Volvo Ocean Race: Tracy Edwards calls for multihull boats as organisers seek women sailors return This steady decline is down to cost and a factor as to why the race is men only. Edwards said that she favoured multihull boats - regarded as more stable - over the monohulled Volvo 70's for sheer "fun, speed and that they are much stronger." Women, she says, could then sail as equals to their male counterparts as it wouldn't then be down to "a strength thing." "You just can't go into the Southern Ocean seas with them [Volvo 70s]," she added. I would have thought technology would have put a stop [to breakages], but it must be soul destroying for the crews. According to race chief Knut Frostad, the lack of women means the race is missing "huge value," while Edwards said that by bringing back women "you bring back 50 per cent of the sailing population." Edwards was part of multihulled Royal Sun Alliance's circumnavigation record bid in 1998. "But as soon as we disbanded," she added, "no one ever tried it again, which is crazy really. It has been tried and tested already but organisers have either added or missed an ingredient this time around.