By Cheryl Kelly, Sail Race Committee Director

Well, it’s been an interesting year so far. Prior to the recent health crisis, our fleets were busy putting our summer racing plans together, getting our race documents ready, and planning for our new SSYC 2020 Adult Sailing Program as we waited patiently to begin boat work in the nice weather. More on the Adult Sailing Program to come in the next issue of the Compass.

Unfortunately, the boat work part of our plans is currently on hold as we all practice social distancing and wait expectantly to hear what of the many sailing season events have been cancelled or postponed. Rest assured, we still need volunteers for race boat work (cleaning, painting, waxing) once we are able to open the club for groups. Please let me know if you are interested in volunteering.

SSYC has had to cancel the 2020 Crew Search set for April due to the current Stay at Home order but are looking for some dates to schedule a live broadcast Town Hall for our racing community to share thoughts on the current plans for racing season. Look for that to be scheduled in the next few weeks.

We are working now among the fleets and the yacht clubs to review our options for racing and come to some decisions to be able to share with the racing fleets. It is our goal to be able to share a revised schedule of activities and plans with the fleets by April 30^th.

In the meantime, the DragonForce 65 fleet has joined a lively competition of virtual racing called Virtual Wednesday Night races with some other Lake Michigan yacht club racers. You can find more details about it at the Radio Sailing MKE Facebook Page and I’m sure they would welcome additional participants. Many thanks to our DF65 Fleet Captain, Andrew Van Sickle, for keeping up the racing spirit during these trying times.

For anyone looking to stay engaged in sailing in general during our Social Distance period, check out the following links:

US Sailing “The Starboard Portal”

Virtual Offshore World Sailing

Online Safety at Sea Course

Boating During COVID19

Self Isolation Hacks from Offshore Sailing

Dos and Don’t for Boating During Social Distancing

Please feel free to email me directly @ This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. with volunteering, questions, comments or feedback. As a community, we need to stick together to promote the best and safest sailing season to come. Thanks so much for your patience as we head into this interesting year on the water.