Being a socially responsible person, I have withdrawn Rogue Wave's entry into the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht race. Whilst disappointing, its the correct decision. Apart from getting Daz to travel twice from Adelaide coupled with the isolation requirements and impact on Leave plus the challenge that 2* approval is required for military travel, fate sort of took over my decision making power.
On top of COVID challenges and border closures, the CYCA has initiated a push to exclude two handed (2H) sailors from competing for the Tattersall Cup, the holy grail of Australian yacht racing open to amateur and professionally crewed yachts up to 100ft in length. Its been a few weeks now and it is still unclear on which side of the argument the CYCA will support. If they exclude us from the Cup then I do not see any International competitors even bothering. Its like saying bring your boat to the UK for the Fastnet or Malta for the Middle Sea Race and oh, by the way you cant win the trophy but thanks for the entry fee and personal expense, the Club thanks you for your contribution.
We are 117 days out from the start and the CYCA cannot identify a Go/Nogo date in which they will draw a line in the sand and make a decision, other than to say about 6 weeks out they will may make a call. The Sydeny Gold Coast race has been postponed once and now is cancelled. There's talk of a replacement 'out-and-back' race to Flinders Island but really, they should just cancel and free up families to spend this COVID Christmas together. Life will return to normal.
