Hi Mary,
In equestrian sports it`s a bit confusing, since male horses are divided into those who are still all male, and those who have had some equipment removed, which makes them a bit more docile ! Female horses you can at least bet on for consistency, except they all have their own personality. I promised myself a long time ago I would never do a sport where my equipment can think for itself !
Lucky for us, boats are pretty neutral, even though we call a ship female. Perhaps if women sailors could get male boats, they`d do better ?

This issue is an impossible one to resolve - I used to think women had less competitive drive than men, which could explain why fewer compete in sailing, but my crew (female) hates losing more than I do, so it`s not that. I remember a huge fight on the boat at one Nationals, after we`d just come 2nd in a race, because I thought "wow, we just came 2nd", while she thought "If you didn`t make that one mistake, we could have been first."
It might just be that because they are MORE competitive than men in some ways, and can`t stand losing, that they don`t want to compete, for fear of losing.
Then again, there`s a theory which states that, male or female, we`re all different. I`ll go with that one.

Cheers
Steve