LADIES DAY 2024: 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.
Words: Sarah Jackson // Photos: Stefan Bijmolt
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!
I received a phone call from Nico Prien (co-owner of Surfcenter) about three weeks before the event, saying: “How do you fancy a day in the Netherlands in June? We would like to invite you to Ladies Day to present the day, the highlights video, and generally just bring your happy demeanour. The last two years we’ve unfortunately had no wind, so most likely you’ll deliver a clinic on the beach and maybe do some paddleboard racing.”. Essentially, perhaps without even knowing it, Nico sold me a dream which any professional windsurfer, who is used to carrying over 200kg of excess baggage, would jump at! Imagine travelling with hand luggage only, standing on the beach, embracing the sunshine and talking about your main passion – windsurfing – to a large group of ladies and all I had to do was book a flight to Amsterdam and they’d sort out the rest… safe to say, I was sold!
THE BUILD UP
Ten days out from the event, summer was yet to arrive in Northern Europe and I was checking the forecast – I was greeted by a fully pink and purple forecast – which as you wind aficionados will appreciate, is obviously every windsurfer’s dream. However, the 10 degrees Celsius air temperature, combined with torrential rain, didn’t really live up to the dream I was being sold.
SHOCK HORROR
It looked like I might have to actually go on the water, but in recent years I’ve gone soft, so torrential rain and 10 degrees Celsius really didn’t fill me with excitement… especially on a lake! Five days before the start of the event, the forecast completely disappeared, 10 knots and 25°C was on the cards, more like what I had been promised, the dream trip was back on. Three days out, WindGuru was back to being fully pink for the whole weekend, but the rain was also back with a vengeance. The promise of an easy trip to the Netherlands turned into a panicked flurry of messages to the Duotone agent in the Netherlands: “Please can you bring me some demo gear to use this weekend? And maybe a harness. Also, what wetsuit do I need? It sounds very cold…”.
CHECK IN
Friday afternoon came around and I headed to Manchester Airport, still with only hand luggage (mainly because I refused to pay for luggage for a 36 hour trip), but wearing my ION Storm Coat, with my harness wrapped around my backpack, and my wetsuit and many layers stuffed into a trolley bag. Online check-in hadn’t worked for me, but I assumed it was just a technical glitch, so I turned up at the check-in counter to collect my boarding pass and the lady told me the flight was in fact oversold and I was on the reserve list, whilst being told: “But don’t worry, the flight is also an hour delayed, so sit tight and I’m sure we’ll get you on in plenty of time”. Never what you want to hear, but I thought I’d roll with it – of all the flights for me to be having bad luck, this wasn’t the worst, as she reassured me there were two more flights that day with plenty of space. Plus, it wasn’t like I had a long-haul connection to make and it was my own silly fault for not buying a seat reservation…
ON BOARD
An hour or so later I had a seat and was heading to Amsterdam! I’ve flown through Amsterdam plenty of times before for connecting long-haul connections, but rarely have I actually left the airport. Despite my one-hour delay, Blanca Alabau, who I was sharing a ride with up to Makkum was also delayed, so we arrived within 10 minutes of each other and from there on, it was smooth sailing. We were picked up by a local windsurfer and it was about an hour and a half drive to the spot. The sun was shining and there were signs that Nico’s promise was coming true. Arriving at the spot, it was a stunning day with not a breath of wind, beautiful blue skies and t-shirt weather. The locals assured us however, that tomorrow was going to be an entirely different story. After dinner with some of the Surfcenter crew, Blanca and I headed off to the caravan park to our VIP accommodation for the night. Pretty much immediately, the heavens opened and the pitter patter of raindrops on the caravan roof gradually became heavier and heavier. I’m not sure it stopped all night and it was still chucking it down when we woke up in the morning.
LADIES DAY
As we prepared to go down to the beach, I was dressed in full waterproofs, a woolly hat, walking boots and my storm coat, Blanca turned to me in her linen trousers, white trainers and gilet and said: “You can really tell which one of us in from the UK and which one is from Spain!”. Thankfully, the rain subsided, but the dark black clouds looming upwind assured us that it wasn’t going to be for too long…
Just as the ladies began to arrive, the heavens opened once again and the wind kicked in full throttle. The forecast was for the rain to ease after 11:00 and the wind to steadily increase all day. It was already over 20 knots, but with the majority of the participants being beginner windsurfers, wingers and paddleboarders, we definitely had a challenge on our hands! We decided to crack on and just see how it goes. The sun broke through as Nico welcomed everyone, before we joined in in a full group yoga warm up. Despite the huge variety of abilities and chosen activities, it was great to be able to all participate in a big group yoga session and see just how many women had turned up despite the conditions. With over 150 women signed up, it was an amazing sight!
CHAOS
Soon we split off into groups and from there, the only appropriate word to describe it was chaos! Whilst I was land-based, creating content and doing interviews, there was a bit of everything going on, on the water. From advanced freestyle with Maaike Huvermann and girls sending their first forward loops to an intermediate + clinic with Blanca Alabau and Femke van der Veen. Arrianne Aukes had a large group of beginner wingers, whilst both the local surf schools supported our two groups of beginner windsurfers. The paddleboarders headed off to find more shelter, as the now 25 knots of onshore wind, wasn’t ideal conditions for them. Meanwhile, for anyone not fancying hitting the water there was an indoor yoga class. It was a hive of activity with something for everyone. Once the chaos of everyone trying to find small enough equipment on the land had hit the water, I took a moment to take it all in. At first it didn’t really hit me, so often I’ve seen hundreds of windsurfers on the water and it wasn’t an unusual sight. However, that was until I realised that 95% of the people on the water were WOMEN!
