Author: Bill Bleyer, originally published in Long Island Life magazine
Kathy Gallo and Trish Schmitt, co-chairs of the club’s Women on the Water program to make women more capable and confident sailors, divided the group among several boats for cruising or racing on Manhasset Bay. Seven crewed 18-foot Ideal 18 sloops to race against boats sailed by women from Manhasset Bay Yacht Club.
Gallo, Dawn Serignese and Grace Sur climbed aboard a 26-foot J-80 with instructor Max Cantwell. He offered tips,but the women did all the sailing. Gallo, at the tiller, confidently announced commands: “Ready to tack. Tacking,” as the boat nimbly changed direction in the 15 mph breeze. Sailing is a sport with many traditions and a historical resistance to change.
“Sailing is a somewhat male-dominated sport, but that is changing rapidly,” said George Ellis, executive director of the WaterFront Center in Oyster Bay, which has offered awomen’s program for more than a decade. “There's been a huge push through all levels of sailing to get more females involved.”
A few yacht clubs, such as Seawanhaka Corinthian Yacht Club on Oyster Bay, Long Island’s oldest, founded in 1871, have long provided “Ladies Sailing” programs. Some, like Port Washington, have changed the name to Women on the Water to reflect more modern sensibilities, but others like Seawanhaka have kept the name to maintain tradition. To accelerate the change in providing opportunities for women, additional clubs and sailing centers in recent years have instituted training and/or racing programs just for women.
Besides the WaterFront Center and Port Washington, Manhasset Bay and Seawanhaka clubs, the Sea Cliff, Centerport and Sayville yacht clubs and the Breakwater Yacht Club and Sailing Center in Sag Harbor provide programs.
There is no membership requirement at the WaterFront Center, while the Breakwater program is open to nonmembers at a higher price. The other yacht clubs restrict enrollment to members and their guests. The women sailing in the training programs often participate in club and interclub races as well. There has been a Women on the Water Long Island Sound organization of 15 yacht clubs in Connecticut, Westchester and New York City since 2008. After Gallo learned about the group and participated in some of its events, she was encouraged this year to create a Long Island chapter. Gallo, 62, who learned to sail by taking lessons at the WaterFront Center in 2021 and 2022, joined the Port Washington club in 2024. Now she is planning to organize events for the Long Island clubs that have Women on the Water programs.
As to the need for women-only programs, Gallo said, “I think it's essential, because women, unfortunately, don't have a lot of experience sailing, or if they have some, it's usually on a boat with their significant other or husband, and they really haven't had the opportunity to build up their confidence and improve their skill sets. I think Women on the Water gives them that opportunity to participate in a very supportive atmosphere.” She said 46 clubmembers participate with an average of 10 showing up each week.Board member Dawn Serignese resurrected a moribund Ladies Sailing program in 2016 after being appointed
waterfront chair of the Port Washington club. She said in 2012, when she first began sailing, only she and three other women were taking sailing lessons in a program that began in the 1990s. As she promoted and expanded the group, Serignese said, “we rebranded from Ladies Sailing to Women on the Water, a name that better reflects the confidence and commitment of our community.”
A new participant is Grace Sur, 42. Her family joined the club this year, and she began sailing in June. “I thought, ‘Well, it seems like a pretty low-pressure, fun way to introduce me to sailing. It’s been amazing.”
Participating in the Oyster Bay nonprofit's sailing and kayaking facility’s Women on the Water program requires prior experience. “It’s a program where women who have been out before and understand the basics have the opportunity to sail with other women who are like-minded and share in the community aspect of sailing,” explained Jonathan Zaskorski, the director of sailing and waterfront operations.
Women without experience can enroll in the group instruction program, which includes classes just for women, Zaskorski said. The women, who must be at least 18, sail Thursday nights on 23-foot Sonar sloops without instructors. It costs $65 for two hours or a season pass for $550. There are usually seven to 11 sailors on any night. They are allowed to bring guests, including women who don’t know how to sail.
