Socially distant racing?

Jackdaw · May 13, 2020

Apex said:
Kudos to your club for not only dealing with the actual regulations and policy changes due to governor orders, but ALSO in looking at the perception in order to set good examples. It may prove to be unpopular with some of the members, but perception really is important as part of good stewardship of the sport. No wonder your club is doing so well. Pass on the kudos from Traverse City, MI.

My marina is opening with SD rules in play this Friday. The marina does not have a racing program, and crowds are sparse anyway, so the SD requirements may in reality require little changes. GTYC has been holding virtual racing (VR Inshore app) and happy hours via zoom.

edit PS: How is the new clubhouse coming?

Indeed, and thanks. Due to the very high profile the club has, we always to take the high road in any choices we make. While there is some random grumbling, most boat owners get it, and support the call. And now they can at least use their boats, IF thay can do so with just their household members. The large and very vocal crew members of the club are the ones hurting... they can't get on the water.

Right now you can put your boat in the water and into your slip, but you have to agree to strictly adhere to the SD rules (only household members on the boat), no rafting, etc. The clubhouse is locked, the grounds and patios/grills are closed.

The Mike Plant Boathouse is up and fully operational. But all teaching programs are on hold, waiting for better days.

Jackdaw · May 14, 2020

PaulK said:
Just got a "NOR" for a 33 mile double-handed pursuit race for Saturday of Memorial Day weekend. Pursuit, so no RC boat or congregating needed. Convincing the crew may be the hard part now. If the breeze dies it makes for a very long day.

Well, at least that is only one person!

shemandr · May 14, 2020

What else are you doing? Tell the crew if the winds dies for a hour you'll motor home. Bring the secret weapon for hot days - cold watermelon.

Jackdaw · May 14, 2020

shemandr said:
What else are you doing? Tell the crew if the winds dies for a hour you'll motor home. Bring the secret weapon for hot days - cold watermelon.

Hmm I don't know. He's got a decent light air boat.

I try to distill in my crew the attitude that we NEVER quit. Ever. We might TLE, but we've never quit. Once you develop an attitude that includes quitting its hard to shake it.

JRT · May 15, 2020

Why is SD the only answer when in many other parts of this country in many critical industries, like my job, we still work together but now wear masks all day? My employer is doing temperature checks at the start of the day, issue a 24 hour cleared sticker on our badges and require face masks. I would think temperature checks and facemasks would be good preventative and equal to SD vs further destroying great outdoor options and continuing to force people to hole up inside out of fear.

cb32863 · May 15, 2020

JRT said:
Why is SD the only answer when in many other parts of this country in many critical industries, like my job, we still work together but now wear masks all day? My employer is doing temperature checks at the start of the day, issue a 24 hour cleared sticker on our badges and require face masks. I would think temperature checks and facemasks would be good preventative and equal to SD vs further destroying great outdoor options and continuing to force people to hole up inside out of fear.

Unless, you or a co-worker, are asymptomatic and show no symptoms. I am diabetic, higher risk, so I won't be too worried about SD rules for quite some time. No one is "destroying" anything, just trying to keep people safe.

Jackdaw · May 15, 2020

JRT said:
Why is SD the only answer when in many other parts of this country in many critical industries, like my job, we still work together but now wear masks all day? My employer is doing temperature checks at the start of the day, issue a 24 hour cleared sticker on our badges and require face masks. I would think temperature checks and facemasks would be good preventative and equal to SD vs further destroying great outdoor options and continuing to force people to hole up inside out of fear.

It's a fair question, and there are no straightforward answers. But PE gear like masks etc IMPROVE safety by limiting transmission, but do not in any case prevent it. So every situation is a risk vs reward scenario; is it worth the personal and public risk doing this? For essential workers it clearly is (thanks all!) and they protect as best they can. But it's still relatively high risk, and pushes the curve up. For things less essential (gathering groups, eating in restaurants, going to bars), we can do our part in society by limiting them.

