The Power of Wind and Sea

Image Credit: Rick Doyle, courtesy of Annie Gardner

This post is the second in a series about the legacy of women. Read the first one here.

Annie Gardner is a world-class sailor and windsurfer. Her personal accomplishments include a silver medal in boardsailing at the 1984 Olympics, competing on the 1995 America’s Cup team, and five world championships in windsurfing and catamaran sailing. 

Annie loves sharing her skills with others, particularly women. At age 21, Annie captained the first all women’s team in an international regatta. She co-founded the Women’s Yacht Racing Association in the southeastern US and the Women’s Yacht Racing Fleet in southern California. She has been running sailing clinics for women since her twenties. She was tapped by University of Denver Business School to teach teambuilding. Annie recently founded her own business, Wind Goddess Retreats.  

I spoke to Annie about her success in sailing and why she loves to teach.

How did being a woman impact your experience as a sailor and other’s perceptions of you? 

I found my love of sailing in my young teens. I loved the freedom of it, being so close to nature. Something called to my soul on that front. My whole family sailed, especially my dad and my siblings, but when I wanted to go race on big boats I wasn’t welcome, I was a girl. Going sailing on my dad’s boat was okay but awkward for my dad’s friends. Until I proved myself, they weren’t comfortable having me on board. 

So I got a smaller boat and raced with my sisters and my cousins in a women’s regatta twice a year. As I was practicing and racing, I realized, “This is what I want to do, I want to helm the boat!” We had success despite our smaller boat and a crew that the guys kind of doubted.  Once I started proving myself I was able to get on my dad’s boat and do long distance races with him. 

I remember in one of those races, I was going to grind a winch and a young man my age took it out of my hand because I wasn’t grinding it fast enough. I was so pissed, I never forgave him. But it lit a fire under me. I started sailing with other women, learning at our own pace and running our team differently. Women learn differently from men. We needed to learn how to sail without someone grabbing the winch from us. 

When I left my hometown of Miami and moved to San Diego, I became a founding member of Women’s Yacht Racing Fleet. I helped promote it, I ran clinics, I taught women offshore racing. We’d do a week offshore on a boat, we had volunteer coaches, the best in the whole country, because they were starting to see, “Maybe it would be cool to have some women on board!” WYRF blossomed. Feminism was starting to be accepted. We were behind the bra burners, we were right on the heels of it. We were trying to prove that women could do it too.

Image Credit: Rick Doyle, courtesy of Annie Gardner

 Why was it important to you to not just win medals yourself but to lead all-female teams? 

My teambuilding skills in my 20s weren’t that good. I was putting teams together but I didn’t understand about empowering people, learning about their strengths, not focusing on what they can’t do but focusing on what they can do. 

There is so much great energy when you’re with a group of people, whether it’s sailing, baseball, whatever. You get a nice team together, it’s that much more rewarding than doing it by yourself. When you have a team, you’re learning together, you’re trying together. 

And like I said before, I wanted to provide a learning environment where women could feel comfortable asking the questions and taking on the roles that they might not have if they were sailing on a boat with guys. Most women aren’t going to demand to drive the boat but they’re really good at it if they give it a shot.  I wanted other women to have the opportunities that I had to make for myself. 

Image Credit: Rick Doyle

You recently started a business, Wind Goddess Retreats. What is the mission of that business? 

It has nothing to do with sailing, it’s more about women leaving with the power and confidence to do what they want to do. I worked with University of Denver Business School for 20 years doing teambuilding. I learned so much about myself and others, now I just love working with those skills that I’ve acquired. 

Getting on a boat is a great way to unplug from the context and structure of our daily life. So many people dream of going to the beach, that’s what brings them to Wind Goddess, but what happens there is more transformative. Each of my trips has ten women of different ages, from all walks of life. People come aboard looking to gain relaxation for themselves, but by the end it’s always a cohesive group, caring about each other, sharing feelings and secrets. I’m looking to create a safe environment so that we can feel good about sharing anything and being ourselves, not feeling we have to hide something or pull back. 

Leading these trips aboard a boat is so much different than any other type of retreat.  When you’re on the boat you can’t escape unless you jump in the water. You spend more time with people than you would in ordinary teambuilding. That’s why “no” is as important as “yes.” People can make choices about how they want to engage. If you don’t want to do something you feel safe saying that. When women gain confidence in “no,” they actually become more free to be who they really are.

Wind Goddess Retreats does attract the people that know how fun sailing is, but I’ve had women bring friends who’ve never been on boats before. And I love that especially, because these trips are just about broadening how you see yourself. It’s about getting in touch with what you want. It’s about having time to process and reflect and share and heal. I help people get past some of their ideas about what they can and can’t do. I want women to walk away from this feeling stronger inside, and feeling good about themselves. 

Womens’ Legacy Month is not just celebrating women past and present, but also imagining the future for women. What do you have to say about the future?

The power of a woman is pretty unlimited. 

My vision for myself is to continue doing what I’m doing— modeling that you can do whatever you want as long as you pursue it with your whole self. 

For my daughters, I want you girls to go out there and be able to do anything you want.  I’m glad that you’re in a generation where people expect you to achieve amazing things. For me, my generation was often admiring/skeptical. Your generation is admiring/unsurprised. If people are still skeptical, I want to be a part of showing what women can do. 

It’s most important for women to realize this power within themselves. We don’t ask for what we deserve sometimes. Women need space to practice speaking up, feeling like they’re worthy, and then proving it. We all can. It’s just a matter of connecting with that strength within ourselves.