Did you know that LARPING, or more accurately LARPing, means Live Action Role Playing? Me neither. But then, having tended to the opinion that historical re-enactments are really history for the feeble-minded or those of limited imagination, we’ve tended to blank anything that gives a warmly human dimension to such things, and try to ignore Star Trek LARPing, where people go to all the trouble of giving themselves pointy ears so that they can be Mr Spock.

But inevitably such activities soon find themselves overlapping with the Great Gender Wars, and we end up in a confusion as to what people should be seen as comfortable in which roles and so on, and what term should be used to describe them.

This in turn quickly strays into denigrations of “mere play-acting”. But recently, when we reported that Steph Lyons of Sydney, ex-Pat of Kinsale YC, was to be the bowman – arguably the most dangerous position on any boat except maybe the Keeper of the Crew Kitty - for the fourth time in the upcoming Sydney-Hobart Race, we simply quoted her own role-definition in our story about her having yet another bite at the big Bass Strait cherry.

GENDER BLIND IN SAILING

For otherwise, we’ve become gender blind as regards sailing. We once started to compile a list of the Irish women helms who have knocked the tar out of us in many decades of racing, but gave up once the tabulation was starting to soar comfortably above the twenty mark. So in order to simply avoid the issue altogether, we’d normally refer to Steph as being “on the bow” in the same way as, with a woman driver down aft, she’d be “on the helm”, and that’s that.

Is she just LARPing about? World Champion Eve McMahon in seriously competitive mode

But since then, we’ve had an intriguing time with The Sisterhood and the use of “bowman” in this context. As we’d directly quoted Steph, we referred it to her, and she has reinforced that with another photo, this time showing that even when going to windward in events like the Hamilton Island Race Week, she’s clearly in line to be the bowman as she firmly states, right on the pointy end when things gets hectic with the more colourful sails.

FEMALE SAILING COMMITMENT TO EXCESS?

This suggests a level of female sailing commitment that exceeds that of many - indeed most – men. But this (Monday) morning’s American Scuttlebutt comes up with a real gem from a recent New York Times which suggests a level of devotion to sailing which starts to go off the scale. We re-publish it without further comment, other than to say not only does it re-introduce us to LARPing in a way that might make the notion mean something in future, but gives such a lyrical yet droll description of our sport that it suggests Judge John Hodgman may be a sailing person himself.

BONUS ADVICE FROM JUDGE JOHN HODGMAN

Judge John Hodgman's weekly column for The New York Times doesn't deliver advice - he delivers justice. The topic in this edition is sailing:

Sarah writes: My mother sails every weekend and often throughout the week. It's not uncommon to try to plan a family event, only for her to ask that it be rescheduled to a time she wouldn't prefer to be sailing, like nighttime or during a storm. Such events include my brother's 40th birthday, baby showers, and even my wedding. Please ask her to stop this.

John responds: I'm sorry your mother is married to the sea. But please understand: Sailing is a meditative puzzle for the hands and the mind that frees you, briefly and semi-literally, from the bonds of Earth and attunes you to the wordless language of nature. It's such a magical experience that it's easy for sailors to forget it's just a hobby like any other: essentially yoga with the world's most expensive mat. Explain to your mother that pretty days exist for other people's happiness as well. If that doesn't persuade her to stop asking, skip her next birthday and go LARPING.

RYA Northern Ireland is calling for participants to take part in research which aims to provide a better understanding of the experiences of women and girls in sailing.

When it comes to participation, the number of women and girls taking part in sailing has always been lower than that of men and boys. The current club membership in Northern Ireland shows a ratio of 35 to 65, meaning nearly twice as much male participation.

However, this number is often even more imbalanced when it comes to roles in the sailing workforce, such as coaches, instructors, officials and club volunteer positions.

Some male focus groups will also be taking place in the future and the governing body will consider whether a similar survey would be helpful, too.

RYANI’s chief operating officer Greg Yarnall says: “This is vitally important research. We are hopeful that by building a fuller picture of the barriers for women and girls in our sport, we will enable a future where gender parity exists across the sport.”

The research has some key areas of focus, including the following:

• Developing a better understanding of the barriers to taking part and reasons for dropping out
• Better understanding women’s and girls’ motivations across the talent and performance pathway and how better support can be provided to enable women and girls to progress
• Developing an understanding of the experiences and environments that have helped or hindered women’s and girls’ participation in the sport from grassroots to elite level
• Building understanding about what would enable more women and girls to start or continue their participation, take part more regularly or pursue a career in the sport
• Gaining information and understanding on the motivators for women and girls to join workforce and volunteer-based roles and identify any issues regarding access

RYANI is conducting the research with Emma Vickers, an ex-England international athlete and head of insight at TASS, an independent sports research body.

Responses will be analysed by Vickers independently with all participants remaining anonymous. The results will then be fed back to RYANI with a series of recommendations.

Yarnall says: “We would be delighted if as many women and girls as possible could complete the survey, as this will really help to build our understanding.”

Anyone that completes the survey will have the opportunity to win either a £100 or £50 Musto or Helly Hansen voucher.

Follow this link to complete the survey before the deadline of Monday 3 April.

A new ladies' sailing initiative at East Antrim Boat Club on Larne Lough in Northern Ireland got underway at the end of January when Ladies that Launch dusted off the wetsuits and had a fun afternoon trying to find the wind.

The aim of the initiative is to engage with existing female club members and get them back to dinghy sailing. Members were invited to attend a new ladies' match racing programme where they race the club RS Quests and learn through an exciting race format. This low-cost option to get on the water has proved attractive to the seven members who attended the first session with more expected to join in the future.

