Skip to content

Videos, Webinars, Quizzes and Schedule Updates

Webinars and Classes

On February 29, the Cruising Club of America staged a full day of intensive weather seminars. They recorded the presentations and offer them as voice-over slideshow videos. Check them out at https://cruisingclub.org/article/weather-seminar-videos-2020.

bird above choppy seas
“Weather affects all aspects of our sport,” writes the CCA, “both racing and cruising, as well as all commercial maritime activities.”
© 2020 Cruising Club of America

US Sailing’s Starboard Portal will go live at 1 p.m. PDT today, presenting a Q&A with Charlie Enright and Mark Towill of 11th Hour Racing Team.
Charlie and Mark will discuss their preparation for The Ocean Race in 2021-2022. They will talk about the 11th Hour Racing Team, the route map, and their sustainability efforts. Viewers, have your questions ready for Charlie and Mark in this Q&A session. More live presentations this week include:

  • Thursday, April 16, 11 a.m. PDT
    Terry Hutchinson: American Magic’s Quest for the America’s Cup
  • Friday, April 17, 7 a.m. PDT
    Mike Kuschner: Home Fitness by Sailing Performance Training
  • Friday, April 17, 11 a.m. PDT
    Jon Partridge and Todd Riccardi: Dinghy Sailing Isn’t Dead — Driving Participation Through Modern Inspiring Sailboats

Available to watch now is Episode 3 of Mr. Childers’ Boathouse. “What do we know about the wind? How do we measure it? How can we tell if it’s blowing? Join Coach Chris as we build some gadgets and go for a walk in the park to explore the wind in our backyards.”

Mister Childers' Bothouse
Bay Area sailor Chris Childers hosts this series.
© 2020 US Sailing

Ullman Sails offers an online seminar: Unlocking Sail Trim.

Quantum Webinars this week include:

  • Wednesday, April 15, 1 p.m. PDT
    Drinks with the Pros
    Cameron Appleton with a pro guest. Find out how they got where they are and share some great stories from the journey.
  • Thursday, April 16, 5 p.m. PDT
    Virtual Thistle National Sessions, a Zoom Webinar
    Email Greg Griffin
    Cleveland Yachting Club plans to host the 75th anniversary of the Thistle National Championship on August 1-7. With high hopes the regatta will take place, the Thistle class put together a three-part webinar series led by Greg Fisher. The first session will feature a panel of the class’s top sailors including current National and MWW champion, Greg Griffin, current MWE champion Mike Ingham, and Matt Fisher, last year’s MWE Champion, Pan Am gold medalist and Lightning World Champion.
  • Friday, April 17, 1 p.m. PDT
    System Sailing Part 1: The Boat
    Sailing coach Wally Cross has developed a systematic approach to help sailors look at their boats differently using numbers and best practices. Part one of the 12-part series starts with the foundation, the boat.

After canceling the 2020 Pacific Sail & Power Boat Show, which would have begun tomorrow, Sail America writes, “We recognize that many of you look forward to our seminar series every year. As a token of appreciation for your continued support, we have created a Virtual Seminar and Resource Library. The Virtual Seminar Library will be updated with new seminars each week.”

The 45,000 square-foot historic Craneway Pavilion in Richmond was to have been the on-land site of the boat show. Instead, it has been repurposed into an auxiliary sick ward.

Quizzes

Test your knowledge and brush up on facts with UK Sailmakers’ Racing Rules quiz at www.uksailmakers.com/rules-quiz-program.

Spinnaker Sailing San Francisco sent out a quiz about weather yesterday. Maybe watch the Weather Seminar referenced at the top of this post then test your new-found wisdom here: www.spinnaker-sailing.com/navigation-weather-quiz#mybook.

Turning the Corner

We’ll leave it to the health care experts to tell us when we’ve ‘turned the corner’ on the pandemic, but we can already see that we’ve turned the corner on sailing events. Starting in the week ending with Friday, March 13, cancellations poured into our inbox. Now the announcements of SIP alternatives, as evidenced above, have outpaced the slowing trickle of cancellations. Here are the latest of the latter:

US Sailing and the Pensacola Yacht Club have postponed the 2020 U.S. Youth Sailing Championships. The premiere youth sailing event was originally scheduled for June 20-24 in Pensacola, FL. In early May, US Sailing expects to release more information about the event status and possible rescheduling. The application and registration periods will remain open until further notice.

Catalina 37s with red and white spinnakers
The fleet of matched Catalina 37s in last year’s Long Beach Race Week.
© 2020 Tom Walker

Alamitos Bay and Long Beach YCs, the organizers of Ullman Sails Long Beach Race Week, have canceled the regatta scheduled for June 26-28. The clubs look forward to hosting the next LBRW on June 25-27, 2021. All current paid entrants will receive automatic entry fee refunds.

1 Comment

  1. RDE 4 years ago

    Thought you might like to publish an email I just received from BVI Yacht sales.

    “Hello Sailors!

    We are now two weeks into a total three week lock-down of all services in BVI, and having had closed borders and 24 hour curfew restrictions has really put a crimp on the economy of the BVI, shutting down all activities everywhere except the very basics. The local government announced last night that the borders will remain completely closed until the 2nd June, at which time they will begin to allow only citizens and residents to return to the territory, but with measures in place to protect the people here now. This restriction of travel for tourists and visitors will remain in place through at least the 1st September. Until then, they will not be allowed into the territory through that time and possibly beyond… time will tell and we will keep you posted.

    What this has meant is that boat sales, as well as most other economic activity, have nearly halted. We have a few deals ongoing with boats not in BVI, but other territories are on restrictions as well, so this has been hard for all. The good news, buyers are still emailing us, talks are still happening and there is the potential for boat sales to take place either now while locked down, or soon after, given the high demand we are still experiencing. From the 25th April we may be allowed to move about in the day and be able to continue to conduct some level of works.

    In the meantime, we are aware that many of you have your boats here in BVI, and had planned to either return to BVI to use or care for them, to have them sold before hurricane season starts, to have them put away and stored properly on land or in water, or possibly to have them delivered out of the area to locations required by your insurance. We understand that this may be a cause of stress or concern, and we are here to help. Furthermore, the recent enforcement of customs regulations concerning the Registered Agent in the BVI has become an additional problem.

    What does this mean?
    Every vessel whose owner is not in the territory must appoint a registered agent to be responsible for the vessel while in BVI. This agent will bear full legal responsibility for the vessel in all cases, and must be appointed by law regardless of the vessel on the hard or in the water. The Registered Agent will bear all fines, fees, or costs incurred against the vessel while in the BVI. This is clearly a significant risk and responsibility for the Agent, and a further cost for the boat owner who is not here themselves. ”

    If this report is true, boat owners who had boats in the BVI now find themselves in a position where they are as likely to loose their boats as if another Category 5 hurricane had struck. With the country closing the borders to entry of all non-residents until September, a very small number of individuals qualified to act as owner’s Agents, and representation by an Agent mandated by law the agents can charge any price they want. Come September how many boats do you think will not have accumulated bills as large as their net value?

    Welcome to the Brave New World.

Leave a Comment




The Maritime Icon of Dana Point
Here's an update on the sinking of the 'Pilgrim', the full-scale replica of the merchant brig made famous in Richard Henry Dana's Two Years Before the Mast.
The World Famous L38
Here's your April Caption Contest(!). Be sure to check out the May issue of Latitude 38 for the winner and top 10 entries.
ADAPTING
Read why cruisers are more adaptable to changing conditions in Tim Henry's feature, The Cruisers Mindset, Adapting to Any Conditions.