Dawn Santamaria

In recognition of the work we are doing with Sisters Under Sail, I was honored with the 2011 Leadership In Women's Sailing Award on Saturday, June 4 in Marblehead, MA at the National Women’s Sailing Association Conference. The annual award, sponsored by the National Women’s Sailing Association and BoatU.S., honors an individual who has built up a record of achievement in inspiring, educating, and enriching the lives of women and girls through sailing. In 1999, I became co-owner of a 110-foot tall ship, STV Unicorn. As fate would have it, owning the Unicorn has been the vehicle to finding my own dream. It awakened a passion within my heart. It was through my own daughter’s experiences aboard Unicorn that Sisters Under Sail was born as a non-profit, 501(c)(3) corporation in 2005. There was a need in the sail training industry for a single-sexed, leadership program for teenage girls. I wanted to provide a young woman the opportunity to sail a tall ship in a safe and supportive learning environment; where she could push herself to try new things she had never done before. Sailing as the only all-female crewed tall ship in the world, our mission at Sisters Under Sail is to help teen girls and women of all ages build confidence, enhance their self-esteem, develop social conscience and learn the value of sisters working together towards a common goal through sail training. Since inception, Sisters Under Sail has put aboard over 550 teenage girls and 350 women, with 45% of those teenage girls aboard via sponsorship dollars.