HEATHER THOMAS SMASHING RECORDS

In leading her all-female crew to victory in the OGR, Heather Thomas has broken records and taken women's sailing into the stratosphere

- Heather Prentice and Barry Pickthall

Heather Thomas is the first female British skipper to win a round the world race, and her team aboard Maiden, backed by Tracy Edwards MBE, are the first all-female crew to win a global race. What a tremendous inspiration! In winning the Ocean Globe Race, the 27-year-old from Yorkshire has made history. Heather has topped Dame Ellen MacArthur's second place in the Vendée Globe 2001 and Tracy's record of second in class in the 1989/90 Whitbread Round the World Race.

Thomas is also the first woman skipper to win a fully crewed round the world race. And she didn't just win, she and the Maiden crew beat the opposition on Tracy Edwards' winning boat, which had sailed round the world seven times already.

This crew returned home to a royal welcome being met by Sarah, Duchess of York who had played 'godmother' to Tracy Edwards' all-women team 34 years ago, and Princess Haya bint AI Hussein of Jordan and her children who sponsored Maiden's refit for the OGR. It was her father, the late King Hussein of Jordan, who had sponsored Maiden's original challenge through the Royal Jordanian Airlines. Queen Camilla also invited Heather, the crew and Tracy Edwards to lunch at St James's Palace in honour of their success.