GIRL POWER
To men reading this, you may not understand the significance or importance of this, but it was a completely new experience for me and it was something so special to be a part of. Would I be reverting to gender norms to say it nearly brought me to tears? You certainly couldn’t wipe the smile off my face all day. I have dreamt so often about days like this, but the reality was something I never thought I’d see. For most men, the probability that they have experienced at least one session in their lifetime with only men in the water is guaranteed, if not a regular occurrence even. However, for women, it’s often a rarity to even share a session with one or two other women on the water, while guys will still be the majority on the water. For many women this can be an intimidating environment to join, even though the reality is that often the men in our sport are incredibly supportive and welcoming to the girls. Having a day dedicated solely to encouraging women to get on the water was magical!
CONQUERING FEARS
As the ladies started to come off the water the reality of why we need more days like this was abundantly clear. An hour and a half earlier, there were a lot of women doubting if they should even go out on the water – it was too challenging for them and maybe they should sit it out was a common feeling. Many of them believed they weren’t capable of riding in those conditions, yet with some friendly coercion from the pros and coaches, a mere hour and a half later they were buzzing! For so many of them it was either their first time on the water, the first time surfing in those conditions, or the first time they had the confidence to try a move they’ve been thinking about for a long time. All it took was an environment where everyone was supporting and encouraging one another to push themselves out of their comfort zone and give it a go! For a lot of women, if there wasn’t an event that day, they wouldn’t have even gone out, so to see so many of them conquering their fears was such an amazing feeling.
INSPIRATION
What exactly was different? For sure having a crew of the best female windsurfers in the world on hand to coach and encourage was a big factor in getting the ladies out of their comfort zone, but I also believe the impact of seeing so many other women giving it a go was so inspirational. It breeds the mentality of, if they can do it, so can I. Speaking from personal experience, I can be inspired from watching guys on the water, but seeing another girl doing something that I can’t do yet is 100 times more inspiring. It makes it touchable, realistically achievable. If she can do it, so can I!
OPPORTUNITY
I am constantly asked, how can we get more women into windsurfing or competing on the PWA World Tour and to me it’s 100% a chicken and the egg situation. Unless we provide women with opportunities and environments where they can thrive and improve, nothing will ever change and female participation will continue to be around 10%. Often the retort to putting money into women’s windsurfing is “women don’t windsurf, so why should we… pick one of the following – ‘have women only days’ / ‘provide equal prize money’ / ‘make female specific equipment’ – I could list probably 100 options to include here and it’s a topic for another day.”. The point is – when you give women the environment to thrive, they will. If you create positive experiences, they will come back, they will stick with it. It’s not that we need to have these events every weekend, but creating opportunities and environments for women to be able to thrive, and be inspired, by other women is so important if we want more women in the sport.
TIME TO REFLECT
In an industry so dominated by men, we (as ladies) acknowledge that we need their support to be able to grow. We cannot do it alone and I believe it should not be solely the responsibility of the women to grow this side of the sport, especially when men occupy so many positions of power in the industry and are the ones calling the shots. I am so grateful to the shops, surf schools and brands that supported Ladies Day, as such large-scale events like this can’t happen without their support. Investing in the women’s side of the sport, is not only investing in the future of the sport where women are valued as equally as men, but it also taps into a whole new market, which can help to grow the sport as a whole, so I’m grateful that Haico, Harmen and Nico of Surfcenter share this vision and are so enthusiastic about organising days like this! To sum it up from Haico: “Ladies Day tries to lower the barriers of the sport and tries to create a community of active windsurfing ladies, for the longer term. We want to inspire and encourage ladies, who are a bit of a ‘forgotten’ group sometimes in windsurfing and watersports, to go on the water and experience the ultimate feeling of fun and freedom.”.
PLAYTIME FOR THE PROS
After lunch, with the ever increasing wind, the decision was made that the pros should head on the water and put on a show for half an hour. The four riders summonsed into action were myself, Maaike, Blanca and Femke. For the slalom girls, all we know is blasting up and down, but drag racing on a 200m strip with your friends on freerace gear is never not fun and the battles were close, meanwhile, Maaike put on the actual show right in front of the beach by showing off her repertoire of freestyle moves.
We thought that motivation would be low from the ladies for another session, but once again their enthusiasm shone through and everyone hit the water for another hour of organised chaos and to practice what they had learnt in the morning. A personal highlight was coaching someone to their first beach start and watching their improvement as they started to properly understand the movements and how it worked.
The penultimate activity of the day was the battle of the pros, sorry I mean a fun race for anyone who wanted to join ;), which consisted of a running beach start, followed by a supposed blast across the wind, gybe the mark and back to the beach. Safe to say, Nico Prien is a talented man, but his skills do not lie in setting a simple course! Two tacks upwind later, a fierce battle was on as the wind picked its moment to die. I don’t think I’ve pumped so hard since I was on Techno 293 as bragging rights were on the line! It was a great end to the day, even if I didn’t win!
A TOAST TO THE LADIES
It was only fitting that Ladies Day was rounded off with a chance to reflect over a glass of wine, and a toast to all the ladies, who had pushed their comfort zones and smashed it out on the water! Hearing stories from everyone about what they had learned and how they felt about this momentous day solidified to me exactly why it is so important to have days like these. Yes, having fun on the water and learning new skills is important for everyone in their windsurfing journey, but creating an environment where women can thrive and feel valued in the sport is something truly special. It’s something I am motivated to not only continue, but I would also love to try and bring this concept to other locations around the world! If you want to sign up for next year, or propose a location for a Ladies Day in the future, send me a message via Instagram @sarah_jackson and let’s make it happen!
