Speaking to Binny who speaks to other women windsurfers, and the idea has been floated of an all womens team, representing all states of Australia, that one day could compete against future womens teams from around the world.
Most women who are involved in the GTC seem to love it, love being part of a team, but feel they dont often make a contribution to the team, and would like a womens team where they may make a contribution in one category of one session in one month in one year!
So whaddyareckon Ladies, do you want a team of your own?
Keep yer hands orf our wimmin![}:)]
Seriously though, if there are international women's teams on the horizon I think it sounds like a great idea.
Or have a female team ranking. I am sure Nebbs could do that in a flash
Then there could be competition between the women's divisions of the Aussie teams. Perhaps a future alternative.
At the moment I get the feeling that the benefit of being part of a team where people learn from and talk / socialise with others might outweigh the competitive element and not just for women.
I think it is a great idea and I would be very interested. Sure it's good to be part of a team in your area but after a while you start to wonder if its worth even wearing your GPS because you know none of your results will count anyway.
If there was a national women's team more women may join up or post more often.
So are there any other women interested in forming a team?
Cheryl
My sense of it is that there may be a "Womens Business" thing about it, just women bonding in a women's team?
Being serious, I just wondered whether it would be feasible to select a second team category average only from women's scores to make a women's ladder.
I am sure that it is more complicated than it sounds. It would mean that most /all sessions counted if there are only a couple of women on the team and would encourage recruitment for those teams that only have one? Scores can count for full team ladder also.
If you had an all Australia team surely it would give the same situation where a number of the best sailors scores will count most of the time.
As we have found it is good to have depth in your team as people go away / get injured and get better so that they can score for the team.
For me to be be part of a woman's team, would mean that I could make a contibution to the team, by backing up others etc, and this would give me the motvation to go sailing. i find that too easily work or family take priority, but being part of a team where my contribution counted may sway me to do for myself rather than for others.
There is an all womens team already in the competition - Board Crazy Girls, based it SE Qld. I post regularly but we haven't posted a team result this year as we are down to 4 members and because of Jo's commitment to formula racing, we seldom sync up our sailing. If we could get 6 or 8 girls in the team who sail regularly (most weekends) I'd be all for switching.
Sharon.
I've only just joined the GPS challenge and I'm not yet sure of how it all works, but Ladies' scores being generally too low to contribute to the team score is somewhat discouraging. Sure the GPS challenge is to improve oneself, but you can do that without being part of a team at all. The concept is to encourage people to sail together. The current set up does little to encourage the guys to coordinate sailing with a female team member.
There does need to be a separate ladies table at least. As there are so few women in each team the two sailing in one session would be difficult to achieve very often. Maybe the two per session rule could be suspended for ladies until numbers are sufficient? Perhaps that's where a state or national women's team would be more practical - just to get a team with sufficient numbers to maximise the chance of getting a score at all. Compete against women in the other states and countries...
Women are unlikely to rank higher than last against the guys very often, so we need other women's teams we can really compete against.
(What am I talking about? I'm dreaming. I'm just a beginner. It will be ages before I am really competitive, if ever, but it would be nice to know there is a chance of it at least. It's nice to dream. Against the guys?... no chance at all.)
Oh, and this is nothing about "secret women's business and female bonding". Socially I'd rather be in a team of guys any day!
We don't want to leave the teams we are a part of, but dual membership of our own team plus a state women's team would be good. Certainly warrants more discussion and brainstorming.
and Nebbian, I don't think "Sandgroping women" is a suitable team name!
I like the idea of a "virtual" ladies team.
I think the site has some fantactic functionality that more than compensates for a lady's abiltiy to contribute to a team result and provides more than enough motivation for me to wear my GPS every time I sail.
At under 58kgs I've resigned myself to the fact that I'm going to struggle to compete with the "big boys" but I have set myself goals like breaking into the top 150 2 sec times. I also watch the women's individual results for 2010. I know those things are individual and not in the spirit of the Team Challenge, but that's what makes the GPSTC so special - being part of a team yet also able to motive yourself on an individual level.
I like being part of a mixed team. It is one of the few sports where ladies results can be compared to mens. Today two of my division scores counted toward the team results.
