The Pacific Northwest has a proud tradition of women “being at the helm.” All woman racing crews have participated in all of the areas major events including the Vic-Maui race. The Seattle Women’s Sailing Association and Tacoma Women’s Sailing Association have both been successful getting women on board and on the helm. As any sailor worth his or her salt knows, gender doesn’t matter in the least regarding how vital a crew member they are.
This past Saturday, Seattle’s Sloop Tavern Yacht Club added to that tradition with the inaugural Women at the Helm regatta. Thirty-five boats participated, and by the looks of Jan Anderson’s photos, both women and men had a great time.
Poke and Destroy 
Sail Like a Girl made an appropriate appearance! 
The gorgeous Swan 46 Gusto 
Everyone loves a parade 
More parading 
Strong women = sailing women
And here are Jan’s thoughts on the regatta: What a terrific event! 35 boats braved the ornery medical challenges the world is facing, and essentially said, “Enough is enough! We haven’t had enough sailing!” And, of course, it took women to effectively present this compelling argument, hence this new event, “Women at the Helm”, or with so darned many competitors from the Seattle area, it could have even been dubbed “SWATH” ( Seattle Women At The Helm). Well, the massive fleet cut a wide swath across the Central Puget Sound, with plenty o’sunshine, give and take breeze, smiles all around, and clearly tons to be thankful for. It was an absolute blessing to share this day on the water with so many friends – keep charging, gang!
Kurt grew up racing and cruising in the Midwest, and has raced Lasers since the late 1970s. Currently he is a broker at Swiftsure Yachts. He has been Assistant Editor at Sailing Magazine and a short stint as Editor of Northwest Yachting. Through Meadow Point Publishing he handles various marketing duties for smaller local companies. He currently is partners on a C&C 36 which he cruises throughout the Northwest. He’s married to the amazing Abby and is father to Ian and Gabe.