She sails, now he sails

The success of an all-female sailing program at the Princess Royal Sailing Club has led to the launch of a new Blokes on Boats keelboat training program.

The PRSC started the national SheSails program in September, and with 25 women already graduated from the program, they have decided to create their own male version.

The SheSails@PRSC programs offers training sessions in groups of four, enabling women of all ages to pursue the Australian Sailing qualifications Start to Crew and Start to Helm.

PRSC’s Karen Timmins said they had empowered more people to be adventurous.

“SheSails is a national program created by Australian Sailing, aimed at getting more women and girls involved in the sport,” she said.

“It’s resulted in extra opportunities being offered at yacht clubs around Australia for women to participate in a sport which is fun, exciting and teaches great life skills.

“Having this number of instructors qualified to provide registered Start Crewing and Start Helming courses for keelboat opened up opportunities for the club to boost its membership. SheSails seemed like a perfect fit as there were more active male than female members at the time. We’re looking forward to welcoming an equally large group of men to the club to rediscover their sense of adventure and to get out and enjoy our beautiful South Coast with new found enthusiasm.”

The course costs $350 and is delivered over a minimum of 18 hours in six sessions.

Contact PRSC training director Chris Oldham on 0427 089 382 or Commodore Susette Evans at commodore@prsc.com.au.