WoW! CBC women venture forth for fourth time!

Published 17:42 on 8 Sep 2026

In August Cramond Boat Club's merry band of female sailors once again ventured out onto the Forth for the fourth outing of our Women on the Water programme. On this occasion we were delighted to welcome back instructor Suzie Sturrock to give WoWsers a basic intro to dinghy racing thanks to a generous grant from RYA Scotland's "Summer of Sailing" funds.

Kicking off with some theory ashore in the club bar -- fortunately not open at the time otherwise our subsequent tacking might have been even more erratic! -- Suzie memorably drilled us by having us all stand along an imaginary start line between two bar stools, taking aim at another chair representing the first upwind mark. Armed with the knowledge of this key stratagem, along with a reminder of some basic rules of the road and the sequence of countdown toots, we merrily headed off to launch our dinghies.

Some follow-my-leader exercises refreshed our rapid tacking and gybing skills before moving on to honing our race starts in a series of short practice races around a windward/leeward course. Several circuits later -- and some swapping around between the Lasers and the treble-handed Wayfarers and Stratos dinghies -- significant improvements were clearly visible. So roll on the Women's Race when we can test our newly acquired skills for real!

All photos courtesy of Suzie Sturrock