Dear ,
There is no long e-newsletter this year about the spaghetti tree plantation on Lambay Island and no stories of realigning the Dún Laoghaire sea walls.
No follow up to the canal that was to be built from Pwllheli across the peninsula or the windmill project to be constructed at the Welsh National Sailing Academy and Event Centre. There are certainly no Royal visits or Junior Royals wanting to learn to sail.
The 'Royal' Pwllheli Sailing Club project has been pushed into the long grass and a Brexit follow up spoof no longer sounds funny.
Instead, this year we are being asked to lock-down and become isolated but hopefully you’re not too lonely. We are already fed up of TV Netflix and Sky, there is only so much Father Ted and Fools & Horses that we can take. However, we are being amused by the fun offerings on WhatsApp, texts and emails. We have been distracted from our boating activities and now we are bored of virtual sailing.
This must be a nightmare, pinch me and wake me up. Pinch – no we are still in a strange, unreal place. A place where we are all kept apart with social distancing and hand washing being the norm and a place where paranoia is abound however small the sneeze or cough.
A Stephen King nightmare world where we can't have a cwtch (cuddle) with our children and grandchildren or comfort our parents, relatives and friends. Where conversations and communication is by Facetime and Skype and where the elderly are being given crash courses in Facebook, Twitter, TeamViewer and other social media Apps!
A place where we stand outside to applaud the brave health sector workers, where we daily show gratitude to those who care for the frail and vulnerable and praise everyone involved with the supply chain, from the farm to the shop shelves.
This is a place where the word ‘unprecedented’ is in the opening line of each news item. A place where boating is banned despite boats and crews being ready for action. A place where travelling is only for the essentials, something that is difficult to comprehend where moving around was so normal and part of our very fabric.
However...
We are, of course, all doing our best to limit the spread of this evil virus whilst we continue to hope for the best and plan for the worst.
In best seaman fashion, we have battened down the hatches so that we can weather the storm, survive and return to champagne sailing, like every offshore race is!
We understand the need to keep everyone safe and, of course, respect the advice given by Governments and our Governing Bodies (RYA, RYA Cymru Wales and IS) and the resulting decisions taken to cancel or postpone sailing and other events.
We have already announced the postponement of the first two Coastal Races, one in Wales and the other in Ireland. The are many other sporting cancellations announced from the Olympics to Cork Week and many other prestigious events.
No. There is no April fool joke to catch you out this year, life is strange enough! If this was written as a prediction joke it would be dismissed out of hand -' ...that is just not possible' I hear you say! I hope that I can resume the normal April 1st narrative in 2021.
So, for now, please keep safe and I hope that I will see you out on the Irish Sea later in the year. It would be fantastic to see the ISORA fleet sailing into my home waters, the superb Cardigan Bay, where a fantastic welcome awaits you all.
Hwyl
Stephen
Stephen Tudor
HON. Secretary ISORA
