If you’ve ever wanted to learn about how to handle a ship, you may want to navigate your way to McCormick Place this week.
That’s because this year’s Chicago Boat, RV and Outdoors Show is featuring special programming to help women feel more at ease on the water.
“We love boating and want to share that with other women, with or without their husbands, with or without their kids, with or without their friends,” said Marcia M. Kull, senior vice president of operations for Genmar Holdings, a Minneapolis-based boat manufacturer sponsoring the effort.
Women at the Helm sprang from the realization that more participation by women is required to expand the recreational boating industry. Not only do they influence household spending, but also they represent an underused group of boaters in their own right, said Jennifer Faulk, the show’s manager. According to the Boat Owners Association of the United States, about 17,000 of its 550,000 members are female. About 44 percent of the members have wives or daughters who also operate their boats, said Scott Croft, a spokesman for the group.
Much of the reason why those numbers aren’t higher, Faulk said, is that some women have few ideas where to turn to learn how to bait a hook or read a global positioning system device.
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An information booth will remain throughout the show, which begins Wednesday and runs through Sunday. In addition, the program will have four hours of classes on Friday in such subjects as boating safety rules and the different controls at the helm.
The seminars are free with admission to the show: $9 for visitors 13 and up, $4 for children 6-12, and free for those 5 and under. For more information, visit www.discoverboating.com/women/.