The Experience, SF Bay: How the Coronavirus Pandemic has Affected Sailing

The Experience:

How the Coronavirus Pandemic has Affected Sailing

According to Latitude 38, our SF Bay Area ‘must read’ sailing magazine, family sailing is okay. “Sailing/boating is allowed as long as you continue to follow health guidelines which include social distancing, says Publisher John Ardnt, “and no use of shared equipment unless used by members of the same household. i.e. if you sleep together and/or live together you can go sailing together. And you can sail singlehanded.”

Most of our favorite races have been canceled, including the Pacific Cup – the fun race to Hawaii. SailGP canceled their Season 2 racing tour for 2020 to protect the health and safety of its teams, global staff and their event communities. According to their website news, ”Two of the four impacted events have new dates for 2021: San Francisco April 17-18 and New York June 4-5. SailGP also intends to return to the U.K. and Denmark during the rescheduled Season 2, replacing racing previously planned for this year.”

In the SF Bay Area, racing is regulated by county. Some counties will open it up, but it sounds like the crew has to still be from the same household. Time for the dogs and kids to do their part.

And will the America’s Cup Match take place in 2021 in Auckland, NZ?

NZ currently has its borders closed to all except NZ Nationals. Challenger American Magic, New York Yacht Club’s team, already is shipping their AC75 and 32 containers of gear to Auckland this week, although there is no guarantee non-nationals will be admitted. Good thing nine of the crew, including their skipper Dean Barker, are Kiwis.

Two America’s Cup World Series races leading up to the America’s Cup in Auckland, NZ, were canceled. American Magic’s Skipper Terry Hutchinson said in a press release, “We missed the opportunity to see where we are vulnerable, by not being able to race in Cagliari or Portsmouth. It’s going to require us to lean that much harder on the design side of the program.” Check out American Magic’s video.

Stay tuned as the sailing season opens up around San Francisco Bay.