Celebrating the East Region's Women Sailors with World Sailing's Steering the Course Festival

The East Region has some very strong women’s sailing groups, and as part of the festival featured:

Women on the Water – Hunts Sailing Club

‘Women on the Water’ (WOW) at Hunts Sailing Club, in St Ives, Cambridgeshire, was a group created by Vanessa Weedon-Jones, Here, she explains how the group came to be:

“The group started when I moved into the area about ten years ago. At that time I was a newly qualified SI and I’d spent a fair bit of time in various clubs and centres, and had noticed an absence of women sailors, instructors, committee members, in fact an absence of women, full stop. I wanted to set up a women only group with the hope of just getting more women into the sport, primarily just to enjoy sailing, but also to hopefully grow from there.

We started off quite slowly with just a handful of people who wanted to learn, but then started to grow as word got round. I soon realised I would need help and luckily a couple of people in the group were ready and willing for Instructor training and after that we went from strength to strength.

We’ve now ‘grown’ five DIs from within the group, also helped by the positive and friendly attitude within the club, plus plenty of AIs and one PBI. These have put the group on really firm foundations and I think we can continue well into the future. We also have a Keelboat Instructor in our number who also sails at Colne YC with the women’s group there, and we have a day out planned so we can try some sea sailing. We’ve already had a visit from some of the team at Hertford County Yacht Club, plus a semi-planned trip out to see Jane’s women’s group at Snettisham might be resurrected soon.

During lockdown we met every week via zoom, with each instructor putting together a session on a different sailing subject. I also delivered some Assistant Race Officer training and a fair few are taking this up as a better duty option than being in the galley. 

What I notice is that the group has a real ‘community’ feel. New members are always made welcome and very quickly become one of us. Everyone is welcome, whether they can sail or not, and people are always happy to take newcomers out and get them started. That’s where having our own instructors really comes to the fore. One of our more recent members, who has not long moved into the area, has commented how joining WOW has given her an instant friendship network.

We don’t just sail - quite a few people have taken up SUP and kayaking (sit on tops) and people are just as welcome to come and paddle as they are to come and sail. We’re going to be running some SUP tasters soon, with the idea of getting more people in to the group then maybe converting them to sailors. I think we have a potential SUP instructor in the group, which would be awesome.

Some of the additional benefits of the group are that we now have four women committee members (out of 12) three of whom are WOW regulars. It’s a shame that that has to be remarkable, but I think being regular users of the club has given people more interest in getting involved in what goes on, and maybe also the confidence to join what was a bit of a male dominated group. I’m really pleased with this; women being seen to be decision makers really helps with being seen as being fully active and involved in the club - about time too.

Another benefit has been the increase in numbers of women racing. We had a fifty/fifty male/female split in our Get Ready to Race course over Easter, and likewise a fifty/fifty male/female coaching team. That felt brilliant.

I’m a firm believer that it really helps if people can ‘see themselves’ or someone like them doing an activity, so having a wealth of role models and mentors coming out of the group has been fantastically useful and has definitely influenced the club as a whole.”

The Hunts SC WOW group planned a number of activities as part of the Steering the Course Festival – including a Trophy Race, a Bring a Friend session, and featuring the Club’s women sailors via the Club’s social media over the course of the festival.

Women on the Water - Colne Yacht Club 

In early 2018 Jane Long assembled a group of like-minded friends at Colne Yacht Club, Brightlingsea, to propose a women’s section using the Club’s three Hunter Sonatas. Its aim was to promote sailing skills in a supportive environment and to have fun. Identifying competencies within the RYA NSS scheme were also on offer as the Club boasted several qualified keelboat instructors.  At first there weren't enough women skippers to take out our members, so we relied on 'Petra' (Peter) and ‘Colette’ (Colin) to step in.  The lead team are delighted now to have seven competent women skippers, with more wanting to take on this role.

Regular fortnightly events to suit the tides were scheduled through the season and these were well attended. The morning sail was followed by a fixed-price lunch on the balcony and a chat about anything and everything. The group have been involved in various events and projects, including, in July 2019 – an event whereby Olympic yachtswomen brought the ‘Magenta Project’ to Brightlingsea, and members are still talking about the day with inspired enthusiasm.

The importance of the social side and off-the-water contact is recognised as important - at the end of each season the group put on free monthly sessions on topics such as outboard engines, navigation, knots and safety. The group also help out with winter maintenance. They have entered two Christmas Tree Festivals, one with a 'Spinnaker Tree', and the next with 'More Port than Starboard'. This social aspect became particularly important during lockdown, where Jane led Zoom sessions to keep in touch, including sailing-based quizzes, and Lesley led a practical Zoom session on boat stability involving margarine tubs and kebab skewers!

In 2021 the group resumed sailing, closely following RYA and Government guidance on Covid.  Jane said “We have now changed the name to Women on the Water (WOW), which sounds more energetic, and have increased our numbers sufficiently for our WOW Skippers to consider broadening our offer to include paddleboarding and power boating.  Several WOWers have expressed an interest in doing their PB2 qualification and two of our members are training to become powerboat instructors. I now feel able to take a step out and let others take the lead.”

Lesley Hastie has recently taken over as WOW Coordinator, as Jane devotes more time to the CYC RYA Training Centre.  Lesley is passionate about enabling women to enjoy everything that sailing has to offer, and intends to take WOW from strength to strength.  

Hickling Broad Sailing Club

Hickling Broad Sailing Club, a CIO based in the heart of the Norfolk Broads, recently celebrated their women sailors with an afternoon’s sailing and cream tea as part of World Sailing’s Steering the Course Festival.

Pre-Covid, informal women’s sailing activities had been taking place fortnightly at the Club, on alternate Thursdays and Fridays – but since restrictions had hampered this initiative, getting involved in Steering the Course and celebrating women in sailing seemed the ideal opportunity to encourage these sailors back together and onto the water. Women sailors of all ages and experience were encouraged to get involved.

The event was planned to take place after the Club’s Junior and Novice Race morning on Saturday, 22 May, and a variety of boats were on the water, including Wayfarers, Toppers, Optimists, Catamarans and Lasers. Sadly, due to the poor weather forecast – and as a result of the gales and wet weather the previous day - the planned sail under Potter Heigham Bridge was unable to take place. Instead the Steering the Course event was held on the Broad and saw women of all ages and with different experiences sail, coach and enjoy a short race. Those that were unable to sail enjoyed the view, a cream tea and an opportunity to catch up and chat about their sailing experiences, one member saying “Great afternoon of fun, sailing and a cream tea is a perfect combination” 

Many sailors commented that since the Covid-restrictions they had felt nervous about returning to the water, so to sail in light winds was just what was needed to inspire and encourage them back. Promises to meet again and sail together were expressed, and one of the Club’s younger female sailors coached from a safety boat, whilst others tried sailing in catamarans for a new experience.

Snettisham Beach Sailing Club

Snettisham Beach Sailing Club on the North Norfolk Coast has enjoyed an increase in popularity of women’s sailing, with eight women enjoying the safe water of the lake and excitement of the sea, and another four joining in June. Snettisham has a unique track record of producing women sailors from Junior right up to Adult.

The Club is seeing more girls than boys progressing through the junior pathway at SBSC, with female youth sailors are competing at Regional, National, European and World Championship level. The Club also has a growing number of female instructors working at the club, perhaps in part due to the enthusiasm of the Club’s long-time Chief Instructor Jane Ellison.

For more information about how to get out on the water in the East Region, visit https://www.rya.org.uk/start-boating.