Louise Edwards

Louise Edwards was the key instigator of the Goolwa Regatta Yacht Club (GRYC) ‘SheSails’ committee and program
at GRYC, has been highly successful in its first year.

As a measure of Louise’s success, the GRYC women in sailing participation rate has increased from 9% in 2018, to close to the national average of 35% in 2022. As impressive as this conflated measure is, it is only the very tip of the sustained and broad reaching impact of Louise’s leadership in this area.

Louise started the 2021-22 season with some serious sailing and club ‘cred’, having been Commodore 2018-20, Vice-
Commodore 2016-18, Race Committee Member for 10 years and Club Champion (Spinnaker Division) in 2019. During
Louise’s term as Commodore, she identified the need to address the club’s poor record on women’s participation in
on-water activities. While during this time she lay the foundation for change with the introduction of a Women’s
Helm Race in 2018 and enabling a program for women undertaking learn to sail classes, it wasn’t until the 2021-22
that her vision hit its straps.

In May of 2021 Louise successfully instituted the GRYC SheSails Committee. This Committee was tasked with
identifying and addressing the needs of women that would enable greater on-water participation. Based on survey
results and general consultation, women identified their needs to extend beyond knowing how to sail, to include
boat maintenance and greater onwater time ‘just having fun’. To support this the 2021-22 program was designed
and implemented, including:

• ‘Come Try’ sessions (Sept 2021) whereby participants were able to have on water time in a boat that suited their
• personal needs
• informal sailing and race technique workshops (Oct 2021, Jan & July 2022)
• dinghy practice sessions (Nov 2021, Jan 2022 )
•  rope, knots and splicing workshop ( Nov 2021)
• online introduction to cruising (Nov 2021)
•  a supported cruising program (Coorong Oct 2021, Currency Creek Nov 2021, Finnis River March 2022)
•  maintenance support
•  a SheSails WhatsApp social-media group and:
• a range of social activities, including a women’s day lunch and an end of season celebration.

One of the major obstructions for women in gaining sailing experience is the transition between completing
theoretical courses and gaining access to a boat. Largely as a consequence of Louise’s involvement and ‘club cred’,
two GRYC members have donated boats to be used to support women in sailing. These boats and associated
activities include a race boat for regular club races, plus three dinghies for training activities. Through the use of
emails and the She Sails WhatsApp, Louise has coordinated the use of these boats, thus enabling novice sailors to
have regular on-water experience.

The most contentious of the SheSails initiatives has been the Women’s Twilight Race Series which requires that the
helm and 50% of the crew be female. The requirement to have such a significant representation of women sailors to
be eligible for a full race series has opened sailing opportunities for many women who might have otherwise been
left on the side-lines. While some club members were concerned about having a race series with this criteria,
Louise’s ‘club and sailing cred’, plus the success of the women sail training and experience roster, has meant that this
series was sufficiently supported to be included in the 2022-23 race calendar.

Louise has shown true leadership in her development and support of SheSails at GRYC. Her genuine interest and
wide experience in sailing, plus commitment to enabling women to share in the benefits of this most wonderful of
past-times, is inspiring. While she has instituted many of the GRYC SheSails activities, she is also a very capable
enabler of others, stepping away at times to support those less experienced to extend themselves. This capacity
building is clearly working as women are now organising their own training sessions, cruising camps, and taking on
club committee roles including Race Committee.

Louise’s impact is also extending beyond GRYC with several GRYC SheSailors having crew roles in Adelaide and one participating in the Magnetic Island Race Week. Plans to have 5 GRYC boat entries in the South Australian Women’s Keelboat Regatta in October can largely be attributed to Louise’s leadership. In addition to negotiating with the race organisers to include a trailer sailor division, each of 2 these boats are exclusively helmed by women at GRYC, with the majority of their crew having been recruited and supported via SheSails initiatives. Louise’s tenacity plus ‘sailing and club cred’ has meant she has pursued an agenda not easily achieved. All of this is for the benefit of women who wish to be on the water, and we say thank you.

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