Who
are female boaters and what do they want?
For a woman who wonders if she would fit in this organization, the
regional chapter recently did a survey among its members. When asking
the question "I would describe myself as" they offered
this range of options: liveaboard, passagemaker, weekend boater,
want-to-be, and other (other included, anytime boater, boatless,
ex-liveaboard, between boats, cruiser, skipper, used to be liveaboard
(no boat now), spouse of a boater, part-time liveaboard, long-range
cruiser, summer cruiser, Coast Guard Auxillarist and explorer, post
liveaboard, summer liveaboard, and just sold the boat.)
When asked about "Topics I am interested in discussing at chapter
meetings," top replies were cruising and safety. Dead last
were decorating, remodeling and cooking.
One area of interest was revealed in a recent polling of regional
members. Two-thirds of the respondents had never or only occasionally
been the person at the helm docking the boat, but most expressed
interest in learning how to do it and doing it more often.
Women
Aboard: The Organization
Woman Aboard is an organization dedicated to empowering female
boaters. Their stated goal is to enhance the boating experience
for all women in boating through information, education, camaraderie
and support. Starting with a handful of women in 1994, it evolved
into an international networking group of thousands of women boaters
representing nearly 20 countries.
The easiest way to join is at the organization's website, www.womenaboard.com.
Women may also call 1-877-WMN-ABRD, or write Women Aboard, P.O.
Box 14254, North Palm Beach, Florida, 33408.
To fast-track your entry into the regional activities, interested
women should contact Linda Lewis directly. Call 425-482-9757 or
e-mail her at lindaldavep@hotmail.com.
Look for a Woman Aboard seminar at the January boat show in Seattle.
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 There
is much reference among boaters to "seat of your pants" sailing,
but Linda Lewis actually learned to sail blind. She was working as a nurse
at a camp that trained small-craft instructors. They wanted to experiment
with the idea of teaching blind people to sail.
"I was the perfect guinea pig since
I'd never sailed," said Linda. "With a blindfold on, I was put
in a rubber raft with a sail and told to 'Pull the string and push the
stick until you have a sense of forward motion'."
It was such an amazing experience for her
that she bought a 12-foot catamaran and never looked back. Through years
of sailing and now powerboating, she developed a passion to encourage
women in boating. To the benefit of females who boat in the Pacific Northwest,
she has just assumed leadership of the regional chapter of Women Aboard.
This high-energy, recently retired professor of nursing is a good fit
for this organization with a goal of encouraging competence and confidence
of women on boats.
From her amazing experience sailing blindfolded,
Linda went on to enjoy sailing her 12-foot cat boat in the Midwest and
took it with her on a move to San Francisco. A single mom with two young
daughters, she continued sailing in the Bay area. In an organization called
Oceanic, she gained her first keel boat experience on a variety of boats.
When she took a job at the University of Washington, she joined the Seattle
Women's Sailing Association (SWSA).
"Boating was fun and challenging. It always stretched me and I love
to be challenged," shared Linda. "I did serious boating for
years and had good crew skills. I was welcomed on boats. On a couple of
vacations I went along as crew on trips from Seattle to San Francisco
and from Sitka to Seattle. I would always take my own binoculars, charts
and navigational tools and I practiced. I sailed nearly every weekend,
I took classes, got on boats and as they say, 'did the tiller time'."
In the SWSA Linda was encouraged to move into a skipper position. She
took all their "skipper wannabe" classes.
"At one point, I chartered a boat
and asked Rubie Sanborn, a member of SWSA, if she would come aboard as
my back-up brain. I asked her to let me make the mistakes short of causing
a dangerous situation. She let me learn and finally told me, 'You're ready,
go!'"
That was a crossover experience for Linda.
It gave her the confidence to charter a boat and take a three-week trip
to Princess Louisa Inlet and up to Desolation Sound with her 19-year-old
daughter. The two of them made the trip without navigational devices,
doing it by dead reckoning and piloting.
"My daughter showed total confidence in me when she said, 'If mom
says we can do it, we can do it!' So, I said, 'Okay kid, we're going',"
smiles Linda. "The scrapbook my daughter kept from that trip is one
of her most prized possessions."
Linda remembers that when they pulled into ports, people would ask about
where the driver of the boat was. They saw almost no women out there.
They have once-in-a-lifetime memories, such as when they came across the
J, K and L whale pods near the northwest corner of the San Juan Islands.
"It was an incredible experience,"
remembers Linda, "we always talk about it. It was about being out
in the environment and feeling that we had what it took to do it!
Linda met her husband David Parker, a lifelong boater, through the Seattle
Singles Yacht Club. They chartered boats for seven years until, in 2000,
they finally bought a 43-foot Taiwanese trawler, called a Kha-Shing, which
they named M/V Royal Sounder. Both retired, they have made their permanent
home in the Northwest.
