cover story

To the casual observer, the Lowcountry's maritime community may seem like a man's world.

Mention boats and fishing and waterfront business, and many folks conjure up visions of rough-and-tumble guys hacking out a living against the raging sea.

But that's only part of the story. Delve a little deeper, and you'll quickly discover that women are just as involved in the Lowcountry's coastal way of life as their male counterparts.

These women of the water are cornerstones of the local maritime industry. They carve it up in the surf, race sleek sailboats across the harbor and hunt dolphin and billfish in cobalt-blue, offshore waters. They are boat captains, entrepreneurs and public officials. And they do it all with every bit of gusto as the guys.

To help tell their story, Tideline has interviewed a few of the area's many prominent female maritime figures. If you know of others, we'd like to hear their story, too. Please join the discussion and post pictures and video at tidelinemagazine.com .

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Jessica Koenig

Jessica Koenig has a sweet moneymaking philosophy.

"I like to have fun and get paid while doing it," she quips.

That's easier said than done. Yet the bubbly brunette has always found a way to make a profit from her passion for sailing. She spent her college summers

teaching others to maneuver a sailboat in exotic locales (think Annapolis, Md., California - she even had a stint here in Charleston). Now, she earns her keep as the director of Charleston Community Sailing (CCS).

It's not all fun and games. Working with CCS keeps her busy.

"It's full time, plus more time," she says.

Yet Koenig truly enjoys the work. She often can be found organizing nine different high school's sailing teams, along with a Special Olympic Sailing Team, and teaching local kids how to sail.

Koenig can't spend her entire day on the water. She also spends time behind a desk, handling the organization's marketing and public relations and maintaining its Web site.

Still, she wouldn't have it any other way.

"Each day, I get to share a sport that has taken me all over the country," she says.

More importantly, Koenig loves working with kids.

"Sailing programs stabilize youth and help them realize their hidden talents," she says. "That confidence translates to everything else they'll do in life.

- Bridget Herman

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Eren Bracewell

Eren Bracewell learned to bottom-fish with her dad when she was a little girl growing up in Georgetown. She hated it - an odd fact considering Bracewell's been named South Carolina's top lady angler for the past two years and is also North Carolina's reigning top lady angler.

"I wasn't really into fishing," says Bracewell, who manages a doctor's office in Summerville. "Then my husband and I bought a boat and decided to try trolling.

As soon as the lines started zinging off, I thought, 'This is way more interesting!' "

Bracewell and her husband Jack live in Summerville and fish the competitive king mackerel tournament trail. Their team, dubbed "Eren's Addiction Too," won fifth overall and was the second-biggest money winner at last year's Fishing for Miracles tournament. She also won top lady angler in the local charity tournament, as well as in five other tournaments in 2008.

The duo have it down to a science. Once they get to their spot, she's at the helm, maneuvering the boat and keeping track of bait fish on the sonar. When a fish hits, she grabs the rod with one hand and steers the boat with the other, keeping the line tight and the boat straight while her husband clears the other lines. Then he grabs the wheel, she fights the fish to the boat and he gaffs it.

"There's nothing more rewarding than fishing, just me and my husband," she says.

- Abi Nicholas

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Jenny Brown and Moira John

Moira John began riding waves when she was just a babe. The Argentina native's father was a professional surfer, and he was eager to introduce her to the board at an early age.

"When I was 5, I would stand on the back of a longboard," she recalls. "We'd catch a wave, and he'd tell me to stand up. He would hold my hands and we'd ride the waves together."

Now that she's grown, John, 34, feels compelled to teach other youngsters to surf. In tandem with her best friend Jenny Brown, 36, John owns and operates the Folly Beach Shaka Surf School. Brown (shown below) started surfing at the tender age of 16. Between the two of them, the "wahines" have almost five decades of surfing experience.

Each summer, the Shaka School hosts a popular surfing camp for kids. According to Brown, younger students usually pick up the sport quickly.

"On Monday, when they come in, they're all shy and scared," she says. "By Friday, they're different people. So proud of themselves."

