Women drivers wanted

[Sailing Junkie]

My past years of involvement with the Bayview Women's Regatta (now know as WOW -Women on Water) has revealed the same glaring problem year after year.

DRIVERS - OR LACK THEREOF.

We have an almost endless supply of able crew at all experience levels. But our number of boats on the water seems to remain stagnant for the fact that there are a limited number of us ready, willing and able to drive a boat in a race.

Every year we are scrambling to try to find boats for crew. And the bigger boats are getting packed with way more crew than necessary to accomodate all who want to race.

I've kicked around the idea of trying to organize formal classes (similar to adult sailing classes) just for women who are experienced crew/racers but don't know how to helm.

Any suggestions?

Any women here who have never done this excellent regatta care to step up this year?

If you'll drive, we'll be able to find you a boat and crew. If you come from out of town, we'll find you a place to sleep and get you to and from the airport.

Has anyone had any experience with club-level helming classes for racing?

 

[Cement_Shoes]

Do you have a suitable fleet of boats for the classes? A club that has a fleet of j-22s, sonars or something similar would be ideal.

Small maneuverable boats on short courses with a lot of races is what you want. I wouldn't even go with spinnakers initially. Whether it is female or male beginning racing skippers you want a lot of repetitions of starting, mark roundings, and close quarters to other boats. Short courses and dedicated practice starts accomplish these goals.

Also from my experience there are more women helming boats at the Jr, high school and collegiate level than at adult yacht clubs. I would work at bringing these women into programs as well to increase the number of available women skippers for events like this.

 

[Sailing Junkie]

Do you have a suitable fleet of boats for the classes? A club that has a fleet of j-22s, sonars or something similar would be ideal.

Small maneuverable boats on short courses with a lot of races is what you want. I wouldn't even go with spinnakers initially. Whether it is female or male beginning racing skippers you want a lot of repetitions of starting, mark roundings, and close quarters to other boats. Short courses and dedicated practice starts accomplish these goals.

Also from my experience there are more women helming boats at the Jr, high school and collegiate level than at adult yacht clubs. I would work at bringing these women into programs as well to increase the number of available women skippers for events like this.

Boats and venue not a problem - fleet of U20's, plenty of instructors, etc.

Had forgotten about pitching collegiate teams and clubs - good idea.

Really would like to find a way to entice all the women I've been racing with/against for years to come out of their comfort zone and learn to drive. How can I motivate them?

 

[Cement_Shoes]

Boats and venue not a problem - fleet of U20's, plenty of instructors, etc.

Had forgotten about pitching collegiate teams and clubs - good idea.

Really would like to find a way to entice all the women I've been racing with/against for years to come out of their comfort zone and learn to drive. How can I motivate them?

How many opportunities are there for women to drive? There is the one race that you mentioned, what else is there? Are most of the boats that are racing owner driven?

Are you finding a similar problem with trying to get male crew members interested in skippering as well? If so you might want to gear your program towards both sexes.

There are some really fantastic woman skippers around who are also good instructors. I would try to get someone in to run a seminar for woman sailors to try to jump start interest. Also I would try to get a small series going for woman sailors in the U20's. I think that women would be more willing to learn to drive if they had plenty of opportunities to do so though out the season. It is sort of insulting to try to train women skippers solely for one event a year

 

[Infidel]

Give me some time. I'm working on it.

 

[JimL]

Give me some time. I'm working on it.

View attachment 140122

Keep on that helm 'Lil Lady, someone's lookin' after you!

Cheers,

Jim B)

 

[Robin]

As one who as over the years helped teach a lot of people to sail and race and to enjoy both and who in the process ended up having a woman as my principal helmsman on both my one ton and Sydney 38 my suggestion is hand the ladies the tiller and just have them do it first in practice then in races. Dont take no for an answer. Amazing how many rise to the occasion and with decent support and coaching amazing how many are better than you are.

Robin

 

[walterbshaffer]

The percentage of women who have an intuitive ability at the helm is far less than for men, not that the abilities are disparate but that the numbers are.

Too, men have a greater tendency to want to "be in charge" (ie on the helm) than women. Ever have a male guest grab the wheel and not let go all day? Yep.

