Training & Seminars
Women's Sailing Conference Sells Out, June 8, 2002
June , 2002 - Women sailors
from all along the East Coast and Canada soaked up expert instruction,
camaraderie and sun during the inaugural education and training
event held on the East Coast June 8 in picturesque Marblehead,
MA, sponsored by BoatUS and organized by the National Women's
Sailing Association.
Under gorgeous blue skies, light wind and brilliant sun, the day was filled
with on-the-water training sessions and "classroom" courses held
on the grounds of the historic Corinthian Yacht Club overlooking Marblehead
Harbor.
Women sailors
ranging in age from their 20s to grandmothers brushed up or
learned new skills in on-the-water sessions in sail trim, spinnakers,
crew-overboard drills and life raft deployment. Local sailboat
owners donated the use of their vessels for the classes and
the conditions were near perfect for sailing along the coast
just outside the harbor. Instructors included nationally ranked
match racers.Throughout
the day-long conference, on verandas, lawns, poolside and in
yacht club meeting rooms, a team of nearly all-women experts
led classes on navigation, marine electronics, GPS, diesel engines
and the weather.
"It
was surprising to see how many of the women are really intermediate
sailors, not novices," said Elaine Dickinson, managing editor
of BoatUS Magazine who is on the board of directors of NWSA. "They
have good basic knowledge and mostly cruising or daysailing experience,
but really have a hunger to increase their level of knowledge
and fine tune their sailing skills."
While the
majority of those attending came from Massachusetts, one young
woman drove six hours from the New York Finger Lakes to be there
and was planning to pitch a tent for her Saturday night stayover.
(Conference volunteers arranged for her to stay in a private
home nearby.)
The day's instruction ended with a everyone swapping their sailing stories
at a lively cocktail party on the decks of the 1885 yacht club followed by
a banquet dinner, raffle prizes and a guest speaker.
Katherine O'Connell of Charleston, MA, captivated the audience with a slide
show of her sail on nearly all the legs of the 2000-2001 BT Global Challenge.
It's a race around the world the "wrong way" against prevailing winds
and currents. O'Connell joined the race after the first leg arrived in Boston
from England when a crewmember became ill. She sailed the next leg to Brazil
and later rejoined the crew in Sydney for a grueling bashing through the Southern
Ocean from Australia to Cape Town, South Africa. Out of a crew of 17 on LG
Flatron, five were women, and the boat placed first overall. Her talk and a
spirited question-and-answer session made the day's on-board seminars seem
far less daunting. (See www.btchallenge.com for
more details.)
Dozens of prizes, including two Magellan GPS receivers obtained through BoatUS
for the conference were raffled and the proceeds brought in hundreds of dollars
for the nonprofit Adventure Sail program of NWSA. It provides a day of fun
and instruction to at-risk and underprivileged girls in communities throughout
the U.S. Some 80 sponsors supported the Women's Sailing Conference, in addition
to BoatUS
Conference co-chairs were Joan Thayer and Sue Corl, both NWSA board members
as well as members of the Corinthian Yacht Club and longtime race event organizers.
Plans are already being formed for a second Women's Sailing Conference on the
East Coast in June of 2003.
In February, the long-running West Coast Women's Sailing Convention is also
set for Corona del Mar, CA, also sponsored by BoatUS The West Coast organizer
Gail Hine and her program in Southern California were the inspiration for the
Marblehead event. Hine is also on the NWSA Board.
Third Annual Women's Sailing Conference Is Smooth Sailing
June 5 -2005 With the good fortune
of fresh breezes and brilliant sunny skies, over 120 women sailors enjoyed
a day of workshops, coaching sessions,
demonstrations, and networking with many accomplished and energetic women at
the Corinthian Yacht Club in Marblehead, MA. This was the third Women's Sailing Conference, a program of the National Women's
Sailing Association (NWSA) and sponsored for the third year by BoatU.S. Once
again, the unique event for women-only was a virtual sellout.
The weather was perfect for the on-the-water sessions that included introduction
to sailing, take the helm, spinnaker practice, introduction to racing, crew
overboard drills and docking a boat under power. Private owners and clubs donated
the use of their boats for the on-the-water sessions. The on-land workshops
included knots, diesel for damsels, navigation and GPS basics, weather, basic
sailing terminology, knots and first aid.
Diandra Longhurst of Swampscott, volunteered for a second year to go into
the chilly water for the crew overboard demonstration at the CYC floating dock.
The women then went out on four separate boats to practice the entire drill
hands-0n.
The Leadership in Women's Sailing Award, co-sponsored by the national Women's
Sailing Association and BoatU.S., was awarded to Doris Colgate, CEO and co-owner
of Offshore Sailing School, based in Ft. Myers, Florida during the gala evening
dinner.
The award is given annually to a person who has a record of achievement in
inspiring, educating and enriching the lives of women through sailing. Doris
was the president of NWSA in 2000 when the award was initiated.
Elaine Dickinson, Managing Editor
of BoatUS Magazine, was on hand to make the award along with NWSA Vice President,
Valli Cook, of New York. "I
have been waiting four years to make this presentation. It gives me great pleasure
to come full circle with the award to Doris this year," Dickinson said.
Colgate was the evening speaker as well. After her first sailing experience
as an adult, Doris was hooked. From that point on, Doris has devoted her life
to sailing and to providing women an opportunity to enjoy it as their sport,
not part of someone else's. Sailing changed her life and she is still sailing.
Sailing is a lifestyle that women can enjoy, but only if they want
to. Once that decision is made, a woman needs to learn in her own way and in
her own time," Colgate said.
Colgate founded the National Women's Sailing Association, to offer an organization
that would provide opportunities for women to learn in an all women environment
free from the pressures of relationships.
The evening ended with the distribution
of a well-stocked table of raffle items and a silent auction. Co-chair Sue
Corl was also sponsorship chairman
for the third year. All proceeds will go to AdventureSailÔ, the NWSA's
nationwide program for young girls at risk.
The organizing committee was co-chaired by Sue Corl and Joan Thayer and included
Marcia Bennet, Grace Blanchard and Betsy Fermano, of Marblehead, and Pat Dieselman
of Ipswich The primary sponsor of the event for the third year was BoatU.S.
Participating sponsor was West Marine. Additionally, there were many local
and regional sponsors. 
The National Women's Sailing Association is a 501(c)3 organization, which
is dedicated to enriching the lives of women and girls through education and
access to the sport of sailing.
The cool, rainy
weather did nothing to dampen the enjoyment and learning opportunities
for over 100 women who converged
upon the Corinthian Yacht Club in Marblehead, MA, June 7. The event was the
second annual all-day Women's Sailing Conference sponsored by BoatUS and
organized by the National Women's Sailing Association.
Aided
by dozens of volunteer instructors and available boats for on-the-water
session, women from teens to grandmothers took sail trim and man-overboard
clinics, knot tying, GPS, weather and racing rules classes to name
a few. BoatUS put on a lunchtime inflatable life jacket demonstration.
At the club during the day and as keynote speaker for a gala dinner was world class sailor Dawn Riley who was presented with this year's Leadership in Women's Sailing Award, sponsored also by BoatUS and NWSA. Riley has sailed in Whitbread and America’s Cup races and has broke many a teak ceiling for women sailors. She’s also currently president of the Women’s Sports Foundation and CEO of America True, her own company.
