COVID-19 means adjustments to Long Island's sailboat-racing season
Sailboat racing teams gather in May 2016 for the J/24 U.S. National Championship at the Sayville Yacht Club in Blue Point. Credit: Randee Daddona
Earlier this month instructors at the Oakcliff Sailing Center in Oyster Bay donned face masks as they tested how personal protective gear works on the water.
The series of tests included determining what type of mask allows its wearer to breathe through it after it gets wet, said Dawn Riley, executive director at the center, which trains professional and amateur sailors.
“We're looking for things that are lightweight and usable so you don't take them off out of frustration and sweat,” Riley said.
How and when to wear a mask on the water and on shore is just one of many questions facing organizers of regattas around Long Island amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
More than two dozen sailing races scheduled for April, May and June in the Long Island Sound have been canceled, postponed indefinitely or rescheduled, according to race information compiled by the Yacht Racing Association of Long Island Sound.
Changes in response to the COVID-19 pandemic have altered the Long Island sailboat racing season, which includes events like the Peconic Bay Sailing Association's Whitebread 25 Race Regatta, above in September 2018. Credit: Randee Daddona
“We're in a wait-and-see, but a lot of the clubs don't feel comfortable about putting the regattas on," said Cynthia Parthemos, president of the yacht racing association that has about 900 members in New York and Connecticut. Parthemos said clubs will try to schedule regattas for later in the year “which is going to be a bit of a nightmare because everybody's trying to reschedule for later in the season.”
Races that do go forward this season will be run differently than in the past as organizers consider “double-handed” competitions that limit two people to a boat or family crews quarantined together during the lock down.
“A lot of places … they're going to do double-handed races or have families starting to sail together, which they haven't done in years,” Parthemos said. “Instead of your normal crew, get your family in the boat.”
Clubs are also thinking of how to limit the number of people involved in overseeing the races, such as the signal boat that starts the race and usually has five to seven people on board, she said.
Michael Hayes, treasurer at the Breakwater Yacht Club in Sag Harbor, said the club will probably start with races involving smaller boats containing smaller crews. Races with larger boats that may have crews of up to 12 are uncertain this season, Hayes said.
There is concern that sailboat owners won't know if any of their crew members have been exposed to the coronavirus, he said.
“On the bigger boats we’re seeing some of the boat owners hesitant to commit to anything because of the lack of control as to what people are doing when they’re not on the boat,” Hayes said.
At Oakcliff, they’re not taking any chances with students in its program for professional sailing. In the past, the center would train about 1,500 students — who live in the center's dormitory — each summer, Riley said.
This year, they are looking to train just 20 students who would live at the center in an isolation “bubble,” away from the general public. Those students are required to quarantine themselves for 14 days before coming into the bubble.
“This summer we're just going to do whatever’s safe,” Riley said.
