Hello Fellow Women Sailors:

----------------------- About WmWaves.com--------------------

 October 2008 New Site is Lauched...Enjoy!

To all our women sailor friends, welcome to your forum!  Here we invite you to share with each other everything from coping with worries and fears to suggestions on improving our technical skills; everything from accomplishments and cautionary tales to health, fitness and recipes. 

This project was born out of a common experience.  We, Vanessa, Debbie and Radeen, all made a trip from the United States to Bermuda, Radeen in 1996, and Vanessa and Debbie in 2008.  But that was not the only commonality.  For each of us, it was our first offshore trip of any magnitude.  It was after Vanessa and Debbie's 2008 trip that we joined together with an idea to fulfill a need we saw for women sailors.  (continued below)

In June 2008, Vanessa and Jim and Debbie and Craig traveled from Block Island, RI, to Bermuda and back aboard Vanessa and Jim's' Island Packet 420 Wind Runner.  The event was the Bermuda Cruising Rally, and although all aboard Wind Runner had some offshore experience, none had done a trip of this duration or magnitude.  Four days and two hours after departing Block Island, Wind Runner reached St. George’s, Bermuda.  The trip south was pleasant and comfortable. The four crew members got along wonderfully. Wind Runner was well-equipped with safety gear and equipment, provisions and all other comforts imaginable. The weather and seas had been perfectly cooperative. 

Five days after arriving in Bermuda, Wind Runner departed St. George’s and headed for home.  Unfortunately, the weather and seas were not so cooperative!  The trip home was marred by a 24-hour period of 10- to 12-foot seas. To Vanessa and Debbie, that period seemed endless, and they both longed for land.  What was most interesting, however, was that until reaching Newport, RI, where we would clear Customs, neither Vanessa nor Debbie had shared with the other the concerns they had during that difficult 24-hour period.  Although everyone aboard Wind Runner had confidence in the boat, after hours and hours of sliding down or slamming on waves, inner tensions were mounting.  On the outside, however, all of us appeared strong. Neither Vanessa nor Debbie wanted to worry the other, so each continued stoically in her duties.  What Vanessa and Debbie discovered after they reached Newport and began discussing the trip was that each assumed she was alone in her thoughts and concerns ... that she was the only one who looked forward to stepping off the boat and onto land! 

An idea brewed as Vanessa and Debbie talked.They wanted to create a discussion group for women sailors, where we could come together and share experiences, ideas and concerns, and they wanted their friend, Radeen, to join them in their effort.  In 1996, Radeen and her husband, Hayden, also sailed to Bermuda and also aboard an Island Packet sailboat, RelationShip.  They participated in Steve Black’s Bermuda Cruising Rally which departed from Hampton Roads, VA. Radeen, wary about how she might feel about the trip, decided to return by airplane rather than sailboat in case the experience turned out to be less than enjoyable. As it turned out, Radeen's trip to Bermuda was quite unpleasant for 3 ½ days due to the weather and high seas. As these things sometimes go, Radeen was disappointed that she missed the nearly perfect weather and conditions on the return trip. 

Fortuitously, a wonderful event to launch our idea was approaching in July-- the 2008 BLISS Island Packet Rendezvous in Greenport, NY. All of us are enthusiastic Island Packet owners. So, on June 30, 2008, Wind Runner departed Newport for her home port of Westerly, RI, with Jim and Craig at the helm, and with Vanessa and Debbie going below to call Radeen and start organizing a women's discussion group/forum, called "Women Sailors Coming Together" for the Rendezvous.  We also designed a t-shirt just for the women, whom we dubbed "WAVES" for "Women Adventurous Victorious Extraordinary Sailors.”  Less than two weeks later, at the kick-off dinner for the Rendezvous on July 11, we presented the t-shirts to all the women Island Packet sailors. The next day, what a sight to see the women -- friends and strangers -- streaming in the door in their new t-shirts, ready to talk!

After initial introductions, we separated into groups to make a comprehensive list of everything we thought we would like to talk about with our fellow women sailors.  Then, back in one large group again, we talked!  We spent more than two hours discussing everything from boat recipes to being comfortable handling a man-overboard situation to onboard safety rules. We shared funny stories and serious stories, and we shared our accomplishments.  Many of us were strangers when we started, but we quickly learned that we have a lot in common with our fellow women sailors, new friendships were formed and we wanted to stay in touch with each other!  

When we originally started talking about the discussion group for the Rendezvous, we decided that more than anything, we wanted the women there to walk away feeling good about themselves and the role they choose on their boat.  We also wanted to open up the discussion network, not just for two hours, but for good!  As we knew would happen at our Rendezvous forum, we had much more to talk about than our two hours would allow. There was great enthusiasm for this event and everyone expressed interest in staying in touch during the year so we could exchange ideas or just "talk." We are immensely grateful to Hayden for his time and enthusiasm for this project and for his extraordinary computer and internet skills, without which this project would have remained just a vision. 

So, to all of our women sailor friends, we welcome you to this, your forum, where all women sailors can meet, share and discuss anything and everything of interest to us.  On this site, and on the waters we travel, may we all help each other feel good about ourselves as women as well as sailors, and may we all be Women Making Waves!!