While I'm at it, since there are so few women on this forum, I should answer Jennifer's question: "Mary, How often do you take the helm and race against the boys?" (And the reason I didn't want to answer it earlier is because the answer is so long.)

In my early years of sailing I ALWAYS raced against the "boys" (actually grown men) because there weren't ANY women skippers that I saw when I was a child back in the 1940's. Maybe I'm an unusual case (at least for girls) because I started sailing alone when I was about 8 years old on a pram dinghy my father got for me so I could learn to row and learn to sail by myself.

In my preteens and early teens I helmed our family Lightning in all the club series races (only female helm). In my 20's, I helmed my family's Shark catamaran (only female helm). All this I owe to my father, who relinquished the helm to me so that he could make magic with the sails and somehow make us win races even when I got terrible starts. He would say, "Get up there to the line! Get up there!" But I was too timid.

In my early 30’s I raced a Dingo (singlehander) in the Dingo Nationals, and I'm sure I was the only woman.

In my mid-30's I was the only woman racing a Laser in our little local fleet.

And then, in 1980, Rick got a Hobie 18, and I had to learn to crew. Bummer. The best thing about being on the helm was that you had the crew up front to help break the waves and keep you dry. Now I was the one taking the waves.

Steering was the easy job, and now I had the much more strenuous and athletic job at the front of the boat. Hmmm, seems like that is where the man should be (plus we needed the weight up front).

Actually, driving is all I really did until I started racing with Rick.

Rick and I have done boat deliveries, just the two of us, sailing day and night, offshore, and we have to switch off on the helm, of course, and take turns sleeping. Because I learned on a dinghy, I feel confident in my ability to sail almost anything.

My younger sister's story is different. She followed the same path as I, but she is a true and committed skipper and would never dream of crewing. She married a wrestling coach who had never sailed before. But since sailing was her passion, he learned to crew for her and they raced for years. (Ya gotta remember that we are all old people that I am talking about.)

Anyway, Betty (my sister) thinks it is not right to have women-only events. She and I raced in two Women's Hobie 18 World events, with her on the helm and me crewing. In both cases I had to literally beg her to do the events, because she said it is not right to have sex-segregated events in sailing. We got third in San Diego and first in New Jersey.

I partially disagree with her, especially in the beach-cat world. I think the women's only event that NAHCA (North American Hobie Class Assn.) hosts does a good job of getting more women involved and giving them the confidence to skipper.

As far as myself, I like to skipper my own boat, no crew. So now that I am free again to go to regattas after my eight years running Rick's Place, I am going back to the little dinghy concept that I feel comfortable with. So Rick and I are both going to be going to regattas sailing our Hobie Waves in 2004. I came out of retirement the weekend before Thanksgiving at a regatta in Clearwater, Florida. The Wave thing is really cool, because it is not just men and women racing against each other, in many cases it is husbands and wives racing against each other. Really fun!
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Okay, Jennifer, I answered your question; now it's your turn.