We all need dreams in our life; good ones that keep us motivated. My dream is to participate as crew in the next Rolex Women’s International Keelboat Championship. It will be held in Houston again in 2009. Some of you may recognize my website header photo. It’s from the last event in November of ‘07 as is the photo above. Seeing so many women sailors was so inspiring for me. The whole time I was there I was telling myself I’ve got to do this! Most of the girls were very young but there was a sprinkling of sages in the group. It is possible and I’m on mission to make my dream come true. I’ll tell you about our adventure in Houston in another post. We purchased our J/22 right after the event. It was an exciting weekend to say the least. Anyway, I hope you have a dream. If you’ve always wanted to learn to sail, go do it! If you’ve always wanted to take the helm, get the training or get with someone who can help you get there. I’m finding the sailing world is very willing to share their knowledge and time with those that are truly interested. There’s room in the sport for you. Come join us!

Welcome to the first post on Lady Sailor, a blog about women and girls involved in the sport of sailing. I’m a newbie but I’m crazy about sailing. In my quest to absorb everything I can, I want to share some of my findings with you. I’ve been researching all manner of gear for women sailors. The products are spread around various sites and I hope to make your shopping for women’s sailing gear easier. I have also spent my spare time learning about other women sailors who have gone before. Their stories are inspiring and I’m inspired to share with you.

I’m coming late to the party regarding sailing and I have a lot of ground to make up. How did I miss this wonderful sport for so long? I grew up on Spring Lake, located in the Winter Haven, Florida Chain of Lakes. On the map, Spring Lake is just east of Lake Mirror. It’s so small they didn’t even put a name on it. Can you imagine that many lakes in one city and no organized sailing at all? Most of the lakes are connected by a canal so we could traverse seven lakes and watch the Cypress Gardens skii show on Lake Eloise from our boat. We had a boathouse, dock and a nice beach area with a seawall just 100′ from our backdoor. We water skiied, fished and swam in the lake. I spent many hours watching the wind and the rain move across the water. Now, with sailing, I feel like I’m home again.

My husband introduced me to sailing. He grew up racing and also spent five years making sails in a sail loft. He left the sport in his twenties. He’s back and I’m right there with him. It’s so wonderful being able to learn and sail with someone with his experience. We recently purchased a J/22 and will be sailing in Texas and Oklahama this season. I look forward to sharing my journey with you. We’re having fun and I hope this enthusiasm never dies!