Information current as at 4 June 2021

Ammednded Plans for the Regatta

We have very reluctantly decided that we cannot run the regatta to Jersey and Paimpol as planned. The easing of travel restrictions is clearly not going as well as we’d all hoped and it is already apparent they won’t be relaxed sufficiently by early July for the regatta to sail to France and The Channel Islands.

For us to be able to sail to the Channel islands and France all territories concerned need to be mutually green under their traffic light schemes and the PCR testing requirements need to be either removed or made affordable. With the rise of the Indian variant making France ban all but essential travel from Britain, there is clearly a long way to go before we get to that situation, and the Channel Island also remain problematic with the need to quarantine on arrival and return. We had planned to wait for the UK government review of travel restrictions due on June 7 th , but as it is now clear that isn’t going to give us the green light we need, we have brought the decision forward to give everyone concerned clarity on what will be happening without further delay. We know there will be a second government review on June 28 th that could possibly give the green light, but that is too near to the start of the regatta, and that now looks less likely to relax the rules sufficiently.

It is with a heavy heart that we have made this decision, as it is a big disappointment for all of us wanting to get across the Channel, and to our friends organising things in Jersey, our organising team in Paimpol and most importantly to our French competitors (we have 27 pre-registered) who almost certainly won’t be able to come to England for what follows…

But now for the good news….all is not lost!

We have been working on contingency plans for some time and have been able to put together a really good alternative programme with a series of races here in the Westcountry – we are calling it The Classic Channel Regatta (Westcountry Variant) – the antidote to COVID, it’s life affirming and the only side effect is a serious itch to get to sea!

Unfortunately, there is still one COVID related fly in the ointment that could scupper even this alternative regatta plan, and that is the ‘rule of 30’ for people gathering outside. That is due to be removed on June 21 with an announcement on June 14. Boris has nailed his colours to the mast saying he will not back-track on that commitment, and let’s hope he won’t, but there is clearly now some doubt lingering over the decision. The social side of the regatta is its beating heart (while the racing is its backbone) and if we can’t all gather together, then the life goes out of the regatta, in which case we will cancel the regatta altogether. We are optimistic that won’t happen, but if it does, then we will promptly refund all monies paid.