The roller coaster programme that is the RYA Northern Ireland’s Women on the Water has seen a satisfyingly noticeable increase in the numbers of women sailing and taking to the water on paddleboards and windsurfers.
Recently, the Donaghadee Club on the North Down coast has seen further interest in Women's sailing after member Vicki Dews took on the task last year of getting more people back on the water after lockdown. She particularly changed the club's focus, which had been on attracting juniors, such as its successful children's Bright Night Friday sessions. “I realised we needed to concentrate on turning adults into sailing members and not just as parents of junior sailors”. Vicki said. She then thought that adult females were particularly under-represented and wondered what stopped them from trying sailing or those existing Club members who used to sail coming back into it.
WOW-WE launch for a new adventure
Having thought that some women may be more comfortable sailing in a keelboat rather than dinghies (and that does away with the need to wear a wetsuit), the normal race night on Wednesdays was re-designed to incorporate an adult female-focused component to encourage existing adult female members to have a go or come back to sailing and that is how WOW – WE came about – Women on Water Wednesday Evenings. Jimmie McKee kindly offered his Hunter 19 for the season.
The 2022 event was very successful, regularly having up to twelve participants on the water and the 2023 edition opened up to non-members. On its International Woman’s Day launch, the numbers exceeded expectations when 24 showed up.
And the interest has remained with 36 ladies, including six coordinators, in total over the four-week sessions. Of those, 16 became full sailing members, of which some have attended the adult learning course that now runs concurrently with WOW-WE.
Vickie is pleased with the result. “We’ll work out the final tally at the end of the season, analyse and plan for next year. Interestingly, after a couple of sessions on the water, the apprehension of wearing wetsuits and falling in seemed to subside, and the appeal of dinghies over small keelboats seemed to grow. However, the big keelboats were a huge appeal with several ladies offering to crew on a regular basis!
Kate Broderick, RYANI Pathways Officer, commented, “Over the course of the 2023 season, the WOW-WE has been a great success down at Donaghadee Sailing Club. It's fantastic to see more women on the water gaining confidence, developing skills, meeting new people, and getting more involved at their local clubs. We can't wait to see this programme flourish even further within the next few years."
Another club that has recently launched two successful events aimed at getting women on the water is East Down YC on Strangford Lough with Margie Crawford’s Ladies big boat cruising initiative 24 Enjoy East Down Yacht Club Ladies Cruise in Company (afloat.i and the Stand Up Paddleboarding day. Women to the Fore at East Down Yacht Club (afloat.ie)
Mind you, some clubs didn’t have to make the effort to have women sailing. Michael Clarke, Lough Erne YC Admiral, commented on social media “Back in 1895, Suffragette times, Lough Erne YC made women full members. Most sailed Colleen class boats a bit like LEYCs Yeoman class today. We began club and event J/24 racing in 1984, still going strong on Tuesday evenings. All crews include women, and one J/24 is owned by a woman. J/24 women hold elected office, including a half dozen Commodores in recent decades. Latest is our youth sailor J/24 usual crew 3 male and 3 female. Get it going and it just naturally prospers”.
The Women in Sports networking event titled Shifting the Paradigm on Thursday 7th, September in Belfast’s Kingspan stadium
With women on the water so popular and girls and women’s football to the fore, the Women in Sports networking event titled Shifting the Paradigm on Thursday 7th, September in Belfast’s Kingspan stadium should be of interest.
Register here