A year later I'm still trying to get my lady to feel comfortable closer than 100 yards from another boat, but she still gets worried about boats that are so far away you can't even read thier sail insignia.

 

[Infidel]

A year later I'm still trying to get my lady to feel comfortable closer than 100 yards from another boat, but she still gets worried about boats that are so far away you can't even read thier sail insignia.

Yup. Seen that too. Deconditioning of that reflex fear might be a few close quarter starts. Or maybe she never sets foot on board again.

Having a boat named American Girl- I am sensitive to women's sailing issues and girl power in general. But I am the first to declare my inexpertise. The females in my life will concur.

 

[jim lee]

Maybe work with your local boat builders/dealers and see if they could sponser girls racing teams. Maybe loner boas for a girl's team? That's been going on around here.

Local girls team "borrowing" the Dart for the, Anacortes GOTB regtta.

-jim lee

 

[argus tuft]

I'm in agreement with most of what's been said especially in regard to how many good lady skippers there are, and also how hard it is to grow fleet sizes. In Brisbane (Aus) there is an annual Lady Skippers Race with a fleet size that varies between 40 and 50 boats. I think there are a few things that make this event work and helped get the numbers to where they are (although growing the numbers is proving a challenge).

First, there is solid sponsorship from a womens' cosmetics company that provides excellent prizes. Their product is also very popular with women of all ages so the event doesn't get to be seen as something for teenagers. Second, the event supports a charity that helps women who are breast cancer survivors and the women from that group come down for the day and do the club up in pink, sell pink paraphernalia and run the post-race BBQ. The atmosphere is just great. Third and most importantly the race is promoted and run as a full-on race without ever being regarded in any way as a novelty event. The lady skippers that get the results are indisputedly right up there. The fleet is mixed including keel boats, trailerables, sports boats and a special division for multis. Finally the event is cross-promoted to other yacht clubs in the region so it's not just the same boats as every other week.

For those locals who are interested the 2010 Dr Lewinn's Lady Skippers Race is on 25th July - see wmyc.org.au

Cheers

Argus

 

[in_TO]

Give me some time. I'm working on it.

View attachment 140122

Keep on that helm 'Lil Lady, someone's lookin' after you!

Cheers,

Jim B)

What is the latin on the binnacle?

 

[Ozee Adventure]

A year later I'm still trying to get my lady to feel comfortable closer than 100 yards from another boat, but she still gets worried about boats that are so far away you can't even read thier sail insignia.

Yup. Seen that too. Deconditioning of that reflex fear might be a few close quarter starts. Or maybe she never sets foot on board again.

Having a boat named American Girl- I am sensitive to women's sailing issues and girl power in general. But I am the first to declare my inexpertise. The females in my life will concur.

Above all I'm too scared of stacking someones v expensive asset into another v expensive asset.

I might borrow your car but I wouldn't dream of racing it (especially without brakes).

I have only raced helming in a small dinghy & hung back for big breaks in the starting line.

for a womens race I'd be much happier with staggered starts (I know that means more work) until i had some confidence/competence.

 

[Keith]

Give me some time. I'm working on it.

View attachment 140122

Great picture, looks like you have a serious sailor on your hands!

 

[Heavy Woman]

My top tip - as someone who doesn't helm much anymore, is female and will be helming at a ladies event in the UK in three weeks time - is this...

Teach women to park (and no I'm not being funny. Most women who can dinghy sail can handle a large yacht under sail just fine - the bit that stresses people out is parking. I hate it - I'll happily take the thing storming into a bottom mark with the kite up and it all on - I know how to handle that - but put me on the river with the engine on and a todal berth to get onto involving a jetty and I'm a wreck - give me a swing mooring everytime - less things to hit.

Honestly - I think its the ownerly things that we don't get to do that make us nervous about borrowing someones pride and joy not the actual racing. I'm lucky that cms who lends me his boat is a) very chilled out and B) makes sure his lovely wife is on board how can park on a ten pence piece! Which is bloody handy because I can't!

