Page 11 - Kwasind May 2020 issue

MAY 2020
SAILING • 11
Sailing Office: Virtual Offerings Jenny Farrand, Sailing Manager
As many of our plans for the spring were thrown out the window, it’s been lots of fun to engage with sailors online this past month. Although the Club facilities remain closed, we are certainly not shut down. We remain busy bees in the background to bring Members sailing-related activities to keep your minds sharp and skills strong. There is more to come with a re-energized partnership between RCYC and Ontario Sailing; we’re developing a new online platform for a collection of Canadian-produced content with a plan to continue past our current situation. Beyond the new Virtual Midweek Racing, we have had several Members reach out with tons of ideas, links to other sailors around the world, and a general drive for community in our new “stay home” world. Stay tuned as we create an inclusive environment for Ontario sailors to connect virtually this May.
We can’t wait to get back on the Island and put the pedal to the metal and get everyone on the water in a safe manner. We’re taking this time to review best practices and focus our energy toward a condensed schedule of events and programs to make this a memorable season for all sailors. I know that we will all be talking about 2020 for years to come so you can be certain that your Sailing Office will make the most of this brief pause and make it count! In the meantime, we hope that you take advantage of the opportunities online and continue trying new things as they emerge.
NEW Virtual Midweek Racing
While we navigate our new reality, the Sailing Office has been looking for ways to not only keep our Members engaged this spring but also actively participating in Club initiatives that can continue beyond the COVID-19 shutdown. Immediately following the Club’s closure, I reached out to some of the sailors from our Thursday night remote-controlled racing since they had often mentioned an online game over the winter. With the assistance of Marco Koechli aka I14 Birdman and his sons Port and Starboard (Mattias & Andreas), we started testing a new racing format with a combination of Virtual Regatta: Inshore and video conferencing on Zoom.
Since that first week of trial runs, we’ve had an explosion of interest in the weekly race nights with nearly 70 sailors registered and growing. We have a regular turnout of four different groups racing every Tuesday and Thursday, including a youth fleet bringing our younger sailors together with coach Violet Stafford running the races. New Member Shaurya Gupta took on the role of “race captain” to assist us with logistics of multiple race courses in addition to Marco, and it’s been great to watch sailors from different corners of the Club getting in on the action. We’re splitting the race series by month,
Update: 2020 Junior Club/ Youth Racing Programming / All On-Water Activities (Club Racing, Spring Regattas, Adult Learn to Sail, Cruising)
We would like to assure you that our Sailing Office team is working diligently to remain up to date with the recommended precautions during the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. We are in constant contact with our partners at Ontario Sailing and Sail Canada as well as other yacht clubs on the lake to share insights and best practices as it relates to Junior Club programming and we are all working together to do our best in these very challenging times. We also wish you and your family are staying safe and remain healthy during this unprecedented period.
As we continue to monitor the situation on a daily basis we do not have any issues concerning the summer at Junior Club and all other programs and activities are planned to run as scheduled (noting please the cancellation to Spring Training and May/June Midweek Races, TGIF Races). Please reference the RCYC Club announcement from Thursday, April 9th for full details regarding the City of Toronto closures and restrictions of public gathering until Tuesday, June 30th and RCYC’s programming response: Member portal.
We are also providing additional resources and background information below. We are committed to doing all the necessary planning and monitoring of program enrollment and event registration to maximize the potential of a fantastic summer on the Island. We hope that everyone is looking forward to those warm days out on the water as much as our Sailing Office Staff are!
Please continue to check our website for exciting news on our Virtual Racing nights as well as our upcoming Virtual Sailing content page. Thank you for your patience and your support as we all do our best to navigate this very fluid situation.
Should you have further questions, please do not hesitate to contact us at juniorclub@rcyc.ca, Jennifer. Farrand@rcyc.ca , and Tommy.Wharton@rcyc.ca
Additional resource list:
Sail Canada announcement from Tuesday, April 7th Our partners at Ontario Sailing
From Canadian Sport Institute Ontario