Stephenie Schwenk and her husband, Andy, have raced against each other in sailboats for years, all in good fun.

Sometimes they’d make bets. If she won, he’d have to cook. If he beat her, she’d wear her lingerie.

But they often raced together during Whidbey Island Race Week, and five days in the same boat got to be a bit much. “We just yapped at each other,” Schwenk said. “If the two of us have a whole week of racing together, we might get on each other’s nerves.”

So last year, the couple decided that Schwenk would take their Moore 24, Lowly Worm, out with her own crew while her husband raced on a friend’s boat. When Schwenk’s girlfriends heard she’d be skippering during Race Week, they clamored to come along, and Schwenk soon had one of the event’s only all-female crews.

Race Week, which runs today through Friday out of Oak Harbor, is considered the largest buoy racing event on the West Coast. It’s one of the premier regattas on the Northwest racing calendar, drawing around 600 sailors and close to 100 boats for a week of intense competition and lively parties.

The event draws a substantial number of female sailors, but Race Week organizer Gary Stuntz said very few women drive boats and there are only three all-female crews among the 94 boats competing in this year’s races. Stuntz, whose wife, Brenda, leads one of those crews, would like that to change.

“Women need to get involved in sailing more,” he said. “They need to know that any woman can do it. It’s not just a man’s sport.”

Stephanie Schwenk frequently drives the boat during races, while husband Andy prefers crewing.

Schwenk learned that by example. Growing up in Poulsbo, she began sailing at age 6 with her parents, who were avid racers. “They went out racing and they dragged me along,” said Schwenk, 39, who now lives in Anacortes and races with her husband and their two sons, ages 8 and 9.

Laurie Gillmer, who’s part of Schwenk’s five-woman crew, was introduced to sailing as a self-described “drink-fetchin’ deck fluff” on an ex-boyfriend’s boat. Friends crewing during Race Week in 2001 needed an extra body and recruited Gillmer. She was quickly hooked and has been sailing every week since.

“I live to sail,” said Gillmer, 43. “I love it.”

Gillmer is a female boating role model in her own right. A graduate of Skagit Valley College’s Marine Maintenance Technology Program, she lives aboard her boat, has worked on boats professionally and now manages the fuel dock and parts department at Marine Servicenter in Anacortes.

Schwenger and Gillmer competed together in the Swiftsure race out of Victoria, B.C., and the other crew members are also experienced sailors. Sarah Johnson started racing with her father at age 11. Staci Bottles has been racing for 14 years, and Jean Schleiger has sailed offshore to Hawaii and hitchhiked on boats through Central America and Colombia.

Despite the prevalence of female sailors today, Andy Schwenk said sailboat racing is still dominated by men. He estimates that there are typically only about 50 to 60 women crewing out of about 600 sailors at Race Week. Schwenk questioned how many of those get integral crew positions—since women tend to be lighter than men, he said, they’re often given positions on the bow and are therefore separated from the decision-making process in the cockpit.

Schwenk and Gillmer say men sometimes treat the female crew differently or seem surprised to see women handling a boat. Schwenk said men racing on other boats frequently reference her crew’s gender, making comments such as “We need room at the mark, ladies.” Male crews typically don’t address each other with “gentlemen,” she points out.

Stephanie Schwenk will be racing on the Santa Cruz 27 Wild Rumpus during this year's Whidbey Island Race Week regatta.

The two women say an all-female crew is decidedly different from being part of a co-ed team. There’s less yelling and less criticism, they say. The mood is calmer. Decision-making is more collaborative, and there’s much more chatting—too much for some men, Schwenk notes.

“I’ve noticed that not all of them want to sail with four other girls. We talk more. But guess what? We can talk about other stuff and still be trimming and be tactical,” she said.

From Andy Schwenk’s perspective, his wife’s crew—who last year dressed according to themes such as “superheroes day” and “roller derby day”—might just be having more fun.

“I would say that generally, dudes have more fun when they win and they’re pretty grinchy when they don’t do as well, whereas the gals have fun no matter how they do,” said Schwenk, who owns Northwest Rigging Inc. in Anacortes.

But male racers shouldn’t be misled by their easygoing manner, the women say. When they head out for this week’s races on the Schwenks’ Santa Cruz 27, Wild Rumpus, they intend to win. It’s not a battle of the sexes, they say, but a battle of equals.

“We want to get really focused and get in there and make a good showing so everybody doesn’t say, ‘Oh, it’s just a bunch of girls,’” Gillmer said. “The crew is all women who have been sailing for a long time.

“It’s a passion. It’s not just something they do. It’s something they have to do.”

The Schwenks will be racing against each other in the same class, and Andy expects his wife to hold her own. Their current boat is easier to sail than the previous one, he said, and his wife is adept at getting a good start in a race.

“The boat’s certainly capable of it and she’s capable of it,” he said. “I’d expect her to be in the top half.”

Stephanie Schwenk said only half-jokingly that she plans to give her spouse a run for his money. They might even make a bet, she said, just like they used to.

“I’m sure we will,” she said. “We haven’t decided yet on the stakes.”

About Deborah Bach

Deborah Bach is the editor and co-founder of Three Sheets Northwest. She is an avid sailor and long-time professional journalist. You can find Deborah aboard Three Sheets, an Island Packet 38, with her husband Marty and their cat Lily.

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