I think that Peter has made a generalization about woman aboard cruising boats; I don't agree with his 75% just tolerate it and 25 % end in divorces. Among our friends there are certainly some of the wives who fit into the category of just tolerating boating, but at least half of them love the sea and true passage making as much as their husbands. (Remember this is passage making under power--which is much different than the inland passage to Alaska.) For example our group of ladies meets monthly and discusses issues for an afternoon. This month the topic is SSB radios, Ham Radio and the various E-mail options for long distance cruisers (I suspect the subject of taming husbands comes up). Several of these ladies have their 100 ton license and are professionally employed as mariners. Several are not married and own their own passage making vessel. We have known couples where the female was the boater, and the husband was along for the ride. I have observed that there is a certain amount of (to be discrete) separation between power boaters and sail boaters; big boaters and little boaters. On one of our long cruises we had a 62 foot boat--and often we had to really go out of the way to meet people on smaller boats, because they were intimidated by the size of the boat.. It is entirely possible if you polled the wives on 45 foot to 65 foot power boats in Alaska, you might find an entirely different response than if you polled a group of ladies on 30 to 50 foot sailboats in the Marquesas. For example the summer of 2009, I spent 6 weeks cruising Alaska in a 25 foot outboard powered C Dory. I noted that for the most part that those on Nordhavn 50 and 55's pretty much stuck to socializing with other boats of the same size and type. Seven Seas Cruising Association (which now claims to be power boat friendly--I was a Commodore member for many years, and left when I went to power boats because of the bias against trawlers at that time).--has regular several sessions at their annual meeting for women only. Several of the SSCA discussion boards have sections which are of interest to women. "Boatered" (a forum) has a forum "For Women". Boat US has a regular internet forum for women. There is an organization: Women aboard: http://www.waboard.com/Content.aspx?page=HomePage. As mentioned there are courses specifically for women to learn about boating. So there are already places for ladies to socialize, vent and learn from other cruiser types. I am sure that women are very welcome here as in any of the other forums which Georgs hosts. If a wife has never made a passage, then she does not know what is involved. (By a passage, I mean at least 1000 miles without stopping--and preferably 2000 miles). The hardest adjustments for most crew members are the first few days. We took several of our friends wives for their first passages on our boats, and they finished with a passion for the passage making and went on to do extensive cruising. There was one lady which we though would not make it--because she was "bored" (even with 200 books, CD's radio etc aboard)--but I was wrong--she turned out to be a great passage making wife. After your body adjusts to the watch keeping schedule, many cruisers find it to be a very pleasant time and some would rather not stop. I am very lucky that my wife has shown great enthusiasm as we sold our homes and most all of our possessions twice to spend 4 years cruising at a time. However, it may take some time, work and love to get to that place--and some women are just not interested or suited--same as some men are not cut out to be boaters! In our case, Marie had done a lot of fishing and small boating. We worked together building a boat--where she undertook certain projects. Later we restored several boats--again she had certain projects which she completed by herself. We started with short trips--and rough weather, where there was some respite. She shared maintenance, navigation and engine room work. She helped plan the cruises, as well as stocking, stowage and tracking of provisions. As confidence grew--so did her desire for longer passages. What worked for us--might not work for others--but it is a start--and gives the lady involvement and a stake in the boat. Bob Austin