MBWSO

Midwest Women’s Sailing Conference, Inc.
3701 North Maryland Ave Shorewood,WI 53211
414.530.6528
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Press Release: For Imm ediate Release: January 23, 2012

Midwest Women’s Sailing Conference www.womenssailing.org
May 19. 2012 8:00 A.M. – 7 P.M
Milwaukee Community Sailing Center www.sailingcenter.org
1450 N. Lincoln Memorial Drive, Milwaukee, WI

The conference fee is $125 and includes classes, meals and the reception. The conference is limited to the first 100 paid registrations. For more details about the conference visit our website www.womenssailing,org .

More questions? Contact the conference at 414-530-6528 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

The 2nd annual Conference will be a full day of workshops and speakers covering topics of seamanship with special emphasis on women’s interest and participation in the sport of sailing. This concentrated event will give women an efficient and effective way to get started or to improve their boating skills at any level. Even experienced Skippers will find much of interest.

Check In starts at 8:00 am. A continental breakfast will be available. The entire group will hear the keynote address from Nancy Erley, who has twice circumnavigated the world. Both voyages were crewed entirely by women. Check out her website www.tethyoffshore.com. Following the keynote, the day will be divided into two morning and two afternoon workshop sessions with a brief break for lunch. Attendees will choose from 6 selections per time slot. Nancy Erley will be the presenter for two workshops. For full descriptions of classes, instructors and registration materials visit our website www.womenssailing.org.

Our workshop format is modeled after Gail Hines’ very successful Southern California Yachting Association’s Women’s Sailing Convention. Local sailor Kathy Weishampel through Milwaukee Community Sailing Center and Milwaukee Bay Women’s Sailing Organization (MBWSO), found volunteers willing to do the work required to make this event a reality.

“We have grown a lot in a short time.” said MWSC President Cookie Mueller. “We filled our inaugural conference and had to disappoint our waiting list. We acquired our 501(c)3 status and have attracted additional spectacular women to be instructors. Look for our booth at the Strictly Sail Show at Navy Pier, in Chicago Jan 26-29, 2012. Our sponsors and supporters have shown a lot of faith in us. “We are attracting women sailors of all skill levels.” said Registrar Christine Martin, commenting on the entries to date. Last year we had a woman come in from her European Cruise to participate and a relocated local girl came back from Atlanta to learn at the MWSC. This year we have had inquires from the Panhandle of Florida, Duluth Minnesota and Kansas City, Kansas. “

For more information about the conference go to www.womenssailing.org.

Dress for the Weather

and other Lessons from the Midwest Women’s Sailing Conference

“Dress for the weather” advised the confirmation email from the 2011 Midwest Women’s Sailing Conference. These were perhaps the four most important words to the success of the event! Certainly none of my 98 fellow attendees or the more than 40 instructors and volunteers, could have predicted 40 knot gusts and rain falling sideways in Milwaukee, Wisconsin - on May 14th! The day-long conference featured 24 different classes from dock line handling and spinnaker setting to diesel engine maintenance and safety at sea. Hosted at the beautiful new Milwaukee Community Sailing Center facilities, many of the classes were planned to be outside, dockside, or on boats. Being sailing women, we came prepared!

How do you teach a spinnaker course or points of sail to beginners when there are three foot waves inside the break wall and boats are breaking free in the marina? You get creative - something sailing women do well. Micky Neilson and her crew rigged up a mock boat under the steps to the Sullivan Deck and my fellow classmates and I donned every item of foul weather gear available and huddled close to hear Micky’s wisdom over the howling winds. Sounds crazy, I know, but the lessons I learned during that class allowed my family to fly our spinnaker more times this season than we have in the all the other seasons we’ve owned it combined.

Adversity can pull people apart or hold them together. Sailing women know how important teamwork is on a boat, so the reaction to the challenging weather was, “Okay, let’s make this work.” The afternoon classes were all moved indoors, as the weather continued to worsen (think sleet), but our spirits - and the quality of the classes - remained high. I can imagine, however, that Sally Ballinger the instructor of the Logistics of Cruising class began to question why she left her boat in the Bahamas for this!

