Cold green waves crash onto Vancouver Island's South Chesterman Beach in a
steady pulse. They are small - less than a metre high - but each one breaks
with enough force to push me off my feet. As the next rising swell approaches,
I hold tight to my surfboard. Should I catch this one or let it break around
me?
"Go for it! It's a good one," urges Mattie Mechin of Surf Sister, an all-women surfing school in Tofino. She stands in the frigid water a few metres away while, around her, five other women novices, like me, try to tame the waves. "Paddle! Paddle! Paddle!" she yells.
I turn my board perpendicular to the wave, jump on, and paddle with all my might. My board lifts and accelerates with a whoosh of force. I've caught the wave. The question now is: can I ride it?
Drawing on my dry-land training, innumerable attempts and tumbles on the water, and Mechin's unflagging encouragement, I push up with my arms and slide my feet along the board's centre line in a yogalike move called the "pop-up." And, suddenly - finally - among this sisterhood of surfers, I am riding the wave. Female voices cheer: "Way to go!"
Years ago, I tried surfing the masculine way. I rented a board on a Hawaiian beach, rejected the beginner lesson, and set off with male friends to learn by trial and error. In the first 20 minutes, I was flipped by a wave, dashed against a reef, and pinned down by the undertow. When I finally surfaced, gasping for air, all courage and bravado were gone. I sat on the beach, unnerved and defeated, watching the guys crash and muscle their way to surfing competence. I never had the nerve to surf again.
That is, until I discovered Surf Sister. Like many women, J've found that I prefer a safe, supportive environment in which to try something new, develop a skill, or test my boundaries. My learning style is typically female: I want to be taught everything I need to know first, by experts, then slowly apply what I've learned - just as I have in the women-only surfing clinic.
Sorry, guys, it's not that we don't like your company, but women and men are different, especially in the rawness of the great outdoors. And that's one reason women-only outdoor adventures are booming in British Columbia and all over North America. The "women-only" niche is the fastest-growing travel market segment, according to the U.S. Travel Industry Association. Women, who once travelled almost exclusively with male partners, today are increasingly likely to travel with girlfriends or to join an organized group of women adventurers.
"It really began taking off about the mid-1990s," says Evelyn Hannon, founder in 1994 of Journeywoman.com, the world's first Internet women-only travel resource. Times were changing, Hannon notes. It became permissible - and a sign of strength. not failure - for a woman to travel without a man. Working women had more money to spend on getaways, and more were remaining single. Women wanted to mark milestones with opportunities for personal growth, fitness. or new experiences. And women wanted unique and unforgettable ways to connect with their mothers. daughters, girlfriends, or other like-minded women.
"But most of all," says Hannon, "women found it is really, really
fun and a completely different kind of fun than
we have with boyfriends or husbands."
In the right environment, women can relax. laugh. share stories, and let their hair down in the company of other women. Freed from traditional malefemale roles, women enjoy the refreshing camaraderie, lack of competition, and opportunity to try new things. (In contrast. I could tell a story about a co-ed wilderness mountain-bike trip I took years ago that rapidly devolved into a "he-liftheavy-things, she-cook-and-tend-camp" prehistoric society. Not pretty.) Observes Hannon: "On a women-only wilderness trip. women get to do all the stuff that men always take over."
You name it. you can now do it in the company of other women in B.C.: mountain biking, sailing, skiing, rafting, hiking, caving, rock climbing, fly-fishing. horseback riding, kayaking, canoeing, surfing. and more. And if your idea of a good time is no more taxing than lifting a glass of wine or walking to the spa, there are plenty of women-only options for you, too.
What follows is a selected compendium of outdoor opportunities available in 2004 for women in British Columbia. And if you happen to be a man who has read this far (brave soul) take note: not only do these trips make great gifts for the important women in your life, many companies offer similar courses and tours that would include you, too.