Due to the pandemic’s social distancing requirements, sailing so far was restricted to single-handed boats, or double handers where both helm and crew were from the same household. Thanks to new guidance from the RYA, we can now allow sailing in double handers, given the following restrictions:
- no sailing (or going to the club at all) with symptoms or high temperature
- all mixed crews must sign in to enable tracking and tracing.
- no sharing of cars/transport between different households
- rigging: this is a low risk activity, but avoid face-to-face contact
- sitting on the deck during the race: medium risk; mitigations: no shouting, try to keep minimum 50cm (20″) distance between faces, otherwise consider wearing a mask
- tacking/gybing: medium risk; avoid face-to-face; organise manoeuvres to maximise social distancing (eg tack with helm facing backwards)
- clean down equipment after use (mainly those parts handled by helm and crew)
There cannot be absolute certainty, but these restrictions are all about minimising the risk of transmission. Sailing is an outdoor activity with reduced risk, but it is still possible to reduce it even further.
Please note that these rules are in place until further notice: if a second wave or spike of Covid-19 cases materialises, we might have to go back to single handers only.