On a whim I joined the Oregon Women's Sailing Association. I heard about it from a coworker whose significant other is a member. Both of them sail quite a bit. My first meeting was in May and these women are a mix of personalities and sailing experience. Another woman who I met and was at her first meeting was engaged to a fellow who sails. Her role aboard is drink maker and sun bather. But he wants to get a larger boat and take it on the ocean, so being the smart woman she is, she decided it would greatly behoove her to learn to sail in case anything should go down on the high seas. No matter what their role or reason to be there, the woman were intelligent, strong, and quite hilarious. The biggest factor for me was that it did not feel like being trapped in a floating room suffering from terminal levels of estrogen. A former UAA classmate (we didn't have any of the same classes, but we were in the same group of friends), Emily, had apparently taken a small group of these women and worked with them on storytelling skills. I think there was 4 including Emily who went up and told a story about themselves, generally focused on sailing or somehow linking up to it. It was amazingly well done.Their stories were intriguing and genuine and all the body animations typical of women story telling (my mom and sister are excellent case studies in talking with your hands and your whole body, respectively) added to the tale instead of distracting from it. I was rolling in the floor. I laugh regularly, but it is usually more of a chuckle. This is full on belly laughing with a big smile. The meeting was fun and relaxed and informative. Food was provided by a group of volunteers who cooked up tacos. Another neat surprise was that its BYOB. Bring beer, wine, etc to share with the other ladies sitting at your table. So far, this meeting was the only one I have been able to attend due to work. I am in the field every other week Mon- Wed. and don't always get back in time. [...]
