It was 20 years ago–2004–when Nancy Smith, co-owner of Colorado Boat Center obtained her certification to teach a class called “Women Making Waves” from the Genmar Boat company. In that first year, and every year since, applications from CBC customers have sold out.
Starting back in the 1990s, the boating industry as a whole realized there was a problem that needed solving. Statistics showed that while 80-90 percent of boat sales were made to couples,, less than 10 percent of women buying boats knew how to operate one.
Boat ads back then (and to some degree even today) showed men driving the boats and the women lounging on a sunny seat, wearing a bikini. Since by the 1990s women represented half the workforce in America and had the same purchasing power as men, everyone realized that something had to change.
It was Genmar Boat that stepped up by creating a curriculum and the tools needed to hold the teaching program called ‘Women Making Waves,’ and Colorado Boat Center’s Nancy Smith was one of the first to enroll and get certified to teach the program.
“I still remember our first class, in 2004,” Nancy Smith said. “We got a banner response from our customers and on the appointed day, they started coming …and almost all of them came with their husbands! We had to tell them, sorry, this class is for women only! Some of the men said ‘Oh, we’ll just sit in the back and listen,’ but I said no–this class is for WOMEN!”
Nancy realized that buying a boat is not like buying a car. Everyone, male and female, knows how to drive a car. But very few women knew how to operate a boat. That’s why they came to the class. And Nancy also realized that having a husband lurking in the background might not be conducive to having the women ask questions.
“We wanted our attendees to feel free to ask anything they didn’t know about, however simple or basic it might be,” Nancy said. “And when your husband is sitting there, you can feel dumb asking a simple question and imagining hubbie’s snide reaction off in the back row. So I put my foot down and told the men to leave!”
(On the other hand, she realized there might be a market for classes on boating basics for men, too, and the next year, she launched “Men in the Know ” to offer much of the same instruction, this time for men-only classes. These, too, have been over-subscribed every year since.)
“Both men and women benefit from these classes, but not together,” she said. “We find the results are much better when we separate them into genders, and offer specific information for women and for men.”
This year’s classes for Women Making Waves and Men in the Know are scheduled for Monday, May 20. They will be held, as usual, at Boyd’s Lake State Park. The lake is closest to the CBC showrooms and has parking lot space (for the trailering session) and an accessible boat ramp.
“I remember the first year, the park rangers wandered over to see what we were doing,” Nancy said. “They realized our students were getting well educated and praised and recommended our program to other boaters.”
Every customer takes the class with different expectations, Nancy Smith said. Some think that after the one-day session, they’ll be professional and proficient boaters. Not quite. “We tell them that we’re teaching them just the basics…it’s up to them to practice these skills until they’re natural.”
And even men who think they know everything about boating can learn something new and useful in these sessions. “We’ve had professional truck drivers tell us that they learned something useful in how to back and drive a trailer,” she said. “No matter how many years you’ve been boating, you can still learn something. And we try to show them the right way.”
There can even be a financial incentive: many insurance companies will provide a discount on premiums for boaters–male or female–who have gone through the program.
The program is divided into four sessions, and the classes are divided into four groups that will rotate through the sessions, CBC offers one morning class and one afternoon class, each are 4 hours long and the amount of useful information you’ll learn is invaluable.
Session 1 covers trailering–how to attach and detach the trailer to your vehicle, how to prepare the boat, techniques for backing and driving with a trailer, stopping and turns, and students will take turns backing a trailer into a coned-off portion of the lot.
Session 2 covers launching and loading a boat, including cold motor start procedures, scouting the boat ramp, backing into the water, backing the boat off the trailer and reloading techniques.
Session 3 covers operating a boat on the water, reviewing the boat and its controls, a start-up checklist, preparing and pulling away from the dock, maneuvering, getting up on plane, trimming, coming down off plane and Rules of the Road.
Session 4 covers docking and how to approach and land the boat.
At the end, there are questions, diplomas and evaluations and feedback.
“My husband Tom and I have always been interested in sponsoring boating education, both for our customers and for our employees,” Nancy Smith said. “We find these programs very rewarding and love getting the feedback that comes every year so we can make it better. Most of our customers are grateful and appreciative that someone took the time to show them how to do things the right way, and let them get some hands-on experience.”
If you’d like to join this year’s Women Making Waves and Men in the Know classes, contact Colorado Boat Center as soon as possible. You must be a CBC Boater and there is a limit to the number of students and the program usually fills up every year.
