An event celebrating and acknowledging sailing women has kicked off in Geelong this week, with more water fun expected for the weekend.
Royal Geelong Yacht Club’s Laura Cora said the Geelong Women on Water Long Weekend event hosted by the club started on Wednesday, with the club’s regular sail and a celebration.
“We had a twilight race which was part of our regular twilight series where we celebrated International Women’s Day,” she said.
“This started a weekend of celebrations of woman in sport and woman in sailing.”
Mrs Cora said the event was part of a training program that started last year and that this long weekend was a chance for the women involved to share what they had learnt.
“We started in October with 25 women thanks to the Change Our Game grant they received from the Victorian government, which is about empowering women in sport,” she said.
“This has been a pilot development programme that will culminate with a rally on Saturday, where they have to display the skills they have learned in these six months.
“The aim was to boost confidence, impart knowledge and ensure they can take up better roles and be confident taking up more roles in sailing.”
Mrs Cora said sailing had historically been male-dominated, and there was still further progress in encouraging women to sail.
Mrs Cora said Saturday’s event would feature guest speaker Lisa Blair, the first woman to undertake a solo and unassisted circumnavigation sail of Antarctica in 2017.
Events will be held Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday.
Jena Carr
