There are a lot of reasons to love girls. But there are even more reasons you should love sailing with them. So why don’t you?

Last summer I was sailing on a four-person one-design keelboat with some friends from Boston. During week one of our program, the owner announced that he wanted a girl on board for Buzzards Bay Regatta (BBR). All summer, I knew she was going to be there and I had serious reservations. I thought, “It’s one thing to sail an FJ; it’s another thing to trim an asym.” I couldn't have been more wrong.

I had my reasons for not wanting to sail a sport-boat regatta with a girl. The first being that tempers flare on the water--and women being the gentler of the species might not know how to handle the masculine roaring and chest thumping that could occur. The second is that the facilities on board a sport-boat are limited. A female on board could be forced to witness a fire hose display only seen on the Fourth of July; or worse, the men would have to hear about how her tummy hurts from “holding it.” Any reason is reason enough to just say, NO.

But all summer I kept my mouth shut because the girl on board was (and still is) my girlfriend.

She sailed a few practice races with us in June and July and did fine during the single day racing. She had grown up on boats, and sailed in college – so she obviously knew her way around the boat. I was even more relieved when she was the first person on board to loudly assert that there was no room at a leeward mark. Actually, the guy on the other boat immediately obeyed her wishes to “Stay out!” Which was cool, but I maintained a gloomy outlook. This couldn’t end well. The tears are coming, I thought. Ok fine, no tears. But driving home from the first race she fell asleep in the passenger seat. She would… so weak.

After a few more practice days we were feeling tuned up and ready to sail our regatta. Me and the girlfriend drove down together the night before and stayed at a friend’s house. That night we talked about the next days schedule, reviewed the scratch sheet, and surveyed the weather report. She had a good handle on what was going on.

The first day went well, no tears and no blood. Everyone returned to the dock all smiles with rum and tonic in hand. The girl had done a great job trimming the asym and never once mentioned having to “hold it.” She had great commentary in-between races and at noon even offered to go below to get lunches. She was a blast to have on board and she held her own every step of the way. That night she partied like a champ.

For the second day of sailing the girl was subbed-out for a big dude as the wind was forecasted to rip all day. When she started to thump her chest and challenge the other three to a pull up contest we assured her that it had more to do with total crew weight, rather than with her ability to hang on to the sheet. She pretended to understand, and told us that she would go for a bike ride instead (*Later, I learned that she went for 58 miles).

As we motored out to the course I immediately realized that I missed having the girl onboard. With her gone, it was 4 dudes, on a 24 foot slab of fiberglass getting soaked and beaten up by the elements on Buzzards Bay. The mood changed. The company changed, and worst of all the sailing changed. I can’t explain it in an intelligent manor, but the missing element was our girl.

That night, as I limped up the dock, blistered and punch-drunk and carrying a torn main sail which took us out of the regatta, I thought about how she was the only girl on the water in our fleet. Yet I knew plenty of girls from my college team who wanted to get involved.?So I thought about why people should start sailing with girls on board and this is what I came up with.

She:

  • Can actually read wind shifts;
  • Trains in the winter – for sailing, not drinking;
  • Reminds everyone to put on sun screen before they get burned
  • Brings Kit-Kat bars because salt and chocolate is a great combination;
  • Puts more water and Gatorade in the cooler than Budweiser;
  • Knows the owner of a mega-yacht and can get you on board;
  • Is way more fun to dance with at the regatta party;

Whether it’s hit your local fleet yet or not, women are coming into the sport in a big way, and it’s time to get over the ego and invite a girl onto your crew. You wont regret it.