couple of days, and the boat will be open for tours on the 13th. Maiden is the centerpiece of a the fundraising project “The Maiden Factor” which is raising fund for girls’ education. There will be a program at Corinthian Yacht Club that night, though tickets are sold out. Schelleen Rathkopf (Whidbey/Pt. Roberts Race Week Poo-bah) is on the Vancouver BC-Seattle WA delivery.