The Year of the Local

Now that the COVID fog is lifting slightly, the Annapolis Snipe fleet - and the National and International Class organizations - is planning for making the best lemonade we can for the 2020 season. Over the last two months all levels of the Snipe Class have decided to, as best as possible, move the entire racing schedule lock, stock and barrel, a year to the right. As this is a global issue, it affects all of our events up to the Worlds which was to take place in 2021 in Enoshima Japan, which is now is in direct conflict (date and place!) with the postponed Olympics. So moving that a year later to 2022 fixed that conflict also.

Like everything else unprecedented during this time, there is a lot of opportunity to be had if one looks at the situation in the right light. It’s like the Chinese proverb “It’s too soon to tell” - we never know the long-term effects of the events that change and challenge our lives.  What feels like a catastrophe, may turn out to be a blessing or vice versa, but each moment gives us an opportunity to learn adapt to the circumstances we find ourselves in. For the Snipe Fleet, that means taking advantage of this time to concentrate on local sailing given the dearth of regional and national events, the pent up demand to sail after the stay-at-home period, limited competition for family time and a lot of new energy toward sailing the Snipe. At the end of May a few of us went out for some quick practice and in June we held an 8 boat self-run clinic by fleet members. We have pushed the 2020 Colonial Cup to the former Nationals weekend at the end of June and look forward to a first foray into a limited, “COVID-compliant” regatta. Plus we have the TESOD/COSOD informal racing. While things are not the same as “normal” in many respects, the silver lining with this new arrangement is we can channel all of the energy into sailing locally rather than it being a bit diluted with supporting a number of travel regattas. We are calling it “The Year of the Local”.

Read more details about fleet events on their website.