Waterfront: Women Making Waves

On a hot summer morning, eight women walked into the Charleston Women Making Waves SaferBoater Course terrified of docking and maneuvering powerboats. The very next afternoon they clutched three boating certificates and had the confidence to show their family and friends how it’s done. I was one of them.

“Boating can be intimidating to women. There’s a stereotype that women aren’t able to make decisions or become too emotional and panic,” said Rollins Babb, one of my classmates. “I think this class will help kind of ease that.”

SaferBoater teaches courses across the United States. The organization is run out of Charleston by Founder Vickie Waller, CEO Chris Edmonston, and captains from all walks of life. They have hundreds of instructors teaching lessons for boaters of any age and skill level.

The women’s SaferBoater course is a unique 16-hour safety program taught by women, for women. It includes lectures, hands-on boating experience and a cumulative test. Capt. Tanya Dowdy teaches technical jargon and safety rules while Capt. Jennifer McQuilken takes the women out on her own boat to apply those skills.

“I got my captain’s license specifically to teach these courses, to offer women a way to get into boating and take that pressure away,” said Capt. Tanya. “We wanted to offer a safe place in a good, conducive learning environment.”

Capt. Jen wants to increase representation for female boaters. “I worked in the marine industry … through the Coast Guard Auxiliary and Cummins Marine, and saw the underrepresentation of females in the industry. And it wasn’t always a welcoming environment. I wanted to be able to have an opportunity to make that change for other women.”

Most of the women in my class had minimal boating experience and wanted to learn without the stress of learning from their significant other—or in my case, my dad. Six classmates were from Charleston, but there was also a mother and daughter, Pamela Dunn and Mary Peck, who traveled from Georgetown, S.C., and Rachel Sanders who took the class while visiting from France. There was a certain comfort level in having a class full of women—in truth we all hit it off quickly.

“We’ve got 10 different personalities in this room. And everybody clicked, like they had known each other for years,” said Capt. Tanya. “And nobody was apprehensive, everybody could be themselves.”

What immediately stood out to me was how supportive the environment was. Capt. Jen had full trust in eight strangers handling her boat, and Capt. Tanya delivered orders and high praise in the same bark. “It doesn’t seem stressful,” said Capt. Jen. “Our goal is to have people more comfortable [on] the water.”

In class we learned the difference between two-stroke and four-stroke motors, waterjet engines and inboards. We learned about kill-switch lanyards, VHF channels and etiquette, which life jackets to use in every situation, and how to pass South Carolina Department of Natural Resources boating certification. The course was intensive and incorporated almost every element of boating over the two days.

But while the classroom learning was essential, everyone agreed that what set this course apart was the on-the-water training. We spent hours on the boat, a 230cc Bulls Bay, practicing low- and high-speed maneuvers, rescues, docking, and anchoring. We practiced following channels, tying bowlines and cleat hitches, and using tide and current to our advantage.

The on-water instruction let us see how the notes and slides from the class played out in real life. “Learning how to use the weather to our advantage, the wind and the current and so forth; you’re not going to get that simply from reading a book,” said Capt. Jen. “You’re going to be out there, on the wheel, hand on the throttle, feeling the wind, feeling the current and how the boat responds.”

After 16 hours in the classroom and on Charleston Harbor, it was time for the dreaded 60-question exam. At the beginning of the class, most of us flipped through the practice exam and couldn’t answer a single question. Our 16 hours paid off: Every student passed the test and earned our National Association of Safe Boating Law Administrators, South Carolina Department of Natural Resources, and U.S. Powerboating Certificates.

SaferBoater is working on a new four-hour women’s course that will make boating safety lessons more accessible for women with busy schedules. They’re committed to helping women learn boating safety, whether they have 16 hours of free time or four.

Ultimately, this class taught us laws of the water and boating skills in a supportive, non-judgemental environment. Each of us gained confidence on the water and became more comfortable than we ever thought we would be.

This article originally appeared in the October 2024 issue of Power & Motoryacht magazine.

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Source: https://www.powerandmotoryacht.com/column/waterfront-women-making-waves