The teachers eagerly match the enthusiasm of their pupils. "By the end of the week, we can barely talk because we've been screaming with them," says Brown.

- Bridget Herman

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Elea Faucheron

Elea Faucheron's nickname is "Air Chica," no doubt because she can fly. Well, sort of.

Faucheron is one of the pioneering female kiteboarders in the Lowcountry.

She's also the chief operations officer for the kiteboarding shop Air and its sister store Earth in Mount Pleasant. Faucheron oversees employees and vendor operations and tries to make the shop a "fun, friendly, positive environment with a wide variety of gear and cool stuff to buy."

She also started an all-girls kiteboarding club.

"I love being able to watch more and more women reach the same goal I had and get out there on the water," she says.

Faucheron, 32, didn't learn to kiteboard until she was about 27, but once she tried her hand at the fastest-growing extreme sport in the world, she was hooked.

"I've been kiting in Cozumel, Baja, The Dominican Republic and Hatteras," she says. But Charleston is her favorite place to ride the wind.

"We have huge, beautiful beaches, free of trash, rocks, coral and debris," she explains. "The winds are steady and friendly, and the waters have soft sand and even the occasional dolphin onlooker."

What Faucheron loves most about kiting is that while you're doing it, it's impossible to think about anything else - "It's like a form of meditation," she says.

Faucheron remembers the first time she got on the board, after about two months of trying unsuccessfully.

"I was so proud of myself," she says. "It didn't come naturally to me, so I had to work really hard at it. But I did it."

- Abi Nicholas

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Caroline Rhodes

Caroline Rhodes is the only woman on the S.C. Natural Resources board - you know, the policy making body for the Department of Natural Resources.

"The governor called and asked me to serve on the board, so I did a little research. It's a lot more than they tell you," she jokes. "But I really enjoy it and have learned so much."The Columbia native also is co-owner of The Charleston Angler with her husband, Malcolm M. Rhodes, a pediatrician and avid fly fisherman.

On top of that, Rhodes is a committee member for the Sea Island Chapter of the Coastal Conservation Association and a founding member of The Charleston Angler Women's Fly Fishing Club. She also recently joined the Cystic Fibrosis board "to get more involved with the Celebrity Red Trout Tournament, to help it grow and, of course, to raise money for cystic fibrosis," she says.

Oh, and she's a mom, too.

But amid all her jobs and duties, Rhodes still finds time to fish. When she and her husband bought The Charleston Angler, then just "Charleston Angler," in 2000, she wasn't very enthusiastic about regular ole' fishing with conventional tackle.

"But I loved the art of fly fishing," she says. "I was just fascinated with it.

": I don't fish quite as much as I'd like to in Charleston," she admits, "but when it's time to go on vacation and get out of town, we're usually off fly fishing."

- Abi Nicholas

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Megan Westmeyer

Megan Westmeyer's favorite seafood is triggerfish. No doubt because it tastes good, but also because it's sustainable - quick to reproduce and common near reefs and other structures.

Westmeyer is the Sustainable Seafood Initiative coordinator at the South Carolina Aquarium. She's charged with teaching chefs about sustainable seafood, specifically about how some fisheries are managed better than others and why chefs should choose to include certain fish on their menus over others.

Chefs are very influential in determining seafood trends, she says, so it's important they understand how their business affects marine ecosystems.

Westmeyer graduated from the University of South Carolina with a degree in marine science, always knowing she wanted to combine scientific research of fisheries with conservation.

"The (Sustainable Seafood Initiative) was a perfect fit," she says.

Since Westmeyer joined the program in 2004, sustainability has become more mainstream and the initiative has grown immensely.

"We now have about 60 to 65 partners in Charleston," she says.

"We'd like to expand more geographically, but anymore there's not a lot of recruiting involved; restaurants are coming to us now."

- Abi Nicholas

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Susan Kaminsky

You'd think someone with an angling resume as attractive as Susan Kaminsky's would have started fishing in diapers.

Not so.

