Was it the sea?
Responding, maybe, to celestial force?
To be safe, I prayed.
I tried to be a better person.

These words were written by Louise Gluck who won the Nobel Prize for Literature earlier this month.

What a month it has been for women in the Bay Area.

Here are a few October highlights: First, the Bay Area’s Nobel Laureate: U.C. Berkeley biochemist Jennifer Doudna won the 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

Next, without getting political, it is noteworthy that California’s U.S. Senators are Bay Area women, that one is running to be Vice President, and that they questioned the woman nominated to join the Supreme Court.

First Mate (and licensed captain) Rebecca Johnson
Photo credit Lyon Omohundro

Closer to home, Call of the Sea launched its first “Girls Aloft “ program, under the direction of first Mate (and licensed captain) Rebecca Johnson, at the helm in the photo above.

Call of the Sea received a legacy bequest from the estate of Dianne Chute for sail training of girls and young women. Angie Lackey Olson chairs the Chute Scholarship committee with support from Alice Cochran, Natalie Rodriguez Dickens, Knigi Glee, Juliette McCullough, and Sylvia Stompe.

GIRLS Aloft participant.  Photo by Lyon Omohundro

“Oh…yes I had a fantastic time it was one of the best moments in my whole entire life. I learned a lot of things that I didn’t really think I was able to do and everyone was so generous and patient and it was a very cool experience”

Last but not least, Dianne Plumtree, appointed this Summer as CEO of the San Francisco Maritime Park Association, has invited all of us, women and men, to participate in the Parks Virtual Barbary Coast festival on October 29. Please support the Maritime Park. Its dockside programs and historic vessels have been hard hit by the pandemic and fires. We have much in common with the Park and hope that they will recover soon and continue to compliment what Call of the Sea does on the water.

Yes, it is the Sea, responding to many forces, and helping us stay safe.

Steven Woodside, Executive Director, Call of the Sea