Hi Mary -
Good post ,-it is nice to see you so active on the Forums -

Hi Micheal ,-and David ,good posts on the subject also .
Agree with Micheal on the collegiate sailing ,-live near the
Universityof Mich . sailing club on Base Line Lk ,-, very good female partisipation on the 505 dingies mainly sailed ,-one good thing they do is offer extensive classes through the year on sailing for beginners and instructor certification ,-I may go this year .
As David and Micheal mention many F-18s and F-16 with spin are attracting both genders to race again . The spin loads really are not that bad on these boats though it does take a reasonable amount of arm strength but more in the setting and dousing of the chute ,-it is some work in buoys racing .One option is to sometimes switch crew spots .
I often do this with new crew or when sailing with kids ,-I just let them steer around A and C marks .
Someone really needs to add a winch type devise along with the snuffer for added ease , --think this was partially attempted on a turtle type snuffer which rolled the chute up .
Furling then snuffing directly into a larger diamiter spin pole may be another possible system , like the hooters use but a snuffer feature added . -
I,m sure we will see more and better systems developed for the chute ,
Even the 20s with 270 sq ft chutes are not overwhelming ,-
The only cat I,ve sailed that ever was too much was the
N-6/0 WITH LARGE WORRELL CHUTE -approx 450 sq ft ,-no snuffer -bag launched ,-that was a monster at times . That and the earlier H-21s in the late 80s we raced .
Newer smaller versions at 270 with great snuffer systems are very easy in all but really higher wind strengths , then it is more technique than strength.
David mentioned the number of -F-18 Tiger husband -wife teams , it is great for the sport , David and I sailed the last 2 Worrell 1000 s together but the year earlier I sailed the Worrell with Sandra , who is signed up to race the Worrell again with Rod from Austrailia.
Here is a good pic of Trish ,Sandra me and David from the Worrell that year ,-{ older team web site }
http://www.worrell1000challenge.com/
The Worrell being the most grueling beach cat race has had a number of female partisipants over the years , as Mary mentioned there are numerous female skippers and crew very capable ,--one interesting one with a great amount of ocean racing experience is Gale B , just looking into potentially copeting in the race in 03.
here is her web site -http://www.2001minitransat.com/

The success of Ellen Macarther in ocean racing and the media has set the course for a number of female racing skippers in numerous events and classes .
The W-1000 currently has 35 teams entered , I see two female partisipants so far with an Amanda C entered and think we will see more with a number of team spots still not filled .
--I,m signed up again for the race and currently looking for a good capable lightweight crew with ocean racing experience,---so if your ready for 03 Mary ,----
just joking again , often when I jokingly ask catsailors to do the race I typically get the -ARE YOU NUTS - look or no responce ,---rightly so , it is a very grueling race at times.

Think we will continue to see more of this type of racing ,-the Tybee race is a good indication of this , along with more female partisipants involved in it .

Sail safe
have fun
Carl Roberts

-added forum question
need to change my sign in name ,--how do we do that ?
thanks