Kathy Gallo, co-chair of the Port Washington Yacht Club’s Women on the Water program, said 46 women participate in the program and about 10 show up each week. This is the first year for Margaret Tumino Mills, who began sailing at the WaterFront Center in 2019 with her husband and then stopped until she read about Women on the Water and bought a season pass. “It feels great to learn a new skill with a group of supportive and like-minded women,” she said. Breakwater Yacht Club and Sailing Center The Sag Harbor club’s Women’s Sailing Initiative began in 2023 with beginner and intermediate sessions and this year added a racing group.
The program has run Monday evenings from June through August and was expanded to Tuesday this year. On a typical evening this summer, there were usually four J70 sloops almost 23 feet long with four sailors plus a coach, who are men and women on each boat.
Head instructor Ally Manzo, 33, learned to sail at the club when she was 7 and raced there periodically afterward. She said about 150 women have participated this season, with almost three-quarters of them from the community and not club members.
“We want women to learn to enjoy sailing in a supportive, women-centered environment,” said Joan Butler, 74, who suggested the program when she joined the club’s board five years ago. “The learning is hands-on. Women rotate positions. The idea is to have some fun but to be competent, safe sailors.”
There was a need for the program, she said, because “women can feel intimidated sailing with men on a boat, and sometimes they're not given the opportunities that they deserve. Some women come from backgrounds where they learned as kids, maybe with a male figure, and it wasn't a positive experience.” Butler is one of those women. She said her “father was a yeller, so I kept away, and then I came back about 10 years ago.” The cost is $350 for four two-hour sessions for nonmembers and $250 for members.
While there is a growing movement to offer women’s programs, Dawn Riley, executive director at Oakcliff Sailing, an Oyster Bay sail racing training nonprofit founded in 2010, said, “We don't have any women-only programs because we have women equally treated in all of our programs.” The sailors involved in Women on the Water say that the programs have changed the attitude of many — but not all — male sailors. “You still have men who are like, ‘Oh, do you know what you're doing?’” Manhasset Bay’s Dawn Serignese said. “But I think for the most part, they're a little jealous. So now they have Men on the Water on Tuesdays.”
The following clubs require membership to take part in the women’s programs.
Seawanhaka Corinthian Yacht Club
Next year will be its 75th anniversary of Ladies Sailing at the club on Centre Island. The program includes about 50 women of all levels of experience, including beginners, who range from their 20s into their 80s, according to co-chair Meredith A. Brown. “When Ladies Sailing started, women members didn't work, so they would get together on Wednesday mornings and go sailing,” commodore Julian P. Fisher II explained. “And a large component of it was racing, and over the years there have been some very competitive sailors that have done it, and they still get together on Wednesdays.” The women sail 23-foot Sonars supported by a volunteer coach, Wayne Marciano, but the emphasis is on sailing rather than training. This year Seawanhaka expanded its offering for women by creating a Women’s Racing Program for top-level sailors
across the country.
Sea Cliff Yacht Club
Ladies Sailing takes place Tuesday evenings with typically eight to 12 women club members of varying levels of experience participating, club member and volunteer Henriette Rohl said. They sail on Hempstead Harbor on the club fleet of seven Ideal 18s.
Centerport Yacht Club
About a half-dozen women members and their guests participated this year in the club’s program for women. “We started it a few years ago and then stopped and then we got it going again,” explained Ed Kawecki, the chair of the committee for adult sailing. The women sail Thursday evenings on Ideal 18s after an initial night of classroom work. “They have a coach who goes out with them for instruction,” Kawecki said.
Sayville Yacht Club
This is the fourth year for the Women's Second Wind Sunfish Sailors program. “We have at least 12 to 15 women sailors,” said Antoinette Martin, who runs the program. Club members sail 13-
foot-9-inch Sunfish boats. There are no instructors, but “we have a couple of people who come to help coach us on a very informal basis. And there's no shouting and yelling allowed.”
— Bill Bleyer