Kaminsky, 42, didn't pick up a rod and reel until after she graduated from the University of South Carolina.

She grew up in Northern Kentucky, close to the Ohio River. "Nothing too great," she says.

But like a smoker king drawn to a live menhaden, Kaminsky found herself headed to the coast before too long.

"When we lived in Hilton Head, my husband and our friend Kevin would let me go fishing with them, and I loved it," she recalls. "I didn't get seasick, and I just wanted to be as far away from land as possible."

Now living on James Island, she fishes the pro kingfish circuit with her team "Loose Lucy," captained by her husband, Mike, and named for the seven vintage clothing stores she owns throughout the Southeast.

In November, "Loose Lucy" won the Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Tour, the most lucrative kingfish tournament trail in the world. Kaminsky, shown above with the winning fish, says it was one of the most gratifying moments in her life.

Another standout achievement came in 2004 when she won top lady angler in the country.

"It was super exciting," she says.

But no prize catch or lady angler award can compete with what she's most proud of: "It's a tie between my business, which has been successful and challenging, and a 19-year marriage."

- Abi Nicholas

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Shannon Seabrook

Shannon Seabrook is a true team player.

She's won numerous lady angler awards, fishes on prize-winning boats such as Hot Shot and Summer Girl, and almost everyone we asked about who should be a "Woman of the Water" put this avid offshore angler at the top of their list. But Seabrook is quick to note that she didn't accomplish that alone.

"To me it's more of a group thing, for the boat," she says. "We have a great team and have a good time with it."

Seabrook, 39, is a Charleston native who earned a business degree from the College of Charleston and now works as a loan officer with the National Bank of South Carolina. She's also the treasurer for the South Carolina Saltwater Sportfishing Association.

In her spare time, though - when she's not chasing billfish and dolphin - she serves on the board of the Fifty-Fifty tournament, as well as the board to raise money for the South Carolina Memorial Deepwater Reef.

"Fishing for me has been a lifelong thing," she says. "I grew up on the water, inshore and offshore fishing, and I just enjoy it."

- Abi Nicholas

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Meaghan Van Liew

Meaghan Van Liew grew up lifeguarding on Lake Michigan. She also dabbled in sailing.

"But I wasn't very good at it," she says.

Her husband, Brad Van Liew, on the other hand, chose a career in professional sailboat racing, which is what brought them to Charleston.

While Brad competed in the BOC yacht race in 1998, Van Liew stayed at Folly Beach for a few months on both ends of the race. "I really fell in love with it," the 38-year-old mother of two says.

And in 2001, the couple made Charleston their home.

Now, Van Liew and her husband both work for the South Carolina Maritime Foundation as deputy director and executive director, respectively.

As deputy director,Van Liew manages all of the foundation's various events, as well as marketing and public relations for the Spirit of South Carolina tall ship (shown above) and its educational programs.

In other words, without her efforts, there would be no biennial Charleston to Bermuda Yacht Race, no Charleston Race Week and no Charleston Harbor Fest.

Since 2004, when the couple was brought in as consultants for the Maritime Foundation, the organization has grown from two employees to 22, Van Liew says, and revenue has increased from $300,000 to about $1.2 million.

"The foundation has grown tremendously," she says. "And it just kind of absorbed me and my husband."

- Abi Nicholas

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Nancy Hussey

If she's not already there, Nancy Hussey is wishing she could be on the shore of Folly Beach, wriggling her toes in the sand and snapping photographs of local surfers.

"Rain or shine, small waves or big swell, that's where I like to be," she says.

Hussey's passion for surfing photography began as a hobby, but it has blossomed into a way of life, leading her to a rich involvement with the Folly Beach surfing community.

About 10 years ago, she co-founded the Web site follywaves.com. Hussey and other local surfing aficionados update the site regularly with photos and descriptions of weather conditions, allowing their visitors to know exactly what to expect before they hit the water. Whether waves are knee-high and semi-glossy or bona fide swells, Hussey's there to report.

