GIRL POWER

Sarah Jackson headed for a wet and windy weekend at Makkum Beach in the Netherlands for a ladies only event with the aim of encouraging more women into watersports. Read on to hear about her travel shenanigans and how the impact of the event brought a big smile to her face, despite the rain.

- Sarah Jackson

PRELUDE

Picture this… we’re at Makkum Beach in the Netherlands, a spot located on the north of the Ijsselmeer (a huge lake). It’s blowing a solid 25 knots, it’s sunny… well… ish, there are 150 people out on the water from absolute beginners, to the best riders in the world, it’s a beautiful sight! In fact, it’s a sight I’ve seen many times all over the world - consisting of windsurfers and… ahem… wingers. However, this day was different from any I’d ever experienced before in windsurfing… why? Because 95% of the people on the water were women!

BREAKING THE MOULD

So, how did we get here? Because let's be honest, in my 18-years-of windsurfing, I've never had a situation where there were this many people on the water - especially when there were more women than men, it's normally the complete opposite particularly when the conditions are, shall we say, more challenging.

Well, it's actually the third year in a row that the Dutch windsurfing shop, Surfcenter, have partnered with Surf n Sail Makkum, and Funsport Makkum, to host Ladies Day. However, the last two years have been hot and sunny, which is great, but ultimately, also windless affairs, which is obviously not so great. So rather than windsurfing they were forced to resort to yoga, paddleboarding and beginner windsurfing lessons with advanced clinics being resigned to the beach. Don't get me wrong, it's still an amazing day celebrating women who are involved in windsurfing, however, all participants agreed that this year the event reached another level, thanks to that all important ingredient... yep you guessed it... the wind!