International Women's Sailing Network

Raising daughters on a boat

Kaci Cronkhite — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 18:37:44 +0000

You can be a parent, even of very young children and go cruising. Mothers and fathers and those who dream of having children but also want to live aboard, take a look at this video of Sugar Flannigan and Leslie McNish. Sugar and Leslie are very experienced ocean sailors and very dedicated parents. Aboard their Schooner Alcyone, they've raised two daughters, sailed the oceans and teach sail training aboard the boat. To reach them, check out their website or visit them onboard at the Wooden Boat Festival. Both their daughters are good students, excellent sailors and soon, on their way to college.

First Woman of the Wind iMovie created

Kaci Cronkhite — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 16:52:22 +0000

A year ago, I wrote about the dearth of video online featuring women's perspective of boating. Yesterday, using photos and short video shot while on vacation on Heron Island, Australia, I finally taught myself to make an iMovie. This isn't about sailing, but it conjured feelings and allowed me to slip back into the perspective on life that is intimately familiar to cruisers, farmers, gardeners and those who's land life requires and inspires close connection to nature and the humility, the now-ness, the beauty of life. Take a look and I'll start working on mini movies of women and boating.

Questions & Answers expanded

Kaci Cronkhite — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 20:34:01 +0000

International Women Sailing Network FAQ, or frequently asked questions, have been added to this week. If you haven't been to the website in awhile, take a look. I changed the navigation, added more photos, question and answers and the wooden boat women forum. Hoping now that winter's set in, I'll have more time to write and to include more of your comments and stories as allowed.

Wooden Boat Women's Forum started

Kaci Cronkhite — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 18:12:13 +0000

Hi all. Today, I got an email from another woman who owns a wooden boat. Like me, she's hoping to connect with other women who own, sail, maintain, are building or are otherwise engaged to a wooden boat in their lives. Check out the Forum or if you're shy, email me your thoughts on the Contact Us link to the left. Your email will remain private unless you give me permission to post some of it. Happy Thanksgiving week!

Sailing into our 70s

Kaci Cronkhite — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 14:29:00 +0000

It's never too late to start sailing, to get a Captain's license, to buy your own boat or to set off across the ocean. I first went sailing at 31 and compared to others I was meeting, I thought that was a "late" start for a circumnavigator. But Sue Hoover, a retired nurse, takes a start to sailing adventures to a whole different phase of life. Here's an email written by her after her first single-handing journey this summer in the San Juan Islands and across the Straits of Juan de Fuca. Sue now keeps her boat at Boat Haven marina in Port Townsend.

September 1, 2008 Email from Sue Hoover

Dear friends, I docked my boat Quantum Leap at Boat Haven, Port Townsend, at 1330 on Saturday, 8/30/08 after a wonderful trip, my first extended solo boat adventure. I was away 14 days. I motored most of the hours on the 6 days I was traveling from place to place, visiting friends north of here in the San Juan Islands, to Friday Harbor, Rosario, Bellingham, Anacortes, Decatur Island and home. That first day going north

Spidsgatter display at Port Townsend Wooden Boat Festival

Kaci Cronkhite — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 11:37:27 +0000

Three danish designed Spidsgatters will be on display at the 2008 Wooden Boat Festival in Port Townsend. The three boats will be displayed together at center dock, at the Cupola House end of the marina. One is PAX (see photo gallery). The other two are documented 38 square meter (26 feet LOA) "klasse" boats designed by Utzon. One is Eio and the other is Pia.

Tethys Offshore booth at Wooden Boat Festival

Kaci Cronkhite — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 11:32:00 +0000

Nancy Erley is back from London and will have information about her 2009 schedule in her education booth at the 32nd Wooden Boat Festival in Port Townsend. Her booth is located at the Main Gate. IWSN Women to See at the Wooden Boat Festival and news from other women's sailing organizations will be availalbe including news from Sue Hoover and Kaci Cronkhite. Nancy's website is http://www.tethysoffshore .com.

Woman of the Wind Newsletter

Kaci Cronkhite — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 03:57:32 +0000

The first Woman of the Wind newsletter is now available. It's saved as a PDF and is big. 7MB. If you can receive a file that size, email me for a copy. If not, printed four page newsletters will be available at PAX during Wooden Boat Festival and I'll try to find a way to zip the file.

Final Preparations for Wooden Boat Festival

Kaci Cronkhite — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 14:33:28 +0000

From a new, but temporary starboard settee to removal of the old stove pipe, varnish, new temporary cushions down below and carrying out excess tools, Pax is just about ready for the 32nd Wooden Boat Festival. She'll be tied on Center dock, in the company of at least two other Spidsgatters, Eio and Pia. Both of those boats were designed by the most well-known Danish designer of these boats, Utzon. Besides his graceful design of spidsgatters, Utzon designed the Sydney Opera House.

Pax sailing August 11, 2008

Kaci Cronkhite — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 16:02:17 +0000

Leaving the dock for the first time, especially after a major, major refit, is a nerve-wracking, stomach queezing, wake-up-with-lists kind of experience. So when Jan and I let go the lines for Pax's first sail, it was profoundly moving when the boat reminded me of her name. Pax. Peace. As Jan gently pushed off the bow and I put the boat in reverse, Pax started a pirouette. Instead of backing straight downwind along the empty dock, we immediately starting turning to starboard, the little 2-blade prop spinning merrily and winding the bow around better than any bow thruster ever dreamed. I backed a moment, drifted to where the rudder almost touched, then moved the tiller and gave her a burst forward and after two more nudges for and aft, Pax swung around almost in place with her bow now pointing toward the harbor entrance. She was ready to go! We sailed for an hour and a half, leaving one reef in the giant main and rolling out the full jib. Hasse & company did a beautiful job with the sails. We did 5.3 knots in 8 knots of breeze. With all the new rigging to check, our tacks were slow motion experiments, but the summer evening was perfect with a rosy glow on the mountains, 10 knots from the west and a mellow group of fellow sailors on the bay. Peace perfect.