Oh and the idea about looking for students and academy types is a really good one - they are a) less afriad and B) more willing to learn and try something new.

my 2p

HW.x

 

[Sailing Junkie]

Lots of great points and food for thought here.

Heavy Woman, great point on the docking issue. I was very fortunate to do about 4,000 miles of deliveries with a very calm, collected and talented delivery skipper. He had no qualms about putting me on the helm in some very dicey docking situations, stood right next to me and calmly talked me through it.

After reading the posts here, I'm thinking that trying to organize formal classes is not necessarily the best way to skin this cat.

I think a PR effort with the (mostly male) boat owners would go a lot further and reach a lot more women.

If I can get the boat owners to start putting their regular women crew on the helm (I like the don't ask, just throw them on the tiller/wheel and tell them to drive thing) as often as possible and have them helm in and out of the slip, I think a lot more women would end up learning how to do it.

The fear factor goes way down when the owner is on the boat and standing at your side.

 

[Robin]

The parking suggestion has always been a puzzle to me. It always amazed me that the roles assigned to various people were often wrong. The "skill" job--driving--was assigned to husband/male/etc, while the job that might require muscle (and some skill) was assigned to the smaller less physical person. This was regardless of whether the "hand" was fending at a dock, jumping off at a dock to tend lines or dropping or raising an anchor. Does that make any sense? Now that I am not a spry as I once was it is possible that my parking makes sense if I am sailing short handed but with a full crew I like nothing better than standing with a crew that is learning (male or female). All of my boats have been tiller boats and for at least 15-18 years were stern in to a hard slip so most everyone learned how to set up, how to deal with cross winds, which direction to approach from etc. I will admit that the few times that we had to come in under sail only that I parked.

The result has been their increased confidence and competence (enjoyment). These are skills, among others, that they have taken to other boats as mine is not in the water.

Robin

 

[mitchellhay]

What is the latin on the binnacle?

According to "Blue Latitudes" it is from a statue of Capt. Cook

"Circa Orbem" ("Around the Globe") and "Nil Intentatum Reliquit" ("Nothing Left Unattempted")

 

[Slickette]

I have to say, as a woman and a crew member on several boat who has limited helming experience, that I really think the issue is more about opportunity to try and learn in a supportive enviroment and encouragement. I didn't grow up sailing. I learned as an adult, so unlike the women who come out of Jr sailing programs, collegiate racing - I don't haven't had the practice time to get comfortable or the confidence to put my hand up when a call is put out. Even when I asked, I hesitate... do I really know what I'm doing? Can I get a supportive crew around me? I don't want to get on there just to be critisized. And honestly, sometimes being around all the men and their overdoses of testosterone doesn't help. They tend to jump in, take over, and control the discussion. I need to have errors to learn from, not have men to fix it immediately or step in too quickly.

So, let me say this - I think the idea of having some classes about helming are great. If this was being done in my area, I'd be on it in a heartbeat. Think about teaching the women the things we often don't think about when crewing. What the helm is doing and thinking as you tack, what you are watching for with a heading, how to pick up on lifts and headers, calling the layline and determining which side of the course is favored. Don't focus too much on the rules that we probably already know or make that a separate section/class. After a discussion (maybe a seminar to discuss it, talk about what you are looking for etc) make sure you are doing on the water experience with a very encouraging and supportive crew and follow it up with opportunities to helm. If you have a woman who can lead or co-lead the discussion that would be even better. No offense guys, but there are so many of you in sailing -- sometimes I'd really like to hear it from someone I can look up to because I can more realistically identify or see myself as them one day.

I'd also encourage you to think about putting together some all women regattas. I found that sailing in a few of those allowed me to push my boundries and step out into a new role. The women on board were more focused on learning and having fun and less on winning, so it was very supportive. It was still competitive, but we didn't have as much testosterone getting in the way (no offense). It was in a women's regatta I first allowed myself to be pushing into being a tactician and felt better on the helm when handed it. Another consideration might be having mostly women regattas, where one man might be on board to help coach. But only as a coach!

You might also consider forming some women's groups or activities to help encourage and support women in your club. I enjoyed a series of rules discussions that were limited to only women participants and would really like to do something similar on tactics and trim one day.