JRT · May 15, 2020

I agree it really is a level of risk acceptance and of course high risk people should take responsibility for avoiding the risk. We have far less active sailing in AL for sure.

danstanford · May 16, 2020

I am not anxious to get Covid19 and take reasonable precautions as a standard practice. I do go to work every day which includes time on job sites and with clients in our showroom so my risk level of getting the virus is much higher than many who are able to self-isolate. Racing would be, for me, only more risky than life with respect to the other people on the boat with me rather than the other boats.
In my view we are doing a pretty lousy job of risk analysis in many ways with this situation. The facts show that getting Covid19 will double your risk of dying which sounds horrifying. However, looked at another way, only half your risk of dying if you are infected is from Covid19. At 20 your risk of dying is about 1 in 10,000 on any day and 2 in 10,000 if you were infected. At 40 it is 1 in 1000 and at 65 it is 1 in 100 that you will die from something and 2 in 100 if you had Covid19. The risk curve goes up from there.
What risk management would teach us is that the resources we are allocating to the young should be lessened and greater resources allocated to the those truly at risk. What has happened, in my view almost entirely from social media, is that we have tended to see the risk of dying from this as much higher than it really is and nowhere near the way we view other risks. If we treated all risks of death this way we would have outlawed smoking and drinking and probably French fries!
Dan

Davidasailor26 · May 16, 2020

Maryland has just moved from a stay at home order to stage 1 of its reopening plans. With that, they now allow boat racing, with 2 restrictions:

No more than 10 people can be on a boat at one time, including captain and crew.
Vessel and boat races are authorized so long as no more than 10 people are in a gathering at one time.

I don’t know yet what our club will do as a result.

Jackdaw · May 18, 2020

Davidasailor26 said:
Maryland has just moved from a stay at home order to stage 1 of its reopening plans. With that, they now allow boat racing, with 2 restrictions:

No more than 10 people can be on a boat at one time, including captain and crew.

Vessel and boat races are authorized so long as no more than 10 people are in a gathering at one time.

I don’t know yet what our club will do as a result.

Interesting. Our state's EO just changed to allow gatherings of 10 or less, AS LONG AS Social Distancing can be done. That rules out sailboat racing, as that's impossible as a practical matter.

I'd be interested to see the exact wording of your EO.

Davidasailor26 · May 18, 2020

Jackdaw said:
Interesting. Our state's EO just changed to allow gatherings of 10 or less, AS LONG AS Social Distancing can be done. That rules out sailboat racing, as that's impossible as a practical matter.

I'd be interested to see the exact wording of your EO.

The EO itself is here - https://governor.maryland.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Gatherings-SIXTH-AMENDED-5.13.20.pdf.

It’s a little hard to interpret. Section II prohibits gatherings exceeding 10 people, with no mention of SD. Section III allows the opening of some facilities and establishments, but only if they comply with SD (III.g.3). The Maryland DNR interpretation is at Update Regarding Maryland’s Opportunities for Outdoor Recreation. They mention maintaining SD for some outdoor activities like beaches, but not boating.

One of our neighboring clubs has announced that they will hold their annual invitational on June 6th as originally scheduled. They won’t have their usual post race party, and will ship awards to the winners. They don’t appear to be implementing any kind of crew limitations or SD requirements.

Individual Maryland counties are free to impose their own more stringent guidelines. From what I’ve read the county where Annapolis is located is staying under the stricter restrictions for a few more weeks, and a lot of Maryland racing is based there, so it’s hard to say what those clubs will do yet.

Davidasailor26 · Jun 7, 2020

Raced in the “First sanctioned regatta on the Chesapeake in the COVID era” yesterday. 31 boats participated, which is as many as I remember this particular race having in a normal year. The SI’s required crews limited to 10 people, consistent with Maryland guidelines, and they “recommended” face coverings. Some participants swapped out their regular crew for just husband / wife combinations or less bodies than usual; some seemed to be fully crewed. I saw some face masks, but they weren’t universal. The post-race party was cancelled. The race committee was modified to enable some social distancing (big boat, just 3 people, no start flags so no need for someone to manage them, no mark boat, etc.)

Winds were light and variable at start time, so starts were postponed about an hour. The time spent during the delay was a microcosm of the lack of certainty over the last few months, not knowing if the race would start and what kind of quality it would be. But eventually a very nice southerly wind did fill in, and we had a really good race. After the race the wind kept up and veered making for a great reach all the way home.