Crewed racing this summer?

[Ingwe]

It looks as though day sailing should be allowed in the near future and I can't see why you couldn't hold single handed / possibly double handed racing in some forms at some point this summer.

But does anyone see a scenario where normal crewed racing will be allowed / possible whilst social distancing of some form is in place?

 

[flaming]

It looks as though day sailing should be allowed in the near future and I can't see why you couldn't hold single handed / possibly double handed racing in some forms at some point this summer.

But does anyone see a scenario where normal crewed racing will be allowed / possible whilst social distancing of some form is in place?

Oh god I really hope so...

My current expectation/hope is that the first event that we'll do this year will probably be Cowes week, but that the shoreside part of Cowes will be basically non-existent and boats will mostly sail from their home berths around the Solent, rather than gathering in Cowes.
If the government go down some sort of "bubble" as has been discussed this should be possible, and Cowes is now 3 months away....
If that does happen, then I see September being extremely busy with re-arranged events.

 

[Ingwe]

I can see how using the social bubble idea could be applied on smaller boats and could certainly work for me as currently we only sail three up - one of whom is my wife so we aren't going to increase our social bubble much. But on any boat from 30ft onwards you are going to have a minimum of six crew and it probably won't normally be the same six each week so I am not sure how you can use the social bubble idea, unless everyone in your social bubble is from sailing and you aren't going to see any other family or other friends at all.

As a minimum I suspect that we will need to make sure that all crew wash / sterilise hands before getting onto the boat and then possibly wear full fingered gloves and face masks whilst on board.

The main issue I see though is that from a government stand point I imagine that we will be lumped together with all the other amateur team sports (professional sport is separate because for example the big football clubs could effectively afford to quarantine all of their players). So I don't think that there will be any pressure brought on the government to lift restrictions on team sports until the end of August / beginning of September as that's the start of most winter sports seasons and there will still be strong pressure to keep a ban even then because for example a rugby scrum has to be about the highest risk activity you can think of and are the government really going to want to list individual sports that you can and can't do because it just ends up being a complete minefield for them.

 

[flaming]

I can see how using the social bubble idea could be applied on smaller boats and could certainly work for me as currently we only sail three up - one of whom is my wife so we aren't going to increase our social bubble much. But on any boat from 30ft onwards you are going to have a minimum of six crew and it probably won't normally be the same six each week so I am not sure how you can use the social bubble idea, unless everyone in your social bubble is from sailing and you aren't going to see any other family or other friends at all.

As a minimum I suspect that we will need to make sure that all crew wash / sterilise hands before getting onto the boat and then possibly wear full fingered gloves and face masks whilst on board.

The main issue I see though is that from a government stand point I imagine that we will be lumped together with all the other amateur team sports (professional sport is separate because for example the big football clubs could effectively afford to quarantine all of their players). So I don't think that there will be any pressure brought on the government to lift restrictions on team sports until the end of August / beginning of September as that's the start of most winter sports seasons and there will still be strong pressure to keep a ban even then because for example a rugby scrum has to be about the highest risk activity you can think of and are the government really going to want to list individual sports that you can and can't do because it just ends up being a complete minefield for them.

I think that all depends on what happens to the case numbers. Hoping we'll be able to sail in August, more optimistic about next season...

 

[olly_love]

We were going to enter Cowes but really cant see it happening now,
its not so much the Racing but more the organisation, insurance etc, its such a behemoth of an event now that it relys on the shoreside to make enough cash to even run, they have 10s of staff.

A group of us from the Southern are planning a southcoast cruise instead

 

[flaming]

We were going to enter Cowes but really cant see it happening now,
its not so much the Racing but more the organisation, insurance etc, its such a behemoth of an event now that it relys on the shoreside to make enough cash to even run, they have 10s of staff.

A group of us from the Southern are planning a southcoast cruise instead

There was an interview with Lawrence where he said they'd run racing even if they had no shore side... Currently I'm hoping to sail but expecting it to be from Hamble.

We also have Dartmouth in the calendar for this year, so frustrating, but not the worst that's happening at the moment.

