In 2003, I asked a wonderful man/woman couple here in Port Townsend to teach a course for Sail Away Seminars. He said he didn't think it would work. While I found him to be a wonderful teacher. 1. Good communicator 2. Creative in teaching 3. Very knowledgeable and prudent sailor.  He felt unsuccessful when teaching his wife, and thought it was due in part to the male/female dynamic.  He was sure that if they taught together, his presence would be distracting and make the overall experience less sucessful for all the women. It was disappointing to me and yet, I knew his assessment of himself was accurate because I trusted him.  On Tethys, with an all-woman crew all the way around the world, we knew that the learning environment onboard brought great results.  Skills weren't always mastered, but confidence, courage, creativity and women's intuition were all a rich part of every day.  We talked about everything.  Not just how to do something, but why?  If a woman didn't get it, we'd try teaching another way, or Nancy and I would trade off.  We both had very different natural approaches to problem-solving, so we nurtured that difference and respected each other's style. Often, it was a combination of freedom from their "on land" roles - mom, wife, executive, super woman - plus the extremely unusual scene of being completely with other women while making decisions in somewhat scary situations (just being 1000 miles from land would be enough, it didn't take dragging anchor, or a ripped sail or pirates) that brought the profound lessons.  As much as I've learned from men, I'd have to admit that the bulk of my competence onboard resulted from sailing with other women.  It's made me a better sailor and a better leader on land.  Sailing with other women wasn't and still isn't an attempt to be exclusive or competitive, for me.  My goal with Sail Away seminars is to provide the most productive learning environment, from the best instructors I can find, to have the greatest chance of facilitating other women's positive experiences.