The third annual Women on Water event took place at YWCA Camp Tapawingo in Parry Sound, Ontario from June 10th to 12th, 2016 with women traveling from as far as Michigan to take part in the festivities.
The weekend is co-sponsored by Wild Women Expeditions and Ontario Sea Kayak Centre. The event brings together female stand-up paddleboard (SUP), sea kayak, and flatwater canoe instructors with approximately 70 women from across Ontario and the U.S. who want to learn or improve their skills in those paddlesports.
Friday night featured presentations by Rebecca Pollock of the Georgian Bay Biosphere Reserve and Tara Kinden, butter tarts from the phenomenal kitchen team at Camp Tapawingo, and songs around the campfire, led by the talented Jennifer Holub. After yoga and breakfast women spent the full day Saturday in the discipline of their choice, breaking for lunch and then getting off the water at 3:30. Saturday afternoon and evening featured a marketplace of women entrepreneurs, a silent auction to benefit the Georgian Bay Biosphere (which raised $1,200!), and a lip synch battle and dance party capped off the night. After a sleepless night thanks to hours of high winds, bleary-eyed women pumped themselves full of coffee, attended a yoga session or early morning paddle, and finished up their weekend with two more workshops before saying good-bye to new friends, hugging favorite instructors, and piling gear and memories back into their cars to head home.
The 2017 Women on Water event is sold out with 90 women attending this year and happens June 9-11th. Stay tuned for the 2018 event.
Kate Monahan Outdoors 