Gitana - Girls will be girls... what does that even mean these days?

A little Q&A for you today, but before we go...

> - Night watch musings:
Flying fish are like torpedo's across the water; what would happen if one
of them hit me in the dark – who'd be more freaked out?

[Half an hour later] Wonder if anyone can hear my little cockpit disco?
'Now that's what I call running' is playing (the only album that itunes
has decided I'm allowed to continue listening too after 11 days of no
wifi!) - just couldn't resist the chance to bust out some (probably)
embarrassing moves to Jai Ho!

Wonder what my circuits instructor would think of my rolling boat adapted
fitness attempts, lunges, squats and cycle twists have never looked so
peculiar!

> - Q&A from the seniors at TPA.
After my assembly back at school, the first thing some of the older girls
clocked on to was not the distance of the trip or the ocean crossing
itself, it was more the 'hang on, you're a girl on a boat with 4 guys, how
will you cope?'

Initial thoughts, there's humour – I'm alright there. Often accused of
being a rather warped, I'll blend. Then there's 'smells' – well we're all
human and it's a boat with big hatches to let air in and if worse comes to
worse I'll set the deck shower on them! Will I be the skivvy? Hell, no
chance! Those of you who know me, know I don't like being told what to do
at the best of times, I'm all for diplomacy and working together in a way
that's productive and positive!

Of course there are differences in stature, but we're different in
strength, experience, our ability to cook, clean and handling different
situations – it makes for an interesting dynamic.

> - What happens when you have your period at sea?
This was one of the first things the girls worried about. We've all seen
the
bodyform rollerblader in the advert with tight white trousers right? Ok,
its not quite like that, but honestly it's not a problem. Just the same
as when it's on land, you just make sure you've got your sani supplies and
bags to dispose of them! Like any loo, you can't put anything like towels
or tampons down it, especially as it's a hand pumped system and would
become blocked and you'd have to unblock it! So, double bag everything
and store it for arrival.

> - Will they treat you differently?
Will they make me cook and clean you mean? Yes, but they'll all do it too
on a rota. To be honest, Mike and Dave are way better cooks, Mike's been
teaching me new recipes and bread making on the way! We're all in this
together remember – High School Musical time!

What you've got to remember is I've known these guys for years, so chances
are i'll tell them if there's an issue. So we are a bunch of friends on a
boat in the Atlantic – oh the stories we can tell!!

> - Are you getting paid for this?
Nope – none of us are.
This isn't a charter boat, we're not paid crew and we're in this adventure
together (sorry HSM again!). Although the buck stops with the skipper –
we all take responsibilities along the way.
We've all made big choices to join this adventure, two of us left jobs for
it, neither being paid whilst away, One has taken 5 months leave on top of
the months he's already given Gitana (we joked about the line from Master
and Commander from the Captain “There's so much of my blood in this, the
ship's practically a relative” - this is Mike!), at 74years, Des is
retired and smashing every day on board and then James, his first yacht,
his first renovation project and his first Atlantic crossing with friends
on his own vessel. Making this idea a reality, you would make big choices
too!

> - Does it bother you being the only girl onboard?
Not really. I'm a pretty strong independent woman and I can hold my own
in a room, and known to give as good as I get . Often girls together can
get bitchy, boys can too – they're just more direct about it. Remember,
these are friends and have been for a long time, none of them would treat
me in any other way than a fellow crew member and a bunch of mates
together on an adventure.

> - Isn't sailing a bit of a man's game?
Phew – this is a biggie and an entire blog of it's own!

It's a good source of debate too. Each of us
onboard have different experiences in industry, Mike sees Navy ships that
have been adapted over the years to accommodate female sailors, nothing
new there. I worked in Sail Training and have watched as friends I
started with (male and female) have all advanced to senior roles including
being captains of vessels that travel the world, James works in
super-yachting where there are less women in senior navigation roles and
more in hospitality but that's the legacy of CV's still needing to be
submitted with photographs and owners preference taking over.
The main barriers for us seem to be the confidence to go towards the
industry we want regardless of if it's perceived as a man or woman's
world, we can often feel threatened by that apparent male or female
domination of the working environment and of course there will always be
an element of sexism towards men and women, depending on where you work
and what industry you choose. It's about perception and choice.
At merchant navy college 15years, whenever I was asked 'Why are you here?
You're a girl!', I'd always answer with 'Because they told me I shouldn't
be!' That's the legacy asking the question and the modern culture of
sailing answering.

So, 'hang on, you're a girl on a boat with 4 guys, how will you cope?'
I'll cope just fine thanks!
- Be confident to try new things;
- Be driven to the things you really want;
- When you're faced with challenge – it's OK to struggle, that's what gives
us our ability to problem solve!

Plan today? Let's go sailing and get fishing!! (And close the gap on 2nd
place!!)

--
SY Gitana