Tracey Edwards MBE

Battling perilous seas around Cape Horn was easy compared to fighting off creditors and winning back her reputation after a massive dispute with the Qatar officialdom forced round the world yacht hero Tracy Edwards into bankruptcy.

The national heroine who won public acclaim after skippering the first all female crew to round the world sailing victory has been informing business audiences for the first time how she has weathered the latest storms in her life and how her sense of humour and fighting spirit has been an essential ingredient for survival on land and sea.

She was already on an international high after sporting glory winning the Whitbread round-the-world yacht race and being hailed as Sportswoman of the Year. Life was good when she was presented with an MBE for her sailing and leadership abilities, and, wrote a bestselling book called Maiden which was number one in the book charts for 19 weeks and still regarded as a motivation bible.

She is always funny and devastatingly truthful about her personal abilities and failures. “I hear myself preaching good communication but when things got tough, I kept the bigger problems from the team in an attempt to protect them. Of all people I should have known better.”