Tracy Edwards On New Documentary "Maiden": 'I Want Girls To Watch And Know They Don't Have To Be Perfect'

(CBS Local)- The Whitbread Round the World Yacht Race is one of the longest sailing races in the world spanning nine months and featuring multiple legs.

In its beginning, it was an entirely male-dominated race. That is until 1989 when Tracy Edwards and her 12-woman crew made history by becoming the first all-female crew to compete aboard the Maiden. 20 years later, Edwards and her crew's story is being told in a new documentary, appropriately titled "Maiden" that premieres Friday.

Edwards and director Alex Holmes stopped by the CBS Local studios to discuss the film and it's fortunate beginnings. The two met at Holmes' daughter's kindergarten class when Edwards came to tell her story.

"As she told her story, I thought, 'God this is a film, this is definitely a film,'" said Holmes in an interview with CBS Local's DJ Sixsmith. "So much so that by the time she had finished I was convinced this must have already been made into a film."

"Eventually afterwards I went up to Tracy and said has this ever been made into a film and she said no," continued Holmes. "At the time I was thinking about a dramatic film. We'll write a script and we'll cast it and it was only when we talked a couple of days later that Tracy said, 'you do know we had cameras on board the whole way right?' That was just music to my ears."

The film details the crews challenges and accomplishments during the race, showing what life was like for the women during the grueling race. However, the challenges faced at sea were almost nothing compared to the uphill climb that Edwards faced just to get support for an all-female crew.

"Sailing is very much a patriarchy. In the U.K. it's really rooted in history with Nelson and Chamberlain and we won wars at sea," said Edwards. "It's really an old and archaic sort of thought process so you're not fighting individuals which would be easy. You're fighting the system. It was really a step-by-step process. I look back afterwards and I thought we'd smashed the walls down but really it was just a little dent."

Edwards' crew did stun the sailing world when the Maiden won two of the six legs of the race that year finishing second in her class, which was the best finish for a British boat in 17 years. Edwards was named Yachtsman of the Year, the first woman to receive the award. For Edwards, becoming the navigator and having an all-female crew was something that she says she was motivated to do after running into so much opposition and to set a path for women within the sport that wanted to have the same experience.

"I had to do it because if I failed after having announced it, the women that came after me would have a much worse job because I would be like an albatross around their necks," said Edwards.

With the film set to premiere tonight, Edwards and Holmes hope that the audience take one big lesson away after watching it.

"Hopefully, they will leave with a sense of being able to commit to something and that anyone really can do anything," said Edwards. "Because if I can do that from my humble beginnings, then anyone can. I also want girls to watch it and know that they don't have to be perfect. That they can be a myriad of things and still go for their dream and work hard for their goals."