June 1, 2023
6 minutes reading time
Women around the world take to the water to highlight the variety of opportunities in sailing
The first edition of Steering the Course 2023 brought together women from across the world and highlighted the pathways available within sailing. Events took place on five continents and ranged from taster sessions and female-led coaching clinics to motivational roundtable discussions, women’s regattas and Para Sailing events.
In South America, 162 women made history at the 2nd Fedevela Female Nautical Festival in Chile. The event was first held during last year’s Steering the Course and has this time grown to three locations simultaneously – the Pacific Nautical Brotherhood in Algarrobo with 70 women, another 32 at the Higuerillas Yacht Club in Concón, and 60 more at the Cendyr Náutico de Talcahuano.
“It was amazing to see the excitement between us grow and grow. We far surpassed the number of sailors from the previous version and look forward to continuing to bring together the sailors of yesterday, today and tomorrow,” said Marissa Maurin, President of the Chilean Sailing Federation, and former Olympian. Marissa is also the first female president of the Fedevela.
Meanwhile in Brazil, 155 registered female sailors took part in the 2nd Regata D’Elas at the Rio Yacht Club, an event organised by Andrea Soffiatti Grael, Karen Casalini and Denise Angelino.
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Andrea Soffiatti Grael, one of the creators, said, “This event might have been the one with the largest number of women in Brazilian sailing history! The proposal was to provide the experience of a regatta, mixing experienced sailors with beginners or non-experienced. It led to attracting a much larger number of women. The result was wonderful, above expectations! The participants came from various distant places, one of them even sailed alone from Ilha Grande (an island approx. 150km from Rio) to the regatta! They were ranging from experienced sailors and even those who have not sailed for a long time, to the less experienced and some that were sailing for the first time.”
Sailor Roberta Miller added, “I was so glad I could be part of this event! You have no idea: it was maybe the most beautiful of my life, it will stay in my memory forever. The regatta itself, being there among the people who like the same thing, this idea of doing this event for women, all of this was very interesting. Thank you for promoting and encouraging more women to join this sport!”
In the Caribbean, a group of newly trained sailing Instructors on the islands of St Vincent and the Grenadines introduced 22 brand new sailors to the sport through their Vincy Try Sailing event, and then held their first regatta run solely by women. This is real lasting impact in a country, where there is now a model of sustainable coaching and race management.
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The waters of Enoshima, home to the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Sailing Event, hosted Sailability Enoshima and a chance for participants to sail in a Hansa.
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The event was made even more successful after experiencing good weather and pleasant winds, and brought together beginners, veterans who had not sailed in a while, and even e-sailors who were experiencing real sailing for the first time.
The Hebe Haven Yacht Club in Hong Kong hosted a 10-day festival where activities included Across the 10-day festival held at Hebe Haven Yacht Club, activities included:
A Women on Water Forum chaired by Heather Linhardt with panellists including Sylvia from Sailability HK who spoke about her trip to Osaka, Japan, and why sailing is great for people with disabilities, Olympic sailor Molly Highfield who spoke about her journey with her family on their Catamaran and how that led to her racing Lasers and now 470 in Hong Kong and now around the World. Lilly Reid (20’s) also spoke about how she learned to sail and after a little bit of competitive sailing went into coaching Dinghy and is now a Senior Instructor, and Sandra Snell (50’s) spoke about her journey in sailing and how it led to participating in Volvo Round the World yacht race.
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There were also taster sessions on MoHan (Sailability Hong Kong) 50ft Solaris, specially designed for people with disabilities, and the Leo Wealth Interclub Women and Girls Championship Regatta, featuring 58 Sailors on board six J/80’s and three HKPN boats. Three of the races were managed by an all-female race management team. The regatta was rounded off with a Bubbles on the Dock party and dinner and prize presentation with female DJ.
At the Townsville Sailing Club in Australia, 14 ladies took to the water for an afternoon SheSails Race on Friday 19 May. They competed in a mix of pacers and Topper Vibes with a pleasant breeze as the sun set on the ocean. Diane Kelsey, Townsville Sailing Club senior instructor, commented, “It was great to introduce some new ladies to the world of sailing and try out the YachtBot tracking app.”
In Europe, the Royal Malta Yacht Club and Vikings Sailing Club hosted a Steering the Course regatta as part of Yachting Malta Race Week under the auspices of Malta Sailing Federation. The regatta was a huge success with a great number of participants.
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The sailing community in Greece ran their own Steering My Course campaign showing how they got into sailing and the different paths they have taken in the sport.
In the UK, the Queen Mary Sailing Club ran another successful women’s keel boating day celebrating women in sailing as part of Steering the Course festival. They held a brilliant day with 20 women afloat and four female instructors helping and will also be hosting another event in July.
The Kalev Yacht Club in Tallinn, Estonia, organised a Para Sailing and Steering the Course event on a perfect day for sailing where a strong westerly wind reached 16m/s.
Külli Haav, Estonia’s Para Sailing team leader, said, “Sails are taking us forward, never mind the physical or other challenges, there is something incredible in teamwork and learning in the process that sailing gives you. I have never seen Hansa boat so speedy, and gybes mastered so well and spectacular. All our participants asked for more and are back for more training today. The group was also joined by Ingrid Puusta, three-time Olympian and iQFOiLer who sailed the Hansa with Monika Kisand.”
Events to promote women’s sailing will continue to take place throughout the year. The next edition of Steering the Course 2023 is scheduled for 29 September-8 October.
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