Yacht clubs nationwide are experiencing a surge in the number of women becoming commodores, and women at the helm say the trend is in great part a result of long-overdue structural changes in the ways yacht clubs have traditionally functioned.
“I can’t tell you how many men have come up to me and said, ‘It’s about time,’” says Lisa Curcio Gaston, who is serving as the first woman commodore of the Chicago Yacht Club in its 148-year history. “I think it goes to the fact that the culture of our club has changed a lot, in a good way.”
What’s happening. In 2017, when Lynn Wingard was named the Seattle Yacht Club’s first female commodore, she broke a 125-year streak of men at the top.
