The WOW! Women on Water 2025 meeting was held on April 12, at the Mary Winspear Centre in Sidney. This venue was wonderful for the event – only 10 minutes from the Swartz Bay Ferry. We started early so we could take advantage of the free parking. Later in the day, there was entertainment provided by 1500 ‘fairies and mermaids’ in the other part of the Centre. The wings and the bling were quite a lovely sight – but the parking was not!
We had 55 registrants and only one third were BCA members. About half the women had power boats and the other half sailboats, though there was one paddle boarder (planning to buy a boat). They came from the Greater Victoria area, the rest of Vancouver Island, the Mainland and one from Alberta.
The presenters were excellent; most of the evaluations confirmed that. We had a keynote speaker at the beginning, Elizabeth Brown Shaw, and a keynote speaker at the end, Liza Copeland; both are BCA members. Throughout the day there were two concurrent sessions at a time, each looking at different aspects of boat life. Those presenters and presentations were:
- Tracy Sarich — Docking: Communication, Theory & Keeping Your Cool
- Elizabeth Brown Shaw — General Boat Maintenance
- Elaine Humphrey — Knots
- Stefa Katamay — Know Yourself for Boating Success
- Missy Gervais — Understanding Your Boat’s Systems
- Agathe Gaulin — Weather Awareness & Monitoring for Comfortable Cruising
I presented the session about essential knots on a boat. There were only 16 participants, but we had the most fun as it was hands-on and, hopefully, they all went away with more confidence. My analogy is knitting: I can show you what to do, I can tell you what to do, but you need to pick up the needles and wool and practice. Being able to tie a bowline with one hand and your eyes shut means if you fall in the water at night, you will be able to hold onto the rope with one hand while you tie yourself onto the boat with the other. We expected someone to be on the boat to throw you the line in the first place. With all my volunteers helping, everyone managed to do each knot a few times. Thank you to my volunteers: Isabel, Heather and Barb. Finding out what works and doesn’t work in teaching is half the fun, so we can improve the next time we have to teach something.
Missy Gervais presenting on Understanding Your Boat Systems
There were many accolades for the food. We didn’t want any of our participants wandering off, so with the early start we provided breakfast, lunch and breaks. The exceptional Sonia Crawshaw took care of the catering, along with her group of volunteers. Thank you, ladies!
The Volunteers on the day made it all work. Thank you to: Sandra Letts, Nancy Carlman, Isabel Bliss, Barbara Lyall, Karina McQueen, Mary Anne Unrau, and Heather Marshall. Others on the core Helming Committee were: Barb Peck as Volunteer Coordinator; Danielle Tate-Stratton who did a wonderful job with communications, posters, etc; Sonia Crawshaw (Food); and Kate Swangard who worked with me to Co-Chair this event.
While this day was about women empowering women, we had some much appreciated male help. Our IT person, Brent Alley, gets a special thank you for his calm soothing assistance that made the presentations work. Larry Roberts and Barrie Letts made themselves available for anyone needing a lift to or from the ferry.
The main consensus was that WOW! was enjoyed by all, and we want to do it again next spring. We would like to know what topics would be of interest. Our evaluations by the participants this year have told us what worked and what didn’t (not much!), which will help us to do even better next year. All comments and ideas are welcome.
Elaine Humphrey
Currents PDFs
Well done Elaine and Bluewater Crew!!!
Rita Balaam xo