The 2011 sailing season was a particularly rewarding one for me, in large part because of the lessons I learned at the conference. Here are a few of my top takeaways:

Dress For The Weather: There is no shame in packing the extra jacket, and the foulie overalls with the drop-seat are a must have! Having foul weather gear easily accessible on our boat allowed us more confidence in less than perfect conditions.

Get Your Daughters Behind the Wheel: Keynote speaker Dawn Riley told of the challenges of breaking into the America’s Cup world as a woman. Dawn’s experience made me think about my daughters. They have grown up on our boat, but do they think of themselves as sailors? This season my husband, Clay, and I made a point of getting them behind the wheel as often as possible, letting them tack and choose the course. Now it is tough to get my turn! When we crossed Lake Michigan this summer, the girls were able to take a short watch and give us a break. Clay and I sat together on the rail and enjoyed a beautiful day - what a treat. We also made a point of inviting the girls’ friends out on the boat. We had boat sleepovers and made sure every girl got a turn at the wheel as well.

Check the Batteries First: In our Diesel Engine Maintenance class, Phyllis McDonald counseled that when you lose power, check your batteries first. Great advice I wish I’d remembered a little sooner when our instruments started flickering on and off this summer. We checked the connections in the pod, behind the main panel, and were about to go “zebra hunting” (as in the saying, “when you hear hooves behind you, your first guess shouldn’t be zebras”) when all the electronics - and all the electrical power - zapped out after a tack to starboard. Hmmm.... could it be? Yes, indeed. A loose connection at the battery. Problem solved with a quick turn of the wrench. Again, a good lesson to remember sooner rather than later!

Women Who Race Are Fun - So Maybe Racing Is Fun: Until this season Clay and I were firmly in the cruiser column. Racing seemed stressful and not very welcoming for a family cruising boat. After meeting many women who race at the conference - women who made me laugh and shared generously their experiences, mistakes, and advice - we gave racing a go this year. These women take racing seriously - so seriously one told of finding someone else to drive their boat when she was pregnant so her puking over the side didn’t impair their starts! They also know how to have fun and welcomed us into the fold. Our Catalina 34 is well-appointed for comfort and entertaining our 11- year-old daughters, but it is not the fastest boat in the fleet. We still had fun and discovered the best part of the experience (at least for us) happens at the dock after the race!

Spring lines Are Your Friends: Jan Guthrie and Phyllis McDonald rose to the challenge of teaching a dock line handling course inside! Their trick of backing onto a spring line running from the stern cleat of the boat to a wrap around a dock cleat at the beam and back to the boat made us look like rockstars as we left the fuel dock all season long! We also now have a carefully measured “stopping line” for our boat. A spring line attached to our midship cleat is always ready to be tossed over a cleat on the dock as we approach. It works like a charm! Once the line is attached, the boat can be controlled with a small amount of forward throttle to sit alongside the dock as you secure the rest of the lines. No jumping - no danger. Brilliant!

There is a Sorority of the Sea: From salty racers with years of experience to novices who may have once thought sailing is really more “his thing,” all were welcomed and appreciated at the conference. There was something for everyone. One of the best parts of the day was the social hour at the end. A glass of wine, some fabulous silent auction items (I won the North U Sail Trim series!) and lots of laughter and conversation were some of the best memories of the day.

Register Early: I can’t wait for this year’s conference. Space is limited to just 100 women, so my registration went in when the first email arrived. It promises to be another information-packed day featuring more individual classes and keynote speaker Nancy Erley, who has circumnavigated twice - with all female crews! It will be a great day - of course we are all hoping for better weather so we can put some of this great instruction to use on the water!

Eliz Greene, her husband Clay, their 11-year-old twin daughters and their two corgi dogs are planning a three-week cruise of Lake Michigan this summer aboard their 1989 Catalina 34. Eliz is a heart attack survivor, writes one of the Top 50 Health and

Wellness Blogs, and travels the country speaking about wellness and stress management, often with a sailing theme. Find out more at www.EmbraceYourHeart.com.

Photo Credit: Chris Gribble Sailing Photography
414.916.7677

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