Women ‘Capture the Power’
Women teach women how to sail at Island Yacht Club’s annual Northern California Women’s Sailing Seminar, the slogan of which is ‘Capture the Power’. "Top-notch women sailors from all along the Pacific Coast volunteer their expertise to provide instruction in workshops in the classroom and on the water," says organizer Nancy Hird. IYC will host this year’s seminar on September 24-25 in Alameda.
On Saturday, participants choose from a variety of tracks ranging from Beginner through Advanced. Workshops for Spinnaker and Racing are offered, as well as opportunities to customize schedules for specialized subjects such as multihull sailing, weather, troubleshooting, and fixing engine problems. Women often return year after year to advance their skills.
On Sunday, participants choose between a real sailboat race on the Oakland Estuary or a cruise on San Francisco Bay. Those enrolled in two-day tracks continue their practice sessions on the Bay.
Registration is online at www.womenssailingseminar.com. Payment can be made electronically via PayPal, or students can download the forms and mail them in with a check. Sign up by September 2 for the discounted ‘early-bird’ registration fee of $250, which includes instruction on both Saturday and Sunday, continental breakfasts, lunches, no-host cocktail party, one raffle ticket, class materials in a binder, WSS visor, and a bag filled with goodies from sponsors. Registration is first-come, first-served. If space is available after September 2, the charge will increase to $275 for both days. Customized scheduling is only available to those who register by September 2. If two women register together and at least one has never participated before, both receive a 15% discount off the regular price of $275 (our fuzzy math tells us this comes to $233.75 per student, a pretty good deal).
Among the local sponsors contributing prizes for the raffle, Latitude 38 has donated six sets of first-class subscriptions to keep feeding the inspiration, plus logowear hats and shirts.