ON TREND

Activities just for women are coming on strong by Felicity Stone

From boat cruises to golf lessons, local businesses are ahead of the women-only curve

According to a 2019-20 travel trends survey released in January by New York-headquartered Travel Leaders Group, one of the top niche areas is trips for women only. But B.C. organizations are ahead of the curve. In 2007, White Rock's Village Travel and Cruises launched Ladies on the Go,

a club for women who like to travel but want the safety of a group. Since 2012, both Victoria's Departures Travel

and female-owned Finisterra Travel

in Vancouver have offered tours for women. And activities geared to gals don't stop there.

■ WIND ENERGY

Vancouver Island is the hot spot for women's sailing courses: established in 1987, Nanaimo's Herizen Sailing for Women offers local and global tours, and two outfits have five-day live-aboard instructional cruises: Women's Only Cruise and Learn through Nanaimo Yacht Charters and Sailing School and Cooper Boating's Cruise and Learn out of Sidney and Vancouver.

■ PADDLE PUSHERS

Since 2001, Parksville's Adventuress Sea Kayaking has led two-day kayaking and camping tours, adding

Women in the Wild trips combining kayaking with in-depth training, skills and campcraft five years ago. Terracentric Coastal Adventures in Lund has

Wavewalkers female-only sea kayak lessons, and Women on Water brings female kayakers together in Deep Cove.

■ GOOD SPORTS

If boating's not your thing, there are golf lessons like Predator Ridge's Swing Like a Girl in Vernon or Sweet Skills mountain biking in Whistler and Pemberton, and Tofino's Surf Sister.