Masked Sailors Take to the Bay
Last week we published a story about masked sailors across the Bay Area and invited readers to send us photos and comments about their masked-sailing experiences. We received this response in the mail from Sausalito sailor George Scott.
Sunday June 21:
After staying at the dock for over 100 days I decided it was time to take my boat out on the Bay. The COVID sailing rules of S/V Freyja include keeping the crew size to a maximum of four — Freyja is a 35′ sailboat — wearing masks at all times, using hand sanitizer when appropriate, and each crew bringing their own food and drink (no sharing). We found that wearing masks was no big deal.
It was a beautiful, breezy day on Sunday, and having a mask did not impair our enjoyment! A doctor friend of mine says wearing masks when outdoors in windy conditions is not necessary but still, better safe than sorry.
Freyja is a well-found boat with full emergency equipment and a crew with years of safe sailing history. I didn’t feel there was any real potential for burdening the Coasties or other emergency services. After all, riding a bicycle certainly has greater potential for adding to the emergency-services burden than sailing, and no one seems to question the mental and physical benefits of riding a bicycle these days.
I say, “Sail on, sailor!” (But make sure you do it safely and conscientiously.).
Regards,
George Scott
S/V Freyja (Cal 35 Mk II)
Sausalito, CA
George receives extra points for including details of his boat and home port, along with the names of his masked companions in the photos. A+,George!
Us Stockton sailing club racers have always set our boats up for short handed sailing. Most of us have self tackers and can easily sail our boats single handed. It’s getting to the point where I’m almost preferring to sail single handed. I sailed weekly and sometimes daily through out the pandemic on the San Joaquin river single handed along with a group of other boats all single handed. My old cal 3-30 with roller furling jib that come out to a soling track has proven to be reasonably fast boat in the river despite her 10,000 lb bulk. Kite work while single handed is a little dicey however not impossible. With a little help from ray down wind (raymarine tiller pilot) you can get the kite up and down fairly easily in all but the windiest conditions. Is singlehanding the wave of the future for sailing?