A note from TCA President Tom Hubbell
Hello Thistle Family,
We have decided to postpone the Thistle National Championship presented by KeyBank until July 31-August 6, 2021. The Cleveland Yachting Club leadership and the club’s Nationals organizing committee, led by Fred Hunger, along with the Thistle Class Executive Committee are all in agreement: August 2020 does not seem to be a reasonable time to have the big regatta.
Reasons for postponing
The pandemic continues to make it too much of a challenge to host the kind of social and sailing event that we all want, especially for the class’s 75th Nationals. We all want every Nationals, especially our diamond anniversary, to be a great sailing adventure and a great social engagement. From my perspective, we are as intense at racing as we are at socially not-distancing, hugging, shaking hands, and telling tales shoulder to shoulder.
While we might be permitted to do so by the authorities and experts (although that seems unlikely), it would not be much fun to be distant and/or masked, etc. This, just when we want to celebrate together and go boat racing. Add to that the misery of the economy going down the drain, hurting almost everyone and thinning our ranks in participation. We do not want to be the class that took the extra risk that resulted in an outbreak of coronavirus cases. We do not want to have the fleet reduced significantly by those who are more cautious or those now financially strapped. And we do not want to be the folks having a big party while the rest of the country is struggling.
Registration fees and 2021 qualification
If you’ve already paid the registration fee, you have the option of getting a refund, less the processing charge, OR leaving it in the Nationals account for next year. Please contact John Howell (jihowelliii@gmail.com) or ThistleNationals2020@gmail.com if you have questions or to request a refund. Your registration for this year remains valid for 2021, however, the qualification pathway – regattas sailed, etc., has not yet been determined. Stay tuned for more details about the 2021 Thistle National Championship presented by KeyBank.
We will bump the Jacksonville Nationals to 2022, assuming they are still interested in hosting.
2020 Annual Meeting
Shortly, we will post a notice of how the 2020 Annual Meeting will be held.
Please stay connected!
The leadership at CYC and the TCA are unified in the decision to postpone. Rather than waiting longer to decide, we thought it best to run up the AP flag now. Disappointing as the postponement is, now most of us are allowed to “just” go sailing. Let’s enjoy those days. Please do get on the phone and talk to your Thistle friends, tune in for the Roundstone Roundtable coaching webinars, and stay connected via Zoom fleet meetings/parties and our email list serve.
Odds are that Annie was right, the sun will come out tomorrow.
– Tom Hubbell
TCA President