As if that wasn't enough to keep her busy, the blonde photographer also serves as co-director of the local chapter of the Eastern Surfing Association (ESA). She's responsible for organizing tons of ESA events and contests, like the annual Wahine Classic and the South Carolina Governor's Cup of Surfing.

It's no surprise that Hussey was recently named as the 2008 Folly Beach Citizen of the Year.

Next time you're at the beach, smile and wave if you see her wading in the surf and snapping her camera- and know that she's exactly where she wants to be.

- Bridget Herman

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Deidre Menefee

The first fishing tournament Deidre Menefee ever organized was for Charleston Harbor Resort and Marina in 1998. It ended up being the state's largest billfish tournament to date, she says.

That's quite an accomplishment for a newbie, especially one who was nine months pregnant at the time.

In 1997, Menefee moved to James Island from Atlanta - trade show capital of the world - where she was a director of buyer relations and market services for, you guessed it, trade shows.

"On a whim, Richard Coen, who was developing Charleston Harbor Resort and Marina, hired me the same day I interviewed," she recalls. Before she knew it, she was organizing the billfish tournament : and stressing about it.

"Then it just kind of hit me," she says. "This is an event, just like all the other events I did in Atlanta."

In 2001, Menefee and three other people formed Tournament Management Group and bought the rights to the tournament. Charleston Harbor Resort and Marina remains the host site and the namesake.

Menefee, 43, also manages tournaments for Bohicket Marina.

You might think a woman like Menefee would eat, sleep and breathe fishing. But she doesn't.

"I don't fish," says Menefee, whose day job is in yacht financing. "I have, but I'm not an angler. I can talk some of the rules of the game, and I know how to run a tournament, but as far as knowing what I'm doing out there, I'm not the best. I just put it together for all those guys."

- Abi Nicholas

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Hope Hanckel Bentley

When Hope Bentley heads offshore, it is truly a family affair.

"It's always our family that fishes together," says Bentley, finance manager at the family business, Hanckel Marine. "We have such a great time."

Bentley, 27, started fishing when she was a little girl with her grandfather, Capt. Buck Morris, on his boat.

"I was about 6 when I caught my first dolphin," she remembers, "and ever since then I've been hooked. I still have that fish mounted on my wall."

Bentley and her family make up team "Major Motion."

They try to fish at least three or four of the state's Governor's Cup tournaments and some other club tournaments each year, she says. And she's won quite a few awards doing so, including top lady angler in the 2007 HMY/Viking MegaDock Billfish Tournament and the 2007 Pirates Cove Billfish Tournament.

Bentley, who was born and bred in Charleston, especially loves fishing with her mom, Pam Hanckel, who is one of the Lowcountry's pioneering female offshore anglers.

"We love fishing together," Bentley says. "But you better watch out, because she will throw elbows to get to the rod first."

- Abi Nicholas

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Kelly Thorvalson

One of the best parts of Kelly Thorvalson's job is getting to release rehabilitated sea turtles back into the ocean.

"It's a happy time for me, but it's an emotional time, too," she says. "They do all have different personalities, just like dogs or any animal. And you get to know each one. But I would be sad if they had to stay in captivity. "

Thorvalson (right, at top), 39, is the coordinator for the South Carolina Aquarium's Sea Turtle Rescue Program. She started interning for the aquarium while she was a student at the College of Charleston, and she never left.

In 2006 she was hired for her current position, where she not only oversees the Turtle Hospital, but also works on outreach programs, fundraising and research.

"One thing I'm really proud of is that we've released 32 sea turtles to date," she says. "That's a remarkable number."

It's clear that Thorvalson, who earned a degree in Marine Biology, has a passion for sea turtles and the ocean in general.

When asked if she could do or change one thing to help better protect sea turtles, she said she would have everyone "live like (they) love the ocean."

It's a mantra she adopted from a colleague.

"If you live like you love the ocean," she says, "you cut more plastic out of your life, eat more sustainably and locally, vote for candidates who care about what you care about and support and do work for organizations that are trying to make a difference. By doing that, you're protecting sea turtles and many other ocean creatures."

