Published: Sunday, June 19, 2005 at:1:44 PM




West Marine Presents
Bitter End Yacht Club’s Women on the Water Week
January 7—14, 2006

An open invitation from Pam Wall:

If you have not been to, or heard of, The Bitter End Yacht Club, let me introduce you. Find an island lush and green in the British Virgin Islands. Put that island at the head of a completely enclosed bay, big enough for racing round the buoys or cruising, yet small enough to be safe and protected from ocean swell. Throw in a small, family-oriented resort with lovely waterfront bungalows with breathtaking views. Add to all this a fleet of sailing and power vessels that can be used by any resort guest ready for adventure. That is Bitter End in a nutshell. It’s not easy to accurately describe the lovely setting (like a movie!), the staff that are like family, or the community of watersports-minded guests that you meet every day. You have to be here to experience the Bitter End feeling of belonging. In fact, many guests at Bitter End have been coming for years and they feel that they are coming home every time they arrive on the dock.

Women on the Water Week caters to women who want to be on the water learning the art of sailing. Enthusiastic participants arrive expecting to learn how to sail better, including some who have never sailed at all. The instructors are all women who have so much fun passing on their knowledge and giving real sailing empowerment to the women who participate. Men are certainly invited, and expected to come along, but the instruction is geared for women, by women.

The instructors are expert sailors; three of them are very professional. JJ Isler is an Olympic sailor, Martha Parker is a world champion racer sought after for international match racing, and Janet Baxter is the president of US Sailing and the a member of the Chicago Yacht Club. And then there is ME! How proud I am to be part of such a prestigious team of women instructors!

Pam Wall, during Women on the Water Week 2004.

Women with experience can work with JJ and Martha to improve their racing skills. Janet can prepare participants for certification, and I have the honor to teach the women who have never sailed before, and the novice sailors who want to improve their handling of a sailboat.

The week will fly by. First, a hearty outdoor breakfast every morning. Then we will stagger to the water in beautiful Gorda Sound for a morning of sailing, followed by lunch, then either some diving, snorkeling, site seeing or sailing all afternoon. You can barely make it to dinner after all the fresh air! But, sparks will fly and fatigue disappears when the steel band starts playing. We’ll have as much fun dancing as laughing at the day’s foibles!

For the time of your life, where paradise lies, where you can improve your sailing abilities, and where you can meet other women with the same passion for sailing, mark your calendars for the next Bitter End’s Women on the Water Week, January 7—14, 2006. See you there!