As Irish sailing waits for guidance that yacht racing can resume under COVID-19 regulations at some point this summer, there can be no doubting the preparations of Dublin Bay Sailing Club in order to get back on the race track just as soon as it is feasible.
The country's biggest yacht racing club surveyed members at the start of the season and found overwhelming support for racing when it was safe to do so but so far the club has had to remain in postponed mode since first races for the 250-boat fleet were originally scheduled on April 25th.
Following the government roadmap announcement on May 1, DBSC says it is 'encouraged [about the prospect of racing] but needs to wait for formal guidance from Irish Sailing'.
The club has an extensive network of marks required to be laid each summer season and despite this year's postponement, DBSC is poised to get going with some of the club's latest illuminated ten foot conical marks already in the water. They're moored in a dedicated berth at Dun Laoghaire Marina and ready for deployment at a moment's notice.
Until then, racers are in holding pattern. And, As Afloat's WM Nixon remarked recently, there needs to be some patience shown. "Key officers in central organisations like Dublin Bay Sailing Club get unduly pestered by people demanding to know when real racing is going to start,when the fact is that to a considerable extent we have to make it up as we go along, for society has never dealt with a pandemic of this scale and aggression".