We already have a ladies table of results for pb's for the year and all time pb's.
Are there any international womens teams?
I would be for a virtual team if there was one as long as I could stay in my current team. Helga Sunshine Coast Vikings
Select to expand quotealewi62 said...
I like being part of a mixed team. It is one of the few sports where ladies results can be compared to mens. Today two of my division scores counted toward the team results.
We already have a ladies table of results for pb's for the year and all time pb's.
I agree with Helga, I also like be part of a mixed team and quite often our results are counting to the teams ranking, go girls.
I would be happy to join if I could stay in my current team. I only see the point at this stage if there were other international women's team???? haven't seen any yet.
Like Sharon said I also feel like there is already enough motivation for me to wear my GPS every time I sail. I also like the way I can keep the historical data to see how many times I sailed in a particular month last year for instance when everyone on the beach is saying there is much less wind that last year or whatever I have checked my post and mostly find I am sailing the same amount of sessions, or can track which months are more windy.
Astrid
Sunshine Coast Vikings
Looks like most are in favour of a virtual team. State teams might work until there are some overseas teams to compete with.
Only WA and Queensland have more than one females participating in the GTC. Is the purpose of this proposal to get more females involved in the challenge?
I think this is a good idea except
I am not sure about this, as a few blokes in our team use Annika as a benchmark 
And Cheryl gives us a whomping too
I think Cheryl and Annika have both contributed to month end scores in our team
I don't want to steer off topic, or hijack a topic that was raised for female feedback - totally agree with whats been said for all the reasons raised. However, I also think this concept has touched on a general feeling as well.
Is there any chance the competition could also explore a grading concept?
Perhaps have a, b, c grades within teams? As a relative newcomer to the sport of windsurfing (3.5 seasons) sometimes I also wonder why I bother posting when the majority of the worthwhile scores are regularly accumulated by the top two or three in our team - who have 10-15 years of experience. I often look at the people close to my skill level and compare my scores times with them to push myself.
I think a grading system would provide an incentive for new sailors; with achievable goals being incremental (going up a grade) rather than aiming at being the "best" overall. I wouldnt be using the master/grandmaster etc - as this relates purely to age and I am a Master (????) with 3 years sailing.
Back on topic...Totally agree that a women's team is great idea.
Hi All
Yes I agree with Sharon. We are the only all girls team and rarely post these days. I doubt that Jo will be doing much this year due to her RSX training for the Youth Worlds. She has lost interest and has bigger fish to fry.
However I'm still keen but must admit to not even wearing my GPS since we are usually unlikely to get a team result. I've been thinking for a while that we need to consider the team's future. But not keen to get absorbed into one of the large all male Bris teams.
So I'm all for an Aus team with Sharon and Binny.
ps wore it yesterday and will post soon, Sharon
I think everyone needs to remember that GTC is run by volunteers and while it could get bigger and offer more divisions etc, it already offers a fantastic ( free ) opportunity for both male and female sailors to gauge their personal and team progress.
Sailors who worrying about not contributing towards their team results could maybe focus on their own pb's which is very rewarding - you know that your sailing skills are progressing which is what you should be aiming for.
Anne Lewis
Bugger, I couldn't sail yesterday as I had family committments at Movie World - will be sailing today. This is why being part of a larger team works.
Yes you are right. I can't sail today!!. or later in the week which looks good as taking Jo to fremantle for rsx nationals.
This is our problem - there are really only 2 sailors who consistently post. Makes life difficult and leads to a bit of a lack of motivation.
Perhaps those who want to join a national women's team do so and those who don't can stay in their current teams. Doesn't have to be compulsory.
1) Don't take me out of my team. One of the best things about our team is that we sail together most of the time. A national team might compete together, but it won't sail together on the same patch of water.
2) If I wanted to be on a women only team, I could have joined one.
3) A "virtual" national team might be a good idea - if any other countries get on board. Otherwise I'm not sure how much I would benefit from it. As a promotional idea for gpstc it might be good.
4) Sounds like you men want to fix it for us. Typical!
(personal opinion)
A lot of very valid points here. As I struggle with the last button on my fire suit I wonder what the reaction would be to a men's only team [}:)]
