FORT McCOY, Wis. -- In the late 1990s, Dawn Santamaria was a mother of four
daughters. Her main concern was raising her Family. That all changed when her
husband had a "midlife crisis," which led to forming an organization that
builds confidence and leadership in young women through sailing.
Santamaria, founder and executive director of Sisters Under Sail Corp.,
described the organization and more as the guest speaker for the Fort McCoy
observance of Women's History Month March 5 at McCoy's Community Club.
She said it all began in 1999.
"We hit that midlife-crisis thing, and he told me, 'I've always dreamed of
owning a tall ship,'" Santamaria said. "I didn't even know what a tall ship
was. So I went online and did some homework to try and figure it out and see
what they look like."
Santamaria and her husband soon bought a 110-foot antique schooner they named
the Unicorn.
"My life and my days were busy with raising my children, so I didn't really
have time to think about what my dreams were, or my personal passions were,"
Santamaria said. "But owning this boat really opened up something for me. It
became more of a vehicle of change for me and my four daughters than it ever
did for him."
In 2003, they remodeled the interior of the Unicorn. Santamaria said that
after the renovation, and from seeing her daughters grow in confidence from
being crew members on the ship, the idea of creating a leadership program for
young women began to grow.
"At the time when we bought the ship, we called it the floating dormitory,"
Santamaria said. "It wasn't appealing down below . it was dank, dark, and
moldy. I never spent a night on it until we saved enough money to take it up
to Nova Scotia to have it completely gutted and refinished . to the tune of
about a half-a-million dollars, cash.
"Also, we had to find a way to keep the boat going so it wasn't continuing to
deplete our own money, and, at this point, my daughters started to participate
more in our business," Santamaria said. "They would sail with us as crew
during the summer months. As my oldest two daughters were getting ready to go
to college (after) crewing on our ship for quite a few years, I (saw) how they
had become these very broad-scoped young women who could think outside of the
box. They were very confident - even extremely confident when compared to most
young women of today. I just really attributed that level of confidence to
what we had been doing as a Family (on the ship)."
In 2005, Sisters Under Sail formed as a not-for-profit organization in New
Jersey. By 2007, the Unicorn was staffed with an all-female crew, and the
program fully began to take shape.
"We didn't want to have a co-ed crew," Santamaria said. "If we were going to
build a power program for girls, we knew we would need a crew of all women.
"I also felt we needed to do a leadership development in-house (with the crew)
to help these women . to own their own femininity . and still be able to
become an awesome leader," Santamaria said. "We have (built) a very
collaborative environment on our boat and within our crew in the way that we
run our program. It's not leadership by committee, but there is definitely
sharing of information. The more information that is shared, the more
confidently people can do their job."
Since Sisters Under Sail began, more than 300 women and 500 teenage girls have
participated in numerous voyages on the East Coast and the Great Lakes. Those
who sail with the program are "unplugged" from the world, meaning cellphones
or electronic devices are not allowed. Every day of a weeklong voyage is
organized and scheduled, and each crew member has tasks to do to keep the
voyage on track, Santamaria said.
Also, each task has a relating leadership life lesson to be learned by those
who crew the ship, she said. For example, operating the sails on the ship
requires a team effort. In raising the sails, they are "sisters working
together where powerful success is achieved when women embrace each other's
strengths," Santamaria said.
One Fort McCoy teenager, Elissa Nott, has been on two voyages with Sisters
Under Sail aboard the Unicorn. She shared her experience with the audience.
"Sisters Under Sail was such an amazing experience," Nott said. "When I went,
I had no knowledge of sailing whatsoever. I had no idea what I was getting
myself into. And I didn't know that I would be coming out of it a completely
different person.
"(The experience) has made me a more-confident person who can connect with
other girls much more easily by shaping my social skills. When you are in a
situation like that . you learn to acclimate to the environment you are in. I
can't thank Miss Dawn enough for giving me the opportunity participate in
Sisters Under Sail."
Santamaria said she sees many positive results from program, but the best is
seeing the confidence of young women grow exponentially.
"We teach them that this experience is like shaking up a soda bottle - it
bubbles all over," Santamaria said. "We want them to feel effervescent on the
ship. We want all that goodness and all that stuff that makes them who they
are to come right to the top. We tell them that it's a safe environment where
you can toot your own horn. Nobody is going to be conceited and say anything.
It's really about trying to get these kids to own who they are."
In many ways, the Sisters Under Sail program has made history, Santamaria
said. Before the program began, few women were dedicated to the sailing
industry, particularly with tall ships. "It was a male-dominated industry,"
she said.
Now, sailing conferences and events have a nearly equal number of men and
women participating, and there are more women who own ships than ever before.
"I know that our program has raised the level of awareness of women in the
industry," Santamaria said.
Many program participants have gone on to new opportunities in their lives,
including attending maritime academies as well as becoming social workers,
educators, and U.S. Navy Sailors, Santamaria said.
For more information about the Sisters Under Sail program, call 908-713-1808
or go online to www.sistersundersail.org. For more information about
observances in the Fort McCoy community, call the Equal Opportunity adviser at
608-388-3246.
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