2009 Women’s Sailing Conference — Great Instruction, Great Weather

 The Corinthian Yacht Club hosted the 8th annual Women’s Sailing Conference on June 6 and once again the weather was near-perfect. Despite the economy, there was a near-capacity crowd. The Conference, whose primary sponsor is BoatU.S., included a day-long series of classes and workshops, giving the novice-to-expert women sailors who attended a terrific opportunity to network with other women while learning new skills or brushing up on old ones. The classes were followed by a cocktail hour on the deck of the clubhouse and a gala dinner with speakers and prizes.

Organized by the National Women's Sailing Association, the conference included 10 on-land workshops covering a variety of sailing topics and five on-the-water coaching clinics.  This year the on-the-water training included sessions in crew overboard, boat systems, sail trim, introduction to sailing, racing and spinnakers, and reefing and flaking sails.  The land-based workshops included charting and plotting, electronic navigation, an in-the-water session on life raft deployment, knots, diesel engine troubleshooting, suddenly single-handed, and understanding the wind. 

The majority of participants were from Massachusetts and New England, but some participants came from as far as Texas, Canada, North Carolina and Florida.   

Picture courtesy of  Walter Cooper

After dinner, the audience applauded Maureen McKinnon-Tucker as the recipient of the Leadership in Women’s Sailing Award, given annually by NWSA and BoatU.S. McKinnon-Tucker, partially paralyzed from an accident over 10 years ago, is a leader in adaptive sailing and won a gold medal at the 2008 Beijing Paralympics last summer.

 Conference participants were also inspired and entertained by keynote speaker Beth Schwarzman, as she chronicled her remarkable voyaging lifestyle, living aboard and sailing the world with her husband and children.

The raffle and silent auction ended the evening, raised over $1,000 for NWSA’s AdventureSail® program for at-risk girls and enabling the 2009 Women Sailing Conference to further NWSA’s goal of enriching the lives of women and girls through education and access to the sport of sailing.  Mark your new 2010 calendars now for June 5, when the 9th annual Women’s Sailing Conference will take place again at the Corinthian Yacht Club in Marblehead.