Who Are Those Masked Men?

Latitude’s publisher, John Arndt, recently fired off an email to the Racing Desk: “I’ve heard a few more great comments about the August cover. I thought it would be fun if we did a short ‘Lectronic on ‘Who are those masked folks?’ Do you know who they are?”

When we asked him, the photographer, Christopher Lewis, wrote: “By the way, It’s not all ‘masked men.’ One thing that I love about this boat is the diversity and inclusion. We have an African American owner, a woman as a key part of our crew, a nice spread of old, young and in the middle, pro and top amateurs, plus we even have some immigrants with charming accents.”

Alex Higby, the boat’s project manager, informs us that “Those pictured on the cover in no particular order are:

• Chris Lewis. Navigator extraordinaire, has calibrated the boat, data logged and re-programmed. Rumor has it he could change the path of the ISS from his nav tablet.
• Rob Dubuc. Grinder and all-around nice guy, excellent sailor, puts plenty of power through the handles.
• Hayden Stapleton. Offside trimmer, young, keen and a great up-and-coming rigger.
• Joel Turmel. Runner trimmer. These boats are hard on the runner trimmer as they work just as hard as the main trimmer. Joel is as cool as a cucumber and dialed in. He’s also class captain of the Moore 24 fleet.
• Rodney Daniel. Pit. Rodney has forgotten more than most will know about grand prix yacht racing, America’s Cup, Volvo, Maxi 72, TP52, etc.
• Christine Dubuc. Mid-bow. Hard as nails and as agile as they come. Christine was a regular on Paul’s Soto 30 and is a great addition to the team.
• Nicholas Sessions. Watch out for this kid. Laser sailor Nicholas came out with us for the day and was a great addition.”

After the photos were taken and we chose one for the August cover, the use of neck gaiters as masks — super-popular among sailing crews, and a useful fund-raising tool for cash-strapped clubs and organizations — became controversial. First, a study found that they may be even worse than wearing no mask at all to control droplet (and thus virus) spread. Then it turned out the study was misinterpreted. See this story on CNET and this article in the Washington Post.

The weekend arrives in a few hours. What’s a sailor to do? We’ll refer you to KCBS Radio’s Ask an Expert from Tuesday. Dr. Linsey Marr, an expert in airborne disease transmission, recommended doubling up your neck gaiter if it’s made from only a single layer of cloth.