04/09/2020
RCR Yachts Racers' News, #753, September 3, 2020
What's New? By Don Finkle: Open Discussion with Luiz Kahl:
Many of you know Luiz as the founder and owner of the Yacht Scoring race and regatta management program. We have repeatedly touted Yacht Scoring as being a terrific service for both organizers and competitors alike. Luiz is a one man band and is always available to those he serves. He is also a tireless volunteer himself, giving up much of his own sailing in order to assist with various RC chores at his home club Bayview Y.C. in Detroit, and elsewhere. An example of what he does for the sport, Luiz has been hosting a regular open Zoom meeting on Mondays at 6PM with any organizers and sailors who wish to share their thoughts on racing in today's pandemic climate. I asked Luiz for some of what he has learned from the many event organizers he has spoken to as well as what he has observed personally. Here are some of his answers to my questions in no particular order:
Clubs are doing their best to keep events together where it is possible and legally permitted to do so. People want to sail, that is apparent. Most people seem to be abiding by the rules of the States where they are located when it comes to social distancing, mask wearing, etc. On shore they are following the rules of the organizing body and the governments where they are located. Once on the boat people tend to do whatever they are comfortable with. behavior is up to the sailors themselves at that point. Some wear masks, some wear pull up gaitors or buffs, some wear nothing. Much depends on their comfort with those they are sailing with. If they have a bubble of regular crew who they know and believe to be acting as they do then they are acting more as they normally would. He had not heard of any COVID issues as a result of people racing.
There is a lot of local racing taking place but many championship events have been cancelled or postponed. Some have been postponed from earlier in the year when things were crazier until the fall. The major championship events have mostly been moved to 2021, or downgraded to a regional or more local event. The reasons are travel required for a major event, as well as the limit on number of people who can be at a gathering. The concern is not only travel for competitors, but travel for the race committee volunteers, most of whom are at a vulnerable age. On the subject of race committee staffing it is especially hard during a pandemic. Again many are older and even if they don't have to travel they may not be comfortable with the inability to properly social distance. As has been pointed out before, race committee volunteers are aging out and with them goes that vast pool of experience that can only be gotten from years on the water in all conditions and circumstances. It is a sad fact of life that most RC people are underappreciated until they are gone. Young people do not want to give up their time to learn or serve on race committee but this is a problem that needs to be recognized and plans put in place to deal with it.
One way to make the RC staff feel more comfortable is starting from the dock instead of on a boat. On shore proper distancing is easier to provide. This is especially true for point to point races. In many cases there is no awards ceremony, prizes are being mailed. Protest hearings have been held by Zoom or similar service. Pursuit races have become more popular, where the number of boats starting is either one or a few. The starting line intimidates some people so this the pursuit format is attractive for that reason, although if done right the boats congregate at the finish rather than the start. There have been some successes where new events have been tried, people want to try something different. San Francisco has an annual event known as the Three Bridge Fiasco, a distance race aound the Bay where you can go in either direction. They tried this in Annapolis this year and the turnout was multiples of what they had expected.
I asked Luiz for his guess as to how much attendance has been down this year versus normal and he said it depends, but he estimated maybe 20-30% below usual. Given all the factors in play this shows how much people want to keep sailing, as well as how much clubs and classes wish to try and hold things together where possible and within the rules. Factors contributing to limit turnout include State rules on quarantining and limits on size of gatherings. As we all know the rules and virus presence vary widely all over the US as well as Canada where things have been more tightly controlled all along.
Luiz said there are a number of events planned for this winter down south. The events are on the schedule and will be held so long as the virus remains under a level of control and the State rules permit them. Only time will tell.
We wrapped up our discussion agreeing that there are too many events these days. Each sailor can only do a limited number of races each year, so with so many choices the regattas all suffer from fewer people than optimal. It makes it harder on the budget and it is more difficult to attract sponsors. Further, the pool of race committee volunteers is not enough to adequately staff so many events. It would be a good thing if we as a whole got serious about scheduling more intelligently. We sincerely thank Luiz for taking the time with us, as he always does, and mainly for what he does for sailing with his Yacht Scoring program.
