NWSA’s 9th Annual Women’s Sailing Conference (a Take the Helm® event) is only two weeks away! Come join us! It will take place Saturday June 5, 2010 at the Corinthian Yacht Club on beautiful Marblehead Harbor in Massachusetts.

Nancy Erley, two-time circumnavigator, calculates that this will be her 6th year at the conference. One year she traveled all the way from London to attend!

Why does she keep coming back as a volunteer instructor?

Nancy says: “I love being with a big group of women who all love what I love – sailing.  And this is a very well organized conference at an exceptional venue. “

We asked Nancy to tell us about the workshops she will be giving this year:

This year I’m giving 3 workshops:

1. How to turn your boat around in tight spaces using spring lines:

I’ll show where to tie the line in order to drive against it and spring the boat away from the dock.  

We will use a boat at the dock and flip it around every which way with whatever long lines we can find aboard. 

We may be tying two dock lines together to get the length we need to turn the boat completely around at the dock without the engine.

2. How to heave a line:

We will toss at a lawn chair for target practice using 50’ heaving lines that I’ve made with a monkey’s fist on the end. 

We’ll also use spare old halyards and see that they toss pretty well too if coiled right, and Hall Spar and Rigging is donating 2 lines for us to toss as well.

3. Night Sailing:

This is an classroom presentation about the awesomeness of sailing at night on the ocean and how to keep watch coupled with the details of lighted aids to navigation and lights on vessels.

About the Women’s Sailing Conference

NWSA’s 9th annual Women’s Sailing Conference (a Take the Helm® event) will take place Saturday June 5, 2010 at the Corinthian Yacht Club on beautiful Marblehead Harbor in Massachusetts.

It’s a full day of learning, sailing, sharing, networking, and good fun. You can participate in a variety of workshops for women of all sailing abilities, presented by some of the best women sailors around.

You can select on-land and on-water workshops that match your interests and abilities. (Registration is on a first-come, first-served basis, and you must sign up in advance.)  Both NWSA members and non-members are welcome. 

Women and Cruising founder Kathy Parsons will be the keynote speaker at the evening’s dinner, so come join us!

For more information and to register:

Visit the website of the National Women’s Sailing Association. You will find information on the conference on the home page with a link to the registration form and conference schedule.

See also:

• See you at the Women’s Sailing Conference June 5, 2010 in Marblehead, MA! (our first blog post announcing the conference)

About Nancy Erley

Nancy Erley led two voyages from Seattle around the world aboard her Orca 38 sailboat, Tethys.

“As the skipper of an all-woman crew, Nancy fashioned a circumnavigation that should go down in the record books as one of the soundest, most seamanlike journeys in the modern cruising era. Like all competent voyages, Tethys circumnavigation was notable for its lack of disasters.” George Day, publisher Blue Water Sailing magazine.

Founder of Tethys Offshore, Nancy teaches the skills to take a small boat across an ocean, from competent crew to ocean skipper. She holds her USCG 50-ton Master of Oceans and 100-ton Master Near Coastal licenses, is an Instructor Evaluator-Ocean for the International Sail and Power Association, a ham radio operator (ki7dp), and an advanced scuba diver and delivery skipper.

In 2006 Nancy was presented with the Leadership in Women’s Sailing Award sponsored by BoatUS and the National Women’s Sailing Association. The award honors a male or female who has built a record of achievement in inspiring, educating and enriching the lives of women through sailing.

Nancy is now in the Pacific Northwest scheduling learning cruises for women aboard Tethys. She also offers private instruction aboard the learner’s boat for both men and women, ocean deliveries as captain or onboard advisor, and voyaging consultation. Her website is www.tethysoffshore.com