Two groups of sailors on opposite coasts of the United States experimented with COVID-19 sailboat racing over the Mother's Day weekend. We got together with several of our Richmond Riviera friends to try out safe social distancing in El Toros, and held what may be the first sailboat race of the Coronavirus Era.
No club, marina or organization sponsored the unorganized UnRegatta.
The UnRegatta
What is the world of sports going to look like as we reopen the US economy? Will there be Major League Baseball, perhaps played without audiences in Arizona? And what will sailboat racing look like? As each day brings new announcements of major regattas being cancelled or postponed, sailors worldwide are asking ourselves these questions. There's even an organization in England called Restart Sailing with its own Facebook group.
We've been following this online discussion from the San Francisco Bay Area, where our local governmental response to the Coronavirus is being rightly held up as a model. Our own county, Contra Costa, has 1.154 million people, but has tracked only about 1,100 cases and mercifully only 33 deaths. So we support our science-based approach because it works, and that means following guidelines in the areawide Health Order, as they evolve. It also means a science-based method of reopening racing.
What is the world of sports going to look like as we reopen the US economy? Will there be Major League Baseball, perhaps played without audiences in Arizona? And what will sailboat racing look like? As each day brings new announcements of major regattas being cancelled or postponed, sailors worldwide are asking ourselves these questions. There's even an organization in England called Restart Sailing with its own Facebook group.
We've been following this online discussion from the San Francisco Bay Area, where our local governmental response to the Coronavirus is being rightly held up as a model. Our own county, Contra Costa, has 1.154 million people, but has tracked only about 1,100 cases and mercifully only 33 deaths. So we support our science-based approach because it works, and that means following guidelines in the areawide Health Order, as they evolve. It also means a science-based method of reopening racing.
Chris and his son Evan sailing into Brickyard Cove
Saturday, May 9th would have been the date for the annual Flight of the Bulls in Foster City. Instead a couple of fathers and sons launched their El Toros, strictly following the rules allowing contact only between members of the same household. Chris and Evan maintained separation from Mike and Matt. It was straight from car to water and back, individual launching only with no organized activity taking place onshore.
Meanwhile, our friend Vickie was leaning on the railing of her Brickyard Cove home, pondering the El Toro sitting on her dock, and the "somewhat sporty" conditions that were developing on the water. We in turn raised the sail on Henry, our Moore El Toro rafted up to Shaman, our BYC Marina Cal 40. A quick dash out into the Potrero Reach Channel revealed full-hiking conditions for this 190-pound sailor, and too much pressure for our lightweight juniors.
The five of us sailed over to Vickie's cove where we chatted her up as she listened to our flogging Dacron and decided to stay ashore. So we zoomed around the marina for a half hour, exploring its various fingers in the typically squirrelly wind before I hailed out, "Wanna have a race?"
Meanwhile, our friend Vickie was leaning on the railing of her Brickyard Cove home, pondering the El Toro sitting on her dock, and the "somewhat sporty" conditions that were developing on the water. We in turn raised the sail on Henry, our Moore El Toro rafted up to Shaman, our BYC Marina Cal 40. A quick dash out into the Potrero Reach Channel revealed full-hiking conditions for this 190-pound sailor, and too much pressure for our lightweight juniors.
The five of us sailed over to Vickie's cove where we chatted her up as she listened to our flogging Dacron and decided to stay ashore. So we zoomed around the marina for a half hour, exploring its various fingers in the typically squirrelly wind before I hailed out, "Wanna have a race?"
Tom and Chris battle for supremacy in the UnRegatta Coronavirus Match Race.
Worst Rabbit Start Ever
Mike volunteered to be the "rabbit" and we valiantly attempted a rabbit start in wind that shifted every five seconds. After our fourth try, we were off with perhaps the most ragged rabbit start in history. A windward/leeward course involved rounding the red mark at the BYC Marina entrance, then returning and rounding the Five Mile Per Hour buoy. We were in the lead until we got too close to Steve Chamberlain's house and sailed into a hole, letting Chris by. So the official result was Chris first, Tom second and Mike, Matt and Evan DNF. It was barely a race, but it was enough.
A Pickup Game
We were not the only ones taking tiny steps to restart sailboat racing. Even in the New York region, brutally in the COVID-19 crosshairs, our friend Adam Loory organized a doublehanded "Pickup Game", a safe social distancing keelboat race. "We raced today," reported Adam on Mother's Day, "because Saturday it blew 30-40 with the temps in the 30s. We even had some snow showers. After 19.5 miles of racing, the last boat to start won by less than 30 seconds. Second and third finished nearly tied. Today’s race was sailed on a perfect windward leeward with eight boats in 16 to 26 knots of wind."
"With all organized races cancelled for several months, this race was not run by any yacht club or sailing association. There was no entry fee, no committee boat, no trophies and no party. The idea of the race was to have a chance to get out on the water and have some competitive fun in a virus-safe environment."