Sailing Story: Nancy Hendrick

Nancy Hendrick had always loved kayaking, however, it wasn’t until 2012 that she found her love of sailing. 

“That was just the start of a wonderful hobby that just grew and grew,” she said about her first time sailing on the Chesapeake over a decade ago. 

One of her friends had told her about a sailing group on the bay and she decided to go to their open house. She was surprised to find out that sailing wasn’t overly expensive, if she sailed with others rather than buying her own boat. 

“Everyone who owns a boat knows where their discretionary spending goes to,” she laughed. However, the club offered the opportunity to sail with experienced skippers without breaking the bank, which she said “sounded like a win-win.”

Little by little, Nancy learned the ropes and became accomplished enough to become skipper qualified herself. 

“They made it pleasing, they made it like– I can do this!– they showed me that I could learn and hone my skills. It was a very supportive sailing community.”

Nancy felt particularly well supported by the women in the club who were eager to bring more women into the world of sailing. Now, that’s something Nancy is passionate about herself. 

“Sailing on a boat with women is different than with men,” she said. “Sometimes sailing with men is about brute power and you add a dose of wisdom.”

When Nancy decided to take a solo trip to the British Virgin Islands to sail with Go Sail Virgin Islands, she loved the crew she sailed with— but she definitely saw a difference in how her male crewmembers sailed. 

“You would have thought it was a show of testosterone to see how fast they could raise the dinghy,” she laughed about her fellow classmates. When it came time for Nancy to raise the dinghy, she said she took it slow and steady yet “barely raised the sweat that they did.”

All jokes aside, Nancy really did love the experience of traveling on her own to the British Virgin Islands, yet still finding herself aboard a catamaran with like-minded and fun-loving sailors that quickly became friends. Nancy said she’s found that’s the case wherever she sails. 

“[Sailors] are out there for fun and adventure and safety,” she said. “It never seems to fail! They come from all different backgrounds[but] most people have the same adventuresome, fun-loving attitude.” 

And it wasn’t just the company that Nancy enjoyed on her trip— the sailing was phenomenal too!

“The BVI lets you feel the difference of the tradewinds coming through and it’s a little more wild and rugged [than the Chesapeake Bay]– but playful too,” she said. “I came home with a lot of excitement and want to talk it up— I’ve already started with my sailing friends!”

Now that she’s back home, Nancy is already dreaming of her next big trip. 

“I want to hold on to everything I’ve learned and get more people interested and map out a week—I want to be skipper for a week,” she said. 

One of her dream ideas is coming back to the BVI for a  women’s only sailing trip. 

“I can see that now, just got to pull all those schedules together,” she said. “Women power is awesome.”