Women on the Water: A Journey of Independence and Sailing in the BVI
Explore the empowering experience of three women, including a single mom and a devoted mother, as they charter a Sunsail 384 in the British Virgin Islands with their children. This article delves into the growing trend of women chartering sailboats, overcoming challenges, and finding joy in the adventure of sailing.
Embarking on a New Adventure
Melissa (single mom), Holly (devoted mother with a husband who travels a lot), and I (single) had trekked, cycled, and kayaked together in Patagonia, Turkey, Iceland, and Switzerland, so when I booked a charter for a Sunsail 384 in the BVI, I didn’t give a second thought to our crew. As others heard of our adventure with two pre-teens, they were taken aback. The comments varied from, “I haven’t heard of women and children chartering a boat alone before” to “Did you run into problems?” to “Good for you, it must be nice to be that independent.” The truth is, in all of my years of sailing, it was the first time that I had sailed on anything larger than a small keelboat with complete novices on board. It was a rite of passage that made me think further about women chartering boats.
Women and Sailing: A Growing Trend
The more I travel, the more I meet successful and independent women. It is not beyond them to participate in adventure sports, travel to remote places, or acquire the sailing skills, knowledge, and confidence to charter a sailboat. While Sunsail and The Moorings do not keep statistics on the number of women chartering boats, their head of distribution for the Americas and Asia commented, “We see more women chartering in the Caribbean. They are usually women who haven’t had children yet or women who have children who are grown up. Young children create a bit of a gap.”
Chartering a Boat: What to Consider
Sunsail, The Moorings, and other charter companies qualify their charter clients through an application process that matches the size of the boat and cruising grounds to the level of experience. If your resume isn’t up to snuff for a bareboat charter, there are other options. You can hire an experienced captain or a full crew, or you can sign up for a learn-to-sail vacation at Sunsail’s ASA and RYA-certified sailing school.
Learning to Sail: Options for Women
Girls for Sail (GFS) is another fun learn-to-sail vacation option. GFS, an RYA sailing program for women, celebrates its 10th anniversary this year. Its principal, Annie O’Sullivan, has seen more than telltale signs that more women are sailing dinghies and keelboats. “The number of female sailing instructors must have grown by ten times in the last decade. In 2000, there were two female skippers that I knew of. Now I have ten, and there are others out there,” said O’Sullivan.
Girls for Sail: Empowering Women Through Sailing
Operating out of the UK and the Caribbean, O’Sullivan and her Elan 37, Diamonds are Forever, have had an average of 250 to 300 women per year participate in the sailing program. While many of the participants want to take the plunge and be able to sail on their own, others want to gain more confidence in their abilities. “I recently had an RYA course with three married women as students. They wanted to be able to go out sailing with their husbands and not get told what to do,” said Sullivan.
The Experience: A BVI Charter with Friends and Family
My primary goal on the charter was to make sure that no one got hurt and everybody had a fantastic time. I wanted to convert two adults and two great kids into sailors. Yelling was out of the question. Good fun snorkeling and diving, awesome meals, and well-deserved cocktails were part of every day.
Challenges and Triumphs: Sailing with Novices
Admittedly, I did not have a relaxing week because I was always thinking about how to make the next leg in the trade winds as pleasant as possible. I tried to avoid beam reaches and big waves striking the boat broadside. Everyone learned how to tie knots, read the depth sounder, take the helm, and what to do in a man-overboard situation. To minimize surprises, we talked through approaches to moorings and docks, anchoring, and casting off well in advance, so there was no need to panic. We also celebrated after each tricky situation and at the end of every day.
Future Plans: Encouraging More Women to Sail
We will absolutely charter again, and I hope that other women will be encouraged to charter on their own or take part in sailing programs such as those offered by Sunsail and Girls for Sail.
Girls for Sail in the Caribbean: Join the Adventure
Girls for Sail will be in the Caribbean for the entire upcoming season and will compete in the Caribbean 600 and be at St. Barts. Diamonds are Forever is spending more and more time in Grenada, where O’Sullivan will try to defend a ‘Best Female Skipper’ award that she and her crew won last year. She is looking for a core crew that will sail from St. Thomas to Antigua and would like to have five or six women who can join Diamonds are Forever at different times throughout the season and help her to introduce more women to the joys of sailing and racing in the Caribbean.
Embracing Independence on the Water
Lynn Fitzpatrick’s articles on sailing appear regularly in international publications including AARP The Magazine and Cruising World. She has been a highly competitive Snipe sailor and was the 2008 Sports Information Specialist for sailing at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Lynn Fitzpatrick has written for ALL AT SEA since 2008.
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