- Abi Nicholas

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Alice Manard

Alice Manard was raised in the Big Easy, went to college in The Golden State, took a bite out of the Big Apple and ultimately ended up here, in the Holy City.

"I'd been to Charleston maybe a total of three days before my job interview," she says. "When I came down here to interview, I just loved it."

The job she applied for - and landed - was director of sailing at College of Charleston.

Manard (left, at bottom), who was a member of the U.S. Sailing Team from 1998 to 2001 and again from 2005 to 2006, oversees the administration and fundraising for the varsity sailing team and the community sailing team, as well as the college's physical education classes. And of course, she coaches the varsity squad.

"I wasn't really enjoying what I was doing before," Manard recalls. "So I thought if I got back to sailing, I would be doing something I really loved."

Before moving to Charleston, Manard, 34, was working at a global business consulting firm in New York. But like she says, she belongs on the water. Manard started sailing in New Orleans when she was 8. In college, she joined the sailing team at Stanford University, where she was captain for three years.

After graduation, she started her first Olympic campaign.

"The thing I'm most proud about as far as sailing goes is probably finishing second at the Olympic Trials for the 1999 Sydney Olympics," Manard says. "Though it would've been better to win."

- Abi Nicholas

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McKenzie Estes

As director of maritime events with the City Marina Company, McKenzie Estes spends her days planning fun.

For the past five years, she's coordinated the production of special events including the Charleston In-Water Boat Show, the MegaDock Billfishing Tournament and the Sailfish Slam.

"I love to fish," she says. "That's why the tournaments are near and dear to me. I really wanted to get involved with them."

A College of Charleston graduate, Estes, 28, began working on the water in 2001 as an intern at Isle of Palms Marina, where she eventually became dock master.

From there she moved to the City Marina Company, overseeing leasing and operations of both Bristol Marina and City Marina.

Saltwater runs in this Fayetteville, N.C., native's veins. She grew up fishing and boating at Wrightsville Beach and enjoys almost every water sport imaginable.

"It's so pacifying just to be out on the water," she says. "It's nice to be able to get out of the office and walk out on the docks. It's a relaxing place to be."

- Abi Nicholas

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Amy Dukes

"I will never forget the first time I caught a billfish. It's a rush like you've never felt before," Amy Dukes says about the white marlin she caught onboard the "Cookie Monster" in the summer of 2003. "To watch that fish swim away to be caught another day was pure satisfaction."

Dukes has been working for the S.C. Department of Natural Resources for 10 years, but it wasn't until last year that she became the tournament coordinator for the Governor's Cup Billfishing Series.

"What I love about the Billfishing Series is that we are stewards of conservation for billfish, or really fishing in general," she says.

The mother of two graduated from Coastal Carolina University with a degree in marine biology, and she's put her education to good use.

In the years prior to becoming the Billfishing Series coordinator, Dukes performed research for DNR and contributed to the department's ongoing conservation efforts.

The Governor's Cup Billfishing Series, established in 1989 by Governor Carroll A. Campbell Jr., is in its 21st year and is designed to promote the billfishing industry and encourage conservation through tag and release, Dukes explains.

- Abi Nicholas

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Fran Gulski

First and foremost, Fran Gulski is a Pittsburgh Steelers fan. And like most people reared in Steeler Nation, she has a hard time talking about anything else.

Unless, of course, that something else is fishing. In which case, she's got stories for days.

Her favorite one to tell? A few years ago, she, her husband, a co-worker and David Capiello (aka Cappy) were trolling around but not catching a thing , she says, so some friends told them to cross over a weed line, where some sailfish were sighted.

"We crossed over and immediately caught a wahoo. Then, toward the end of the day, we had four lines in, and all four went off. We caught two blue marlin and two sailfish at the same time. And with only four of us on the boat, we got all four of the fish in and released," she recalls. "It was quite an experience, one I will never forget."

