The legendary yacht, Maiden, crewed by a stellar team of female sailors, including a captain who was the first woman to win a round-the-world sailing race, has added Port Townsend to its list of stops along its circumnavigation of the world.

After spending some time in Seattle, Maiden plans to stop in San Francisco and LA, but first the crew will make a two-hour stop in Port Townsend around 4 p.m. on Aug. 15 at the Northwest Maritime Center Dock.

“I’ve been following their voyage since they left Europe and when I found out they were going to be stopping in Vancouver and Seattle I immediately wrote to them,” said Kaci Cronkhite, a local sailor, author and former director of the Wooden Boat Foundation, who helped organize the visit. “I said, ‘You are passing a community that may have the most women sailors per capita in the country. We want to give you a hug from our community.”

Those who have seen the new documentary that was released June 28 will recognize Maiden as the world-famous yacht that skipper Tracy Edwards and her crew of female sailors made history in, sailing as the first all-female team in the 1989 Whitbread Round the World Race.

Now, Maiden is circumnavigating the world under command of Wendy Tuck and has taken home first prize in the 2018 Clipper Round the World Race, with a new all-woman crew.

“This vessel and the people who are a part of it have accomplished an amazing thing,” said Carol Hasse, owner of Hass & Co. Port Townsend Sails. “Not only winning the Whitbread Round the World Race, but also in restoring a sailing vessel with a purpose to encourage people to be out on the water.”

Maiden and her crew will be welcomed by Port Townsend’s own star-female crew, Hasse and her team of sailmakers, who serve racers and yacht sailors far and wide.

“I’m honored to represent in some small way all the women sailors and marine trade workers in our community,” Hasse said. “I’m a cruiser, not a racer, but I admire the courage and tenacity and the heart it took for all those women to make that happen together.”

As they circumnavigate the world, the crew of Maiden is bringing young girls aboard the boat to train them in sailing and raising money through the nonprofit organization, The Maiden Factor, to educate women and girls.

“I particularly admire their mission, to make sure women and girls have access to the water,” Hasse said.

Maiden is expected to round Marrowstone Point anytime after 3 p.m. and make her way to the Northwest Maritime Center dock by 4 p.m.

Cronkhite is hoping that Port Townsend’s maritime community will come out in full force for the event.

“To all who might want to bring your boat to Port Townsend and sail in an informal flotilla with Maiden (if you can keep up!) out to Point Wilson as they head off to San Francisco, you can make reservations at Point Hudson Marina,” she wrote in a Facebook post.

When Maiden docks at the Northwest Maritime Center there will be a few opportunities for some people to tour the boat, Cronkhite added.

“As a seaport community, even if you don’t sail, there is a resonance in the beauty and the magic of moving under sail that inspires all of us, even if we’re just looking at it,” Hasse said.

And for those who don’t remember Tracy Edwards’ historic sail in the 1989 Whitbread Round the World Race, the documentary will be held over for a third week at the Rose Theatre, showing three times a day. Free posters will be available at the Aug. 15 event, Cronkhite said.

“We have this two-hour opportunity with a star,” Cronkhite said. “This is our chance to let our community to say, ‘We love what you do.’”