Hi there, I'm Jason Gatz and you're listening to Think Again, a Big Think podcast.

What's the hardest thing you've ever done?

The thing everyone said was impossible, that you knew you had to do anyway,

and that you doubted a thousand times while it was underway that you'd be able to see through to the end.

There's a good chance you can think of at least one example, and an even better chance it doesn't even come close in monumental soul-smelting intensity to what Tracy Edwards put herself through back in

1989 to 1990, along with the all-female crew of her racing yacht maiden.

In that year, with the dismissive, derisive, mostly male eyes of the racing world upon them,

this 12-member crew proved beyond a doubt that they could sail every bit as skillfully and fearlessly

as their male competitors in the wit-bred round-the-world yacht race.

They crossed the southern ocean from Uruguay to Australia, surviving icebergs and

deadly waves to win the most difficult leg of their race, and then beat their closest rival,

move for move in a tactical sprint to New Zealand. By the time they made it home to England,

derision had long given way to admiring awe. Tracy and her crew did a thing everyone thought was impossible,

and in doing so, they gave hope to countless others. The documentary film Maiden, out from

Sony Pictures Classics, captures every leg of their incredible journey, and shows the full cost

and rewards of Tracy's single-minded persistence. Welcome to think again.

Thank you so much. Thank you. I don't know anything

about sailing and this was the first time that I had encountered this story. It is extraordinary.

I mean, it seems to me that it's crazy for anyone to do what you guys did, like male, female,

whatever, but then to take that on against, I mean, it's not

as if it's against the odds, of course you guys could do it, but against the...

Common belief.

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