About half of East Antrim's membership is female but mostly active in the keelboat series, and this new effort offers opportunities to get out all year round. Training manager Debbie Hanna said, "This initiative is targeted to offer members something different from traditional fleet racing. Team racing and match racing are exciting formats of the sport that will engage people's interest and give a social sport outlet to those attending".

A new ladies' match racing programme is run in East Antrim Boat Club's RS Quest dinghies

Commodore Lucy Whitford is excited about the progress; "This is a fantastic initiative, and I enjoyed the first session. We had a mix of beginners, experienced dinghy sailors and some of us more used to big boat racing. It's all about gaining new skills, getting on the water, and taking time out to have fun, and we certainly did that".

Equal Sailing is a global initiative founded by Olympic athletes and world champions Giulia Conti and Francesca Clapcich, aimed at inspiring an equal, competitive playing field for male and female sailors. The project provides opportunities for some of the top female sailors from across the world to take part in expert training courses and compete in high-tier regattas aimed at developing key technical and professional skills to further their sailing careers and significantly reduce the gender gap across the world of sailing.

The career-defining opportunities that Equal Sailing provides include the chance to take part in the initiative’s own 69F Academy, where a selection of the world’s top performing female sailors (20% of whom are selected from among the most promising U25 Youth Sailors) can develop fundamental skills onboard the high-tech high-performance 69F, the only flying monohull besides the AC75. 69F Academy training courses last 6 days and take place prior to each Persico 69F Cup Event and will also be tied to other regattas including the Youth Foiling Gold Cup.

“I am thrilled and deeply proud to see how far we have come. It feels like only yesterday when Francesca and I were sat down discussing how we could try to make a difference”, commented co-founder Giulia Conti – World and European champion, four-time Olympic athlete in three classes and US FX team coach for Tokyo 2020. “Now we already have a full roster of exceptional female sailors and two events just around the corner: the 69F Youth Foiling Gold Cup in Cagliari (Sardinia – Italy) and the 69F Foil Cup, a pro sailor event, in Sferracavallo (Palermo – Sicily). It is really exciting to be able to create opportunities and involve so many female sailors of this calibre from all over the world.”

“It is a dream come true to start this project with Giulia”, continued Francesca Clapcich – co-founder, World Champion, Olympic athlete, Ocean Race sailor and first Italian female sailor to finish the Solitaire du Figaro. “The two of us are good friends and close teammates. We have both experienced first-hand how hard it can be to transition from being a successful dinghy sailor to developing a career in a sport we love. It should not be this difficult, which is why, with Equal Sailing, we want to create defining opportunities for top performing sailors looking to develop a career in professional sailing and make it easier for future generations to reach their potential. In order to do so we need partners who want to support our project and help make a difference in our sport.”

The first event for Equal Sailing will be the 69F Youth Foiling Gold Cup, scheduled to take place from 21st to 31stOctober in Cagliari. Team members will be Silvia Mas (ESP) - 2021 470W World Champion and Tokyo 2020 Olympic athlete, Paula Barcelo (ESP) - 2020 49erFX World Champion and Tokyo 2020 Olympic athlete, Sena Takano (JPN) - 49erFX Tokyo 2020 Olympic athlete and member of the JPN SailGP Team, Jana Germani (ITA) - 2021 49erFX Youth World Champion, and Eugenia Bosco (ARG) - silver medallist at the Pan Am Games in Lima 2019 (Nacra 17) and currently training for Paris 2024.

While for the 69F Foil Cup event, scheduled to take place from 10th to 12th November in Sferracavallo, Sicily, team members will include Tamara Echegoyen (ESP) - gold medallist in London 2012 (match race), twice 49erFX World Champion and team member of MAPFRE during the latest edition of the Ocean Race, and Paula Barcelo - Tamara’s 49erFX teammate.

Top women sailors from around the country are en route to Rhode Island for the New York Yacht Club's inaugural Women's 2v2 Team Race, which will be sailed out of the New York Yacht Club Harbour Court this coming Saturday and Sunday.

Creating a new event always carries an element of risk, especially this year, but the Women's 2v2 has proven an immediate hit.

"We weren't sure what the response would be," says Emily Maxwell, the event chairperson. "We had preliminarily asked a few clubs, and many seemed interested, but, with the pandemic, it was hard to know what to expect. We were incredibly excited that we received nearly twice as many requests for invitations as we had slots. And the level of the sailors on each team is really high. It was a difficult decision to get it down to just 10 teams."

The roster of sailors includes some of the best female sailors in American history: two-time Olympic medalist JJ Fetter will sail alongside her daughter Marly Isler for the Yale Corinthian Yacht Club team; 2016 Olympian Paris Henken will skipper one of the two boats for the College of Charleston squad, and the host Club will be represented by two former winners of US Sailing's Rolex Yachtswoman of the Year award, Erika Reineke (2017) and current US Sailing President Cory Sertl (1995 and 2001).

While talent is always valuable in any sailing regatta, success in the two-on-two format, where the team with the boat finishing fourth loses, often comes down to precision teamwork.

"I think this event is open for every team to win at this stage," says Maxwell, who will sail for the host team. "Women who have medalled in regional, national and world championships are attending. One sailor I spoke with this past weekend believes this will be one of the most competitive women's regattas she will ever have attended."

One of the best attributes of adult team racing is its co-ed format. But women-only events are a growing segment of this niche of sailing.

"This event provides women more opportunities to team race and sail post-college," says Maxwell, "and the opportunity to try every position on the boat,"

But, even more than the opportunity to compete against an elite field of female sailors, is the opportunity to sail, period.

"Last year, all team racing events were canceled at New York Yacht Club due to the pandemic," says Maxwell, "so it will be great to get on the water again. I'm looking forward to sailing against such a talented group of women."