Sail Like A Mom

Published: Tuesday, March 26, 2019
By: Ken Quant, Broad Reach Marketing

Every spring there is a unique gathering of women sailors on the shores of Lake Michigan. Driven by a desire to improve their skills, meet like-minded people, and simply jump start the season, they descend upon the Milwaukee Community Sailing Center for a one-day immersion into the world of sailing from a female perspective.

Started in 2011, the annual Midwest Women’s Sailing Conference (MWSC) is an event run for women sailors, by women sailors. Modeled after the very successful Southern California Yachting Association’s Women’s Sailing Convention, MWSC is an action-packed day offering lady sailors a chance to improve their knowledge through a series of discussions and workshops. The entire event is planned, coordinated, and delivered to focus on the unique challenges most women face in the sailing environment.

A complicated sport, sailing requires a wide array of skills, many of which were commonly thought to be male oriented. The MWSC event helps women overcome these stereotypes by empowering confidence through education. As noted by current event Chairperson, Phyllis McDonald, “Men tend to dive into things to see what happens, but women like to prepare.” This conference focuses on preparation to help attendees become more secure in their ability to handle crisis and uncertainty, without relying on their male counterparts.

McDonald feels that sailing and motherhood have a lot in common. “Moms have to be multi-taskers. A perfect trait for any sailor, because it combines knowledge, skill, courage, and people management all into one pursuit.” The MWSC event primarily focuses on knowledge end of that equation, but it also helps women realize they are not alone in their boating concerns during this day of networking.

Milwaukee may sound like an unlikely location, but it is uniquely qualified to be the host town for such a Midwest gathering. It is one of few cities in the country to offer a donor supported sailing education facility on its shores. Established in 1977, the Milwaukee Community Sailing Center has introduced over 100,000 people to sailing through the years and currently features a modern facility designed specifically for teaching the sport. This makes it a perfect venue for the MWSC event. As importantly though, women have long been an organized part of the Milwaukee sail race community due to the successful Milwaukee Bay Women’s Offshore Series “women only” race fleet that was started back in 1994.

The idea for the new conference was initially hatched after a meeting between Kathy Weishampel, Harken’s Marketing Director, and Gail Hine, the head of the already successful Sailing Convention for Women (www.sailingconventionforwomen.com). Kathy felt a similar program in the Midwest would work, but they needed help. Gail offered her ideas and templates as a springboard and Kathy brought it all back to Wisconsin. Once home, it was mostly the captains and crews of that Milwaukee Bay Women’s Offshore Series who enthusiastically agreed to helped promote and run that first event. The need for this type of experience quickly became evident as that first year completely sold-out; a trend that has remained consistent throughout the years.

McDonald partially attributes the event’s initial credibility to the quality of keynote speakers. The first event featured well-known sailor and current Executive Director of Oakcliff Sailing Center, Dawn Riley, who was also the first woman to be a part of an America’s Cup team in 1992. Subsequent keynote speakers have featured other inspirational and internationally known women sailors including Betsy Allison, Pam Wall, Katie Pettibone, and Renee Mehl, to name a few.

Well known keynotes speakers may have been a good start, but the heart of the Midwest Women’s Sailing Conference is its educational seminars. Each topic is carefully selected to help attendees overcome common boating concerns. From basic sailing skills, to diesel engine repair, the courses cover a wide range of topics that are taught only by women. According to McDonald, “Some of the most popular courses tackle the more nuts-and-bolts topics. By offering our attendees a chance to get their hands dirty, they overcome a bit of their concern of the unknown.”

This year’s conference is planned for May 18. It features an action-packed schedule that is split into four, one hour and 20-minute class segments. Each time period offers a wide range of courses designed to be of interest to sailors of every skill level, including beginner. A sampling of this year’s class titles includes: Introduction to Sailing; Basics of Chartering; Race Tactics; Splicing; Anchoring; and Surprise, You're in Charge. To fill out a very busy day, classes are bookended by a morning keynote speech and late afternoon social event.

The success of this event is no accident. Women represent a consistently growing segment of the sailing population. The days of men-only race boats, and yacht clubs that only allowed women inside to clean, are thankfully long gone. Today, women have the same opportunity to enjoy the pleasures of sailing without the gender barriers that limited their participation in past generations. According to the just released annual edition of Bonnier’s (publisher of Cruising World and Sailing World magazines) 2019 Sailing Market Study, women now make up 46% of all US sailors. This represents a huge increase from the roughly 10% number that was being listed in surveys as recently as only 30 years ago. Events like the MWSC can only help this upward trend continue.

The influence of women on the sport has not gone unnoticed by sailing manufacturers. MWSC now attracts a long list of sponsors looking to tap into this strong market segment. Sponsors help fill the gift bags that each attendee receives and are happy to have their products highlighted during the silent auction and raffles. As women have become more and more a part of the sport, these marketers want to be recognized by this burgeoning group.

With May quickly approaching and everything in place, there is little doubt that the 2019 MWSC event will be another success. If you know someone that may be interested, it may not be too late. Either way, there is always next year, so mark your calendars early. After all, what better way is there to proudly proclaim that you sail like a mom?