 

[st599]

Our club, (which owns two boats and the membership sign up online for trips), has been told there'll be a RTC guidance note from the RYA which will explain crewed sailing for training centres. That should give an idea of what needs to be done to fulfil any new rules. Our planning is we may have to make do with no overnights on board, we may have the 2m social distancing rule for quite some time, so boats may have to run with smaller crews and efforts be made to keep them as far apart as possible and some enhanced cleaning.

 

[lw395]

Personally I doubt the value in rushing to have racing if the quality isn't going to be there.
Small fleet.
Crews not able to handle their boats properly due to restricted personnel trying to obey arbitrary distance rules during gybes etc.
Race management challenged with not enough people on the line
It's likely to be a farce if we rush into it.
It will be better at the 'club passage race' level.
Singlehanded long distance racing might be Ok so long as people don't need rescuing.

 

[flaming]

Personally I doubt the value in rushing to have racing if the quality isn't going to be there.
Small fleet.
Crews not able to handle their boats properly due to restricted personnel trying to obey arbitrary distance rules during gybes etc.
Race management challenged with not enough people on the line
It's likely to be a farce if we rush into it.
It will be better at the 'club passage race' level.
Singlehanded long distance racing might be Ok so long as people don't need rescuing.

I do agree, but would counter that with the fact that if we can safely race with full crews at the back end of the season, then the pent up demand could see some large entries for those events.

That's the light at the end of the tunnel that I'm clinging to anyway...

 

[st599]

I'm just hoping for some sailing, otherwise the club will have no income this year but fixed outgoings.

 

[Mudisox]

There was an interview with Lawrence where he said they'd run racing even if they had no shore side... Currently I'm hoping to sail but expecting it to be from Hamble.

We also have Dartmouth in the calendar for this year, so frustrating, but not the worst that's happening at the moment.

I hope so- the organisation can continue and hopefully we can get more information nearer the dates, after all it can be cancelled at fairly short notice. I know Dartmouth has deliberately kept funds back from previous years, to ensure that it can take a big hit. Local clubs however need the social side to provide some income.

 

[flaming]

I hope so- the organisation can continue and hopefully we can get more information nearer the dates, after all it can be cancelled at fairly short notice. I know Dartmouth has deliberately kept funds back from previous years, to ensure that it can take a big hit. Local clubs however need the social side to provide some income.

My concern about Dartmouth is needing to cancel the house I've rented... A last minute cancellation of the regatta is going to leave me pretty severely out of pocket. Balance is due in June, so that's likely to be decision time for us.

 

[savageseadog]

Would face masks be a practical proposition? In the case of my crew, gags would be more useful.

 

[Ingwe]

Would face masks be a practical proposition? In the case of my crew, gags would be more useful.

Face coverings may well be part of the solution, but you need something that you can actually sail in - I ordered two ultra lightweight buffs (the type designed for hot weather not the thermal ones) a couple of weeks ago.

 

[DoubleEnder]

Face coverings may well be part of the solution, but you need something that you can actually sail in - I ordered two ultra lightweight buffs (the type designed for hot weather not the thermal ones) a couple of weeks ago.

May I ask where you ordered them?

 

[Ingwe]

May I ask where you ordered them?

I ordered them directly from the Buff.com website - although their stocks are now very low as other people are obviously having the same idea, if you google "buff coolnet" you will still find a few options there and on other sites.

 

[JALDI]

My concern about Dartmouth is needing to cancel the house I've rented... A last minute cancellation of the regatta is going to leave me pretty severely out of pocket. Balance is due in June, so that's likely to be decision time for us.

Just heard on the local radio here in South Devon that, sadly, Dartmouth Regatta has now been cancelled due to Corvid19.

 

[flaming]

Just heard on the local radio here in South Devon that, sadly, Dartmouth Regatta has now been cancelled due to Corvid19.

You sure about that? The food festival has been cancelled but nothing on either the Dartmouth week sailing, or Royal Dart Regatta (rowing etc) websites...?

 

[JALDI]

Here’s a link to the press release.

News

 

[flaming]

Here’s a link to the press release.

News

Thanks. Sad, sad times.