Sailin’ Sisters met in early January at Kansas City Sailing for a good refresher on sail controls and trim.  Thank you to Bruce Liese for leading such a great discussion.  Our next meeting will be February 16th at 3:00 when we will talk about navigation – something important to all sailors.  Please note that our March meeting has been moved from the 9th to the 2nd to accommodate the PYC general membership meeting.  (See related article.)

Something new for Sailin’ Sisters has begun.  In an effort to see more women out on the water and introduce them to racing, we are holding meetings to learn about circling the buoys.  We held our first meeting on January 19th at my house in Leawood.  Rear Commodore Pat Allen spoke briefly about PYC’s Racing Program and encouraged women to participate next season in both the Fun and Series Races.

Thirteen women then set about telling of their sailing and raceing experiences.  I have to tell you, there are some pretty funny stories out there and some mighty determined women sailors!  It was a great way to get to know these wonderful women and their sailing backgrounds.  I am really looking forward to learning with them at future meetings and sailing together next Summer.  Our next meeting will be on Sunday, February 17th at 3:00 in Leawood.  We will be using the book, Getting Started In Sailboat Racing, by Cort and Stearns as our guide to learn the basics and understand the rules.  Please read Chapters 1-4 before the next meeting if possible.

Remember that all of these meetings – both for Sailin’ and Racin’ Sisters – are open to all women sailors of all experience levels.  We encourage you to attend!  You’ll find a great group of supportive women interested in helping each other sail more and sail better.  Please contact me if you have questions or wish to get involved.

Joan Allen
Sailin’ and Racin’ Sisters
Allenhouse4@sbcglobal.net

We had such a great time this year learning to sail and race She Worthy, PYC’s little pink Santana 20, that the next logical phase is spreading the joy! In addition to our winter Sailin’ Sisters seminars (see related article), we want to hold racing seminars to encourage more women to get out there on the race course and give it a try! NO, we are not experts but we have the desire and drive to do better. We are looking for women who want to sail and race as part of a rotating team on She Worthy or – even better – to take your own boat out and give racing a try.

So ask yourself, “What would it take to make me get out there to go around the orange buoys? What’s holding me back?” We will address your concerns at our race sessions. So in addition to the regular winter sailing seminars for women, we will hold separate sessions for the specific purpose of learning, understanding and applying the racing rules of sailing and ways to improve boat speed.  I guarantee, there is no better way to improve your sailing skills more quickly than being involved in racing.

Robby Robinson, author of  The International Marine Book of Sailing states, “The joy of sailing increases when you sail well, and nothing spotlights what it takes to sail well more effectively than racing.”  Robinson also says, “…every time I hoist a sail to cruise, my racing experience is there to draw on.”

Women make great team members and if we put some effort into learning the sailing race rules, we can have an awesome time together out on the water. We can put the study time in now over the long winter (and have fun while we are at it) and then be ready to hit the water in the spring for some practice. Our first meeting will be on January 19th at 3:00 in Kansas City (location to be determined).

Give me a shout if you are even just a little bit curious. No one is asking you to commit to spending every summer weekend slaving away as crew. We just want to encourage you to come learn a bit about making a sailboat go efficiently and understand a few rules. Come talk sailing with us! It should be fun an informative! Please let us know you are game by commenting below or email me at allenhouse4@sbcglobal.net.

Joan Allen
allenhouse4@sbcglobal
Sailin’ Sisters

On Sunday morning after Sailin’ Sisters recovered from the first round of pillagin’, we were ready for more!  The piratin’ continued out on the wacky racecourse set in some pretty stiff winds.  Timing didn’t matter as five boats took part in what we hope will become an annual event.  Boats were to grab a pennant (pirate duct tape) off the windward mark then make a 360 degree turn on each leg of the course.

But the best part was that as they went past the committee boat, they were to toss a beverage to the race committee.  Unfortunately for them, this also brought them within squirt gun range!  Also unfortunately for the committee, we didn’t count on return fire in the form of water balloons from Captain Morgan’s crew!

Congratulations to Bret Overholtzer for following most of the rules (honestly, we didn’t watch the whole time but I’m guessing there might have been some pirate-line behavior going on), for single handing his boat through the entire race, and for winning the race by means of random drawing!

A big thank you to the race committee and to all the participants for taking part, demonstrating excellent boat handling skills (no boats were scraped in the execution of this event), and for being such good sports!  Let’s do it again next year!  Arrrrrr!

A Fun Race is scheduled for Sunday, August 12.  But this ain’t yer usual race where the first boat to cross the finish line wins.  Nope.  This one is totally different.  It doesn’t matter who comes in first.  What matters is that you participate and follow a few rather unconventional rules.  And since Sailin’ Sisters is running the Committee Boat, we get to make them up!

The whole point is to get folks out there on the water having a grand time!

Here are a few of the rules:

• First and foremost is that Sailin’ Sisters is in charge and, like all women, we reserve the right to change our minds at any point and for no good reason at all.
• Bribing the Race Committee is not only allowed, it is expected.
• Dress up yourselves and your boats for the craziest Fun Race ever!
• Be prepared to get wet since the Race Committee will be armed with squirt guns and who knows what else!  (You will want some sort of defense or attack weapons yourself.)
• On the upwind mark, you must grab a “pennant” from the race mark.  (No penalty turns for touching this mark.)
• On each leg, every vessel must perform a 360 degree turn.
• Monohulls that normally participate in the series races must start 5 minutes behind those who don’t normally race and multihulls start 10 minutes after the first start.  This should remove the fear factor on the start line for the inexperienced racers.
• Each lap around the racecourse, you must successfully toss at least one drink of your choice to the Race Committee (preferably one that floats.)
• You earn a placement number as you cross the finish line with your pennant.  Once everyone is finished, a random number will be drawn by the Race Committee.  The vessel with the matching placement number wins!!!  So you see, speed isn’t the determining factor.  Participation is!
• A “fabulous” prize will be awarded during the raft up immediately following the race.  (Bring lots of lines and fenders and remember to keep those spreaders offset!)
• Plan to party and swim the afternoon away!  Bring some extra snacks and drinks to share!
• Most importantly, display good seamanship!  Be a good sport and don’t get wrapped up in the rules or we’ll send you home and tell your mama.

We’ll have a skippers meeting at 10 a.m. and the first start will be whenever we get around to it.  (Told you we get to make up the rules!)

Questions?  Contact Terri Tilford, Shelley Smith or Joan Allen.  We’ll make up some random answer.