"When we bought our powerboat, I was
sort of looked at by some as turning into a rotten stinkpotter. Even my
daughter said, 'You've crossed over to the dark side'," laughs Linda.
"We now love gunkholing Northwest waters. We love cruising in the
trawler. San Francisco has wind but very little coastal cruising."
David (as well as a number of other men) was present at the October meeting
of Women Aboard, which welcomes the partners of members at meetings. "Women
aboard," explained Linda, "was started in Florida in 1994 by
a liveaboard who wanted to network with other women boaters. I'd like
the organization to be a place for women who don't want to 'ride the boat'
but who want to 'do the boat' without alienating their partners. It is
a real challenge for a couple to work out ways to combine appropriate
onboard leadership and a woman's increasing boat-handling skills. Meeting
that challenge is important for the sake of good teamwork and for the
sake of a safer boat. My vision is that women will consider stepping up
to the helm and that men can relax enough to encourage them to step up
to the helm."
Speaking to male boaters on partnered boats
Linda reminds, "She is the one who could save your life."
That touches on an important motivation
in her desire to play a role in encouraging female boaters. A major and
rarely discussed safety issue affecting boaters is that on most pleasure
boats, crewmembers are often ill-equipped to take over in a crisis situation.
"It would be my guess," says Linda, "that on ninety percent
of boats owned by a male/female partner, women are relegated to handling
lines."
"Part of the struggle of women on boats," explains Linda, "is
to have good working relationships with their partners that create the
opportunities for them to navigate, work on systems, etcetera. A lot of
men are happy with a woman onboard who will cook and handle the lines,
if that is the case that is all the further she will go. [For a woman
to participate in boating more fully] it takes a man who can let go."
Her concern is that on most partnered boats
women are not experientially prepared to be in command. "You need
actual practice to become competent," explains Linda. "I understand
that not every woman wants to assume a leadership role and that if a woman
doesn't really want to be on the boat, nothing will really encourage her
to become more competent."
"If she wants to learn, though,"
suggests Linda, "ideally she should find someone [not her partner]
on another boat or on her own boat who will teach her the skills. There
are lots of people in boating organizations who would be willing to take
the time to teach them. A woman must say, 'I want this and I'm going to
go get it'. The woman who is willing to get on the boat and give it a
try and who is allowed to make decisions will have a lot more fun and
more interesting experiences. I would be bored silly if I were to sit
on a boat and not be part of the operation."
The current activities of the regional Women Aboard chapter involve quarterly
educational meetings. (October's was held at Ray's Boathouse. It offered
an informative program about proper procedures for using a LifeSling,
especially when a woman has to lift a larger man onboard a powerboat and
is faced with a high freeboard and no winch.) Linda is scheduling and
encouraging smaller monthly group gatherings for further learning and
networking in various areas of the region covering Washington, Oregon,
Alaska and British Columbia. Linda would even like to see Women Aboard
be a place where women who desire on-the-water experience could find mentors
to help with that. She hopes to encourage women with all levels of boating
experience to enjoy and participate in the organization.
A networking opportunity is an important
part of Women Aboard. Each member has access to the membership list worldwide.
"Once when we were in Ketchikan, Alaska, we had battery problems
on the boat and knew no one," recalled Linda.
"Then I recognized in the marina we
were in, a boat name that belonged to a Woman Aboard member. She welcomed
us and was very helpful, she even leant us her car."
When they bought their powerboat, Linda
had difficulty finding an organization that cared about boating and especially
a women's role in boating that wasn't so exclusive to sailing. "I
was talking about  my
frustrations at a Trawler event I attended," remembers Linda, "and
somebody was listening who said 'I have just the organization for you'.
She even gave me a newsletter for Women Aboard." (Regional membership
in Women Aboard is currently 80 percent powerboaters.)
Linda's commitment to encouraging women
on boats grew out of interests she has pursued throughout her career as
a nurse and then as a professor of nursing. She maintained a dual focus:
safety and concern for women. Her research focus was women's health and
her clinical practice was emergency medicine. She is articulate and inspiring
as she speaks of her visions for the Pacific Northwest chapter of Women
Aboard. She hopes that female boaters don't feel that you have to have
a certain skill level or have her same level of passion for learning about
all aspects of boating. She realizes that each female boater and each
boating couple has to develop a style right for them. She also realizes,
though, that there is need for a welcoming and safe environment for learning
about boating if women are to develop the confidence and the skills needed
to play active roles as safe and enthusiastic boating partners. There
is also a need for a place where women who love all aspects of the boating
life can meet other women who boat and share their common experiences.
She hopes to be a catalyst, enabling the regional chapter of Women Aboard
to be such a place. 
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