Ted Pike Memorial Regatta 2020

The Corona Virus Pandemic restrictions forced some changes on the format of this year’s race. Depositing the entry fee and the start from the beach were gone and the after party, announcement of results and awards were gone. I spite of this, it was beautiful sailing weather and 10 boats with Covid restricted crews were waiting in the weed for the start signal.

There was a very light northerly wind in the starting area so the course selected was #2 (SMTBCGCMCF – 13nm., with possible shortening at 6 nm, & 9.5 nm.). This proved to be a good choice. The wind began to fill in after rounding M, softened again in the Bay when approaching T, then settled down to a variable 8 – 12 kt. breeze for the rest of the race. This was a close race, after three hours of racing most boats finished within twenty five minutes.

Two room for improvement items- Over Easy had a rigging failure at the start and no-one around to render assistance. Also, when scheduling this event next year  – check tide heights.  This year it was low and Martha and Alcyon had to make a feint of rounding M and T. Or we could drop those handy favorite marks from the course.

All-in-all, given his understanding nature, Ted would have been well pleased!