Retrospective (part 2), by Heloisa Schurmann
Monday March 24th, 2014

In 1975, you could count the number of women sailing and boat racing in Brazil on the fingers of both hands! I was bullied a bit by the male sailors: "Why don't you go take care of your kids? Why don't you leave your husband sailing alone? Don't you have anything else to do? Are you going to participate in boat races full of men? Everybody curses a lot! You don't mind, do you?"

And the women asked me: "Are you not afraid of falling to the sea? Don't you know you'll ruin your hair and skin? What if you fall to the sea? Who takes care of your kids? Don't you get seasick?"

(Grown up female sailors at the Yatch Club by the time were only Izabel, mother of the sailor André Fonseca, and the young Lilian Reits and Jackie Vasconcelos with Hobbie Cat.)

My love of the sea and sailing had already turned me into an indispensable crew member. I confess I was also very noisy and wanted to learn everything - I'm still like that -, and tried my best to be good at maneuvering the spinnaker, my duty on board.

But persistence paid off. Today, 30 years later, I look back to the beginning of my sailing learning with longing and fondness. I keep making my dreams come true, now with my family, with tight bonds of love, trust and respect for the seas...

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