On Wednesday 22nd March a group of 12 women from the Boating Industry and the Women’s International Shipping and Trading Association Australia, came together thanks to the generosity of Andoo and organisation of Starwars and The Boat Princess. Boarding the fabulous Comanche, 12 women in our industry enjoyed an incredible sailing experience in the Wednesday Summer Series by the Royal Prince Edward Yacht Club and thankfully, won.
With the legendary Iain Murray AM at the helm, some felt a little star struck, but such an experience is one none will ever forget. This beast of a vessel feels like a gentle giant in the water and being on her helm is a privilege only few will ever get to experience, but one all of the guests present did, on that day.
The Wednesday series at the RPEYC was started in the summer of 1961, by the professionals that used to take Wednesday afternoons off – “life balance” is perhaps not as modern a concept as we think it is then. There is certainly nothing better for refreshing the mindset than sailing, and Comanche takes it to a whole new level. The experienced crew were incredibly patient with their onboard novice guests that “nailed it in being ballast” as Monika Lemajic declared on the day.
This was the first of many events intended to support and bring together women in the boating industry ranging from shipping to recreational boating.
Whilst the industry has been traditionally male dominated that’s changing, slowly but surely, and one thing we have discovered is that whilst we need to attract more women to our industry, we need to create support and engagement for women to ensure we retain them too.
Nicky Vaux, aka The Boat Princess and Partner in Empire Marinas Group and Monika Lemajic the President of WISTA Australia invited a number of women to be part of the experience and with a limit of just 12 places available this was not an easy task. Guests included Lorraine Yates Director of MIA and General Manager of White Bay 6, Suzy Bekkedahl MD of Afloat Magazine, Kristen Kearns Master 4 and Director of Luxury Marine Boat Brokerage, Nicole Browne of Media Opps, Jessie Mahon VP of WISTA and Aph Barton, WISTA NSW.
“Whilst numbers were limited on this event, in future events we hope to make opportunities available to many more women in our industry and those that love the boating world.” says Nicky Vaux. A perfect example of that will be our networking events to be held at Sanctuary Cove and Sydney Boat Shows this year, thanks to the support of Mulpha Events and our sponsors. To all of those women out there wanting to get involved please make sure you sign up to my Newsletter at theboatprincess.com so that we can send you details of how to book in the future. If you are a company that has an idea for an event or wishes to get involved in sponsorship please get in touch with myself or Monika Lemajic.
The future is bright for women in our industry and events like this are putting the spotlight on what can be achieved when women come together.
