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Stepping into the Light
As we know from our Member Clubs, many themes have emerged in how different continents, nations and peoples are meeting the challenges levelled by COVID. Wherever we are on the face of the globe we have all felt its influence, often by having our club and personal activities curtailed. Writing this as the Tokyo Olympics are in full swing, it is remarkable that they are taking place at all in a country with rising infection rates, but competitors have demonstrated that care in preparation and diligent management of daily lives can produce the bubble of security that they need; we can learn from this. Preparation has been particularly difficult for our sailing community, which lives for the freedom of being afloat, but sailors are nothing if not resourceful and resilient.
On the wider stage, a return to ocean racing and one-design regattas are signs of hope, but at the club level, reactivating club programmes and operations is proving difficult. Many have been in hibernation for months with clubs locked down, staff furloughed, boards and committees restricted to Zoom, regattas cancelled and income streams decimated.
Blinking in the sunlight as we emerge, the prospects of reasserting normality become more real and there is evidence that clubs are beginning to get their sailing and social programmes back on track. Some staff may have opted out of returning so recruitment is a current challenge. And COVID can still strike at random—it only takes one diagnosis to stop a club in its tracks.
Because our world has changed, the task ahead includes maintaining tight controls over what our clubs can offer. For clubs reliant on sponsorship, it would be short-sighted to believe that the businesses of our commercial partners have not changed, too, often with a reassessment of marketing budgets. With that in mind, we are pleased to bring you this issue of The Currents, chockful of ICOYC’s sponsorship-related insights and including the results from our most recent survey of Member Clubs, regarding their current sponsorship efforts.
For those of you still restricted in what you can do, I urge patience; to those of you who are back on the water, I wish you good and safe sailing.
David Mead
ICOYC President
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