In my earlier post, "Where are the women and crews?" for some reason the text box was going way off screen right, and I keep having to scroll back and forth to read it -- very annoying. So I decided to start a new one, because I needed to clarify something anyway.

In my former post, maybe I should have said "women sailors" or "women racers" or something. It is nice that a lot of you have wives and girlfriends (and dogs) who enjoy going out for a sail once in a while or racing at a low stress level, but I was thinking more in terms of women who are seriously involved and committed to sailing and racing, whether as skipper or as crew. I know there are at least a thousand of them who have been committed enough to the sport to go through grueling seminars and read textbooks on the subject.

And there are at least 50 expert women catamaran skippers and crews in North America who are extremely knowledgeable and would be able to give valuable input on a forum like this -- input to the men as well as to other women.

Unfortunately, the sport is needing women less and less as boats become more powerful and as spinnakers become the norm. In the old days when light weight was a crucial factor, men worked hard at finding and training female crews, motivating their wife or girlfriend, etc. And the women WERE motivated, because they sure didn't want their husband or boyfriend out there sailing with some other woman.

But now you see a predominance of all-male teams or else single-handers. The original Hobie 16 concept of a "couples" boat has almost disappeared except for the Hobie 16's, and maybe one of the reasons that class has remained strong is BECAUSE it is a couples boat.

Women have left sailing because of children, advancing age, the advent of the more powerful boats, the introduction of spinnakers, spousal abuse on the boat, etc. And we don't see new women coming into the sport because of basically the same reasons.

So for couples who are new to the sport and want to get into sailboat racing as a team and want to race one-design, what is available to them except the Hobie 16?

Which has come first here? Have women dropped out because the men keep moving up to bigger, faster, more powerful? Or did the men move up to bigger, faster, more powerful because they did not have a woman who would sail with them?

Is racing with spouse or other family members a priority for men? Or do you guys kind of prefer this "men-only" sport that it is becoming?