A SAMPLING OF WAYS FOR WOMEN TO GET ON THE WATER
Americans who went fishing last year were women, an all-time participation high, according to the 2021 Special Report on Fishing by the Recreational Boating & Fishing Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to increasing involvement in recreational Why not? That’s what led Betty Bauman to start Ladies, Let’s Go Fishing! in 1997. Since then, this organization of which Bauman is founder and chief executive officer, hosts weekend seminar series dubbed the No-Yelling School of Fishing, as well as tournaments throughout Florida and abroad. To date, Bauman has empowered more than 9,000 women to sportfish. “I attended ICAST (International Convention of Allied Sportfishing Trades, the world’s largest sportfishing trade show) when I had a public relations agency. The American Sportfishing Association’s director asked in a speech why weren’t more women in fishing? After all, as he pointed out, the sport wasn’t reaching some 50% of the potential angling and boating. WHY WOMEN? market. I thought to myself, women don’t want to feel uncomfortable or get yelled out. So, I came up with a way to teach women the basics. How to tie knots, how rods and reels work, and how to make value assessments when fishing, not just following what their husbands yell at them
CHICAGO YACHT CLUB’S WOMEN ON THE WATER chicagoyachtclub.org/adult-sailing/ women-on-the-water
LADIES LET’S GO FISHING ladiesletsgofishing.com
NATIONAL WOMEN’S SAILING ASSOCIATION womensailing.org WOMEN ON THE WATER LONG ISLAND SOUND womenonthewaterlis.com
FREEDOM BOAT CLUB SISTERS PROGRAM
freedomboatclub.com/learning-center/ what-is-a-freedom-boat-club-diva.html
HOUSTON YACHT CLUB WOMEN’S SAILING ASSOCIATION houstonyachtclub.com/ women-s-sailing-assoc
to do or going down in the galley to make sandwiches,” says Bauman. Women learn differently from men, and that’s the benefit of learning boating skills with and from other women. Just ask Debbie Huntsman, the past president of the National Women’s Sailing Association (NWSA). “My husband and I were taking a learn to sail class years ago. I saw another boat in the distance and asked the instructor, who was a man, what I needed to do to be sure we didn’t have a collision. He answered that it was just like going down the aisle at the
supermarket with a shopping cart; you just know not to hit another cart. That didn’t do it for me,” Huntsman tells. The 1990-founded NWSA is a group of national and international women sailors. It supports its members via everything from a library of instructional videos taught by women, for women, to its annual conference, which features hands-on workshops and on-the-water coaching. “I think women tend to be more meticulous in their learning. They want to know all the moving parts and why they move. They want to do it right and do it perfectly whether men are onboard or not. That’s what I see,” says Karen Berry, VP of operations at Freedom Boat Club (FBC) of the Grand Strand, in Myrtle Beach, SC. FBC offers free boating training and safety education to all members, including those in the 2017-founded Freedom Boating Diva program, which Berry helped to launch. The group is now called the Freedom Boat Club Sisters group, and 40% of the clubs nationwide now have a Sister component. Members enjoy time on the water together, training activities, social events and boatloads of camaraderie.
CAMARADERIE & NETWORKING
More so than a one-and-done class, many women-centric boating groups and clubs
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