Celebrating Girl Power for Women’s Equality Day

Tomorrow, August 26, is Women’s Equality Day, and we’re celebrating by acknowledging women everywhere who have taken the helm and steered their own course in sailing. There are many well-known women in sailing who have overcome many obstacles for not only the opportunity to captain their own boats, but also to be recognized as champions in their chosen sport. There are also hundreds of women who aren’t so well known, but have faced and overcome the same challenges. We can’t possibly mention them all here, but we would like to share just a snapshot of women in sailing.

To start with, we came across a handful of very short YouTube clips put together by US Sailing that focus on individual women sailors and their thoughts about equality in the sport, starting with Linda Newland, who opens with, “When I first started sailing, women were pretty much relegated to below the decks making sandwiches and passing food up to the crew.” That ain’t happening anymore!

In the other videos we hear from Olympic sailor and SailGP crew member Anna Weis, current National Women’s Sailing Association (NWSA) president Debbie Huntsman, NWSA founder Doris Colgate, and Olympic medalist and world sailing champion J.J. Fetter (also known by J.J. Isler).

And then there are the women most of us will never hear about: those who champion the cause for women in sailing and by all accounts are succeeding quite nicely. Think about the two women-specific sailing events that we wrote about recently — Island Yacht Club’s 31st annual Women’s Sailing Seminar, and Club Nautique’s inaugural Women at the Helm weekend, which kicks off on Women’s Equality Day!

The ladies who dreamed up and organize and run these events are truly champions in our books. The sailors who attend will share hours of interesting and focused time learning about and practicing sailing skills. How could anyone not like that?