SEATTLE — More than 60 boats called the Puget Sound their home for the J24 World Championships. Of that fleet, four of those teams were championed by All-Female teams: Two Shots, Lady Minx, Super G, and Queen's Gambit.
Lady Minx skipper Lee Ann Zaretsky is no newbie to the waters, but her crew was all new to working together on the all-too-calm waters of Shilshole Bay. Thankfully, she said, women innately understand how to work together quickly.
"Typically teams practice together for a long time because it does take a lot of coordination and skill and getting to understand each others' nuances," she said.
Hailey Graf of Queen's Gambit emphasized how quickly her team came together in a short period of time.
"That's one of the advantages to being a women's team, is how easy it is to build the chemistry as a crew," Graf said. "So, even though we haven't all known each other for very long, we do have a very close bond and that helps a lot with our communication, recovering from mistakes quickly, setting your egos aside."
Both teams said it's not only empowering to work with an all-women's team, it's actually strategic.
"There definitely is a bit of a strength difference between men and women, but sailing is part strength and part finesse," Zaretsky said. "So, working on our finesse side, and then doing what we can to support each other on the strength side, is something that all women on an all-women's team can do and can do well."
Jennifer Braden of Queen's Gambit has some experience working with both men and women and believes women can outmaneuver men.
"And I think women's agility has a factor that, I mean, I race on a boat with two women and two men when I'm not on a J24 with all women, and us two girls can hop around that boat a whole lot faster than the 250lb men," Braden said.
Her skipper, Ginjer Yachechak, continues to empower her crew.
"You know, historically, the male brunt strength has been on a boat, but as we talked about, it's actually one of the sports where you are mostly equal."
61 women set sail in the J24 Championships out of the 265 competitors in both mixed and All-Women boats. That's 23 percent of all athletes. It shows a growth in the sport, where only five percent of professional sailors are women.
"But I think there's definitely a budding women's sailing community,' Graf said. "I think it's growing and I think a lot of the women are finding how fun it can be to sail with an all-women crew because you get that camaraderie and have that kind of kinship of the other women on the boat."
Zaretsky makes a particular emphasis to hire women for her competitions.
"It's rare, rare that I can't sail without an all-women team. It's kind of funny, when I do have to take a guy, they'll show up in pink! And we have a lot of fun with them! But yeah, that's rare. My dedication is to an all-female team."
Of the four women teams, Two Shots finished ahead of the pack. Monica Morgan was a member on the mixed crew of "Honey Badger" from Rochester, NY and took the top prize of the weekend event. Additionally, three women who had previously won Worlds raced in the weekend championship. Shelby Milne (USA, Seattle) was on the Worlds winning boat in Miami, 2019. Melanie Edwards (USA, Seattle) was on the Worlds winning boat in Greece, 2023, along with Marianne Schoke (Sweden, Malmo).