Network at workshops

Even when you gather hundreds of people in a room to learn about the same topic, groups of friends will stick together.

It’s natural.

So when Scotti Fields said she attended one of Southern California Yachting Assn.’s Women’s Sailing Conventions a few years ago and saw her seat assigned among a table of strangers, she saw an opportunity.

It was an opportunity to meet new people, learn about fellow women from across the county interested in sailing, and in Fields’ case, schedule her first sailing trip in unfamiliar waters.

Thanks to the convention, now celebrating its 20th year Saturday at the Bahia Corinthian Yacht Club in Newport Beach, Fields befriended a group of female sailors from San Francisco who took her out in the bay when she was up in the area a few weeks later.

“That was a really awesome experience,” Fields said.

“That’s one of the beautiful things about this convention. You meet other women who have the same love and interests as you do.”

From morning to night Saturday organizers said more than 150 women, from those who’ve never been on a boat to those who can virtually build one on their own, have dozens of opportunities to work on their sea legs.

“It’s really an empowering event,” said convention organizer Gail Hine.

Starting at 8:30 a.m. with registration, women have up to four workshops to attend throughout the day, ranging in topics from basic racing rules, navigation and safety, to spinnaker rigging and offshore cruising.

No matter how experienced you are, the dozens of trainers, many of them United States Coast Guard captain certified, have a trick up their sleeve to teach you.

“I would say that from starting out as a beginning sailor with these conventions and as I’ve worked my way through, there are workshops for everyone, from cruisers to racers,” Fields said.

This will be her 12th convention attended after missing the last two.

What do you do when there’s only two of you out at sea and your partner becomes incapacitated? There’s a workshop to tell you what to do.

What about when someone goes overboard? What does each person on the crew need to do to turn the boat around and recover the person? There’s a workshop for that, too.

And unlike some of those boring conventions where everyone sits in a hall staring at PowerPoint presentations, women have the opportunity to get on a vessel and practice what they learn.

“It’s all practical stuff that you actually use out there on the boat,” Fields said.

IF YOU GO

WHAT: 20th annual SCYA Women’s Sailing Convention

WHERE: Bahia Corinthian Yacht Club, 1601 Bayside Drive, Newport Beach

WHEN: Registration begins at 8:30 a.m. The convention concludes at 8:30 p.m.

COST: $170 tickets at the door.

MORE INFO: www.scya.org or call Gail Hine at (951) 677-8121.

JOSEPH SERNA may be reached at (714) 966-4619 or at joseph.serna@latimes.com.