AntarcticPilot
Well-Known Member
I am sure a lot of women are as strong as men; certainly I know plenty who are stronger than I, including my younger daughter! But I am much smaller/weaker than the average bloke; even at the top end of the recommended BMI for my height, I only weigh 11 stone, and ideally I'd lose a stone (I was less than 9 stone in my early 20s, when I was in training for rowing!). I find that I can manage OK with winches and main-sheet tackles and so on - but jobs that a bloke nearer the average size finds easy, I find hard, and if I were much smaller/weaker, I wouldn't be able to do them. As it is, I've had to modify the main-sheet tackle, as the original 4-1 purchase wasn't enough for me when close-hauled in a breeze. Problem is, there's a limit how far you can go with that - the bigger the purchase (either in a tackle or a winch) the more the friction, and the more rope you have to pull through. I've also purchased a long winch-handle - but again, there's a limit how far you can go with that; as it is, there's one winch I can't use it on because of lack of swinging space.
Point is, I'd suggest that I am near the AVERAGE weight/strength of a woman. I have to take measures to ensure I CAN handle the sheets etc of the boat, and even so it means that I have to use my full body to haul on halliards, reefing lines etc., and I have developed skills to use my strength effectively over many years. My wife - a novice, and very much at the lower end of the strength/weight spectrum (she's size 6 or 8, and struggles to find adult clothes that fit) - simply can't handle the sails in anything more than a light breeze. So, I'd suggest that up to 50% of women will struggle with the physical strength - especially upper-body strength - required to sail. Note also that for reasons to do with body image, many women don't wish to develop a lot of upper body strength (my late wife gave up swimming competitively when she realized (in her teens) what it was doing to her shape!).
Of course there are remedies for this; there are tasks that don't require as much strength, and there are ways of reducing the amount of strength required (for example, electric winches). But most sailing boats aren't equipped in that way, and assume that the people sailing will have strength more typical of a man than a woman.
So, just looking at AVERAGES - not any particular person - it is clear that a lot of women are going to struggle with the physical side of sailing. I think that there are ways to mitigate it - but sometimes the mitigation will be costly; for example, I hate to think what equipping Capricious with elecric sheet winches would cost - even a Winchrite costs a small fortune! And there are practical limits to increasing the mechanical advantage of tackles or winches.
So, I think that all mixed crews need to think very carefully about the roles that the different crew-members take on. It is no good my expecting my wife to sheet in a genoa when close-hauled in a force 4 or more; she can't do it. But she can take the tiller to tack the boat, while I get the sheets across. She is lighter and nimbler than I; she can get a line ashore when we berth at a pontoon, and as she is still a novice at boat-handling, that works well. And so it goes; we work out what tasks she is physically able to do, as well as what (from a learning point of view) it would be good for her to do. Of course, she has a reserve of strength if circumstances require it - but that is soon used up, and is better kept in reserve.
Point is, I'd suggest that I am near the AVERAGE weight/strength of a woman. I have to take measures to ensure I CAN handle the sheets etc of the boat, and even so it means that I have to use my full body to haul on halliards, reefing lines etc., and I have developed skills to use my strength effectively over many years. My wife - a novice, and very much at the lower end of the strength/weight spectrum (she's size 6 or 8, and struggles to find adult clothes that fit) - simply can't handle the sails in anything more than a light breeze. So, I'd suggest that up to 50% of women will struggle with the physical strength - especially upper-body strength - required to sail. Note also that for reasons to do with body image, many women don't wish to develop a lot of upper body strength (my late wife gave up swimming competitively when she realized (in her teens) what it was doing to her shape!).
Of course there are remedies for this; there are tasks that don't require as much strength, and there are ways of reducing the amount of strength required (for example, electric winches). But most sailing boats aren't equipped in that way, and assume that the people sailing will have strength more typical of a man than a woman.
So, just looking at AVERAGES - not any particular person - it is clear that a lot of women are going to struggle with the physical side of sailing. I think that there are ways to mitigate it - but sometimes the mitigation will be costly; for example, I hate to think what equipping Capricious with elecric sheet winches would cost - even a Winchrite costs a small fortune! And there are practical limits to increasing the mechanical advantage of tackles or winches.
So, I think that all mixed crews need to think very carefully about the roles that the different crew-members take on. It is no good my expecting my wife to sheet in a genoa when close-hauled in a force 4 or more; she can't do it. But she can take the tiller to tack the boat, while I get the sheets across. She is lighter and nimbler than I; she can get a line ashore when we berth at a pontoon, and as she is still a novice at boat-handling, that works well. And so it goes; we work out what tasks she is physically able to do, as well as what (from a learning point of view) it would be good for her to do. Of course, she has a reserve of strength if circumstances require it - but that is soon used up, and is better kept in reserve.
mind you she is now 72 and can do what she ruddy well pleases. I have a friend (female) who is about 60 who loves sailing, adores it and she is a fantastic helm.