Gulski, 54, got hooked on offshore fishing after a few summer visits to Charleston while she was a student at Slippery Rock University in Western Pennsylvania. "I grew up trout fishing," she says, "but this was different. I just loved it, and I got an opportunity to move; so I'm here, and I will never leave."

Gulski, a teacher at Sangaree Middle School, was the first ever female president of the South Carolina Saltwater Sportfishing Association, serving from 2005 to 2006. Now she's secretary of the fishing club.

She usually fishes off "Prowess," a 37-foot Buddy Davis Express owned by Ritt Ritter.

- Abi Nicholas

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Amy Noury

If you've ever fallen prey to a tangled propeller or a dead battery and needed help hauling your boat off the water, chances are you know Amy Noury.

Or at least you know her voice.

She's the one on the other end of the line at Sea Tow Charleston, a company she owns and operates with her husband, Anthony.

"I'm the office manager, dispatch coordinator, marketing department and janitorial service," she jokes. "I wear a lot of hats."

But her main responsibility is dispatching captains. "It's like air traffic control on the water," she says.

When Noury (right, at top), 40, isn't answering desperate phone calls, plotting courses, listening to marine radios or sending out captains to retrieve broken-down boats, she's doing what she can to get herself on the water.

"I love to boat and go to the beach," she says. "And I love to fish, mainly inshore or surf fishing. And so does my 9-year-old daughter."

But on the best days to be on the water, Noury's usually stuck in the office - based out of their Daniel Island home - for obvious reasons.

"Really, the best time for me to fish is in the fall, like October," she says. "That's when the calls are slowest and we can surf fish the most."

- Abi Nicholas

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Sally Robinson

Sally Robinson is determined to master the art of surfing.

Sure, her first attempt to wrangle the board knocked out a few teeth, but she'll be trying again this summer.

"My dentist told me that I'm too old to be doing this at age 47," she says. "But I just need a few lessons and I'll be ready to go."

When she's not trying to ride the waves at Folly Beach, you'll find Robinson (left, at bottom) at Charleston Scuba, the dive shop she co-owns with her husband Tom. It's a dream job for a girl who grew up watching Jacques Cousteau and Flipper religiously.

Her interest for the deep sea only grew stronger as she entered adulthood, and she majored in marine biology at the College of Charleston. Now, Robinson spends her days fitting customers for snorkeling masks or leading charter groups on dives around the Charleston harbor.

She even gets the opportunity to travel, taking students on dive trips twice a year. Yet when she's swimming in the deep waters of the Bahamas or the Florida Keys, Robinson looks around at the brightly colored marine life and longs for the Charleston coast, where the fish stock is healthier and more prevalent. The Holy City is her favorite place to dive and the only place she'd want to live.

"No matter what you like to do, you can try it in Charleston - snorkeling, canoeing, diving, boating, crabbing. It's like living in paradise, except for the mosquitoes," she says with a laugh.

- Bridget Herman

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Carolina Lady Anglers

Word is, the Carolina Lady Anglers put on the biggest club fishing tournament in the Lowcountry every year.

"That's what we hear from all the guys' fishing clubs," says Eve Hiott, spokeswoman for the club. "We get a lot of participation because it's open to men, women and children, and because it's for a really good cause."

The club's Fishing for the Cure inshore tournament has been raising money for breast cancer awareness and research for 11 years. This year's tournament will be held on June 6 at the Maritime Center.

At any given time, the club has anywhere from 10 to 30 active members, says Hiott, whose husband Rick is a local charter captain. (Shown at right are members Amanda Oswald, Alicia Hart, and Kellie Dolloff, who staffed a booth at the Charleston Boat Show in January.)

The Lady Anglers is the only all-female saltwater fishing group that Hiott knows of in the Lowcountry. Its mission is to raise money for education and research of breast cancer but also to foster conservation, fellowship and good sportsmanship, and to promote saltwater fishing and conservation of marine resources.

"In the club you're around other females who fish, and we learn so much from each other," Hiott says. "It's not an intimidating environment at all. And this year we're really trying to focus on getting out and fishing even more together."

- Abi Nicholas