Dear Chester; You are not postponing the 2020 Chester Race Week until 2021. You are cancelling the 2020 event, and looking forward to the 2021 event. Why is this so hard for so many people to figure that out?
The Chester Race Week Steering Committee would like to recommend to the CYC Executive that Chester Race Week 2020 be postponed until 2021. The situation with the pandemic in Nova Scotia, although seeming to be stable, is not something we can be sure about and to put race organizers, the Chester Yacht Club, volunteers and race committees in jeopardy would be irresponsible and reckless.
Although there were many positive responses to the recent survey, which received over 130 responses from past skippers, there were indications that the ability for boat owners/skippers to get a commitment of a full crew, and the prior knowledge that there would be a good complement of competitors in each fleet tempered the positive results.
Other respondents to the survey told us that they did not think that Race Week should run in the current conditions, and that it would not be a good idea to host an event that was not in line with previous and future events, they encouraged us to err on the side of safety, to cancel early and to respect the community of Chester.
We have heard from some long term in-kind sponsors and other sponsors who are concerned about the running of the event during the pandemic, not only about the value of their sponsorship but also the logistics of lending equipment and the safety of their personnel. Withdrawal of sponsorships, along with a competitor drop of at least 60% would mean that the regatta may not be financially viable.
