Update August 31, 2020

Hi everyone,

We have a lot of news to report about 420 Worlds - and some very important actions required by you.

I realize this very long email. Please read it carefully.

Since the ‘survey’ we took back in early July of your interest in attending worlds the travel ban on US citizens entering the EU or Italy has not changed - and I don't have any more information than you do about its status, or if it will be eased or rescinded.

However.... there is a possibility that we may be able to get travel waivers to enable US citizens to enter Italy to compete in the regatta!

There are a lot of hurdles to cross in order to make this happen. Getting approval is by no means a 'sure thing'. The waivers are possible with the help of the US Olympic Sailing Team because the I420 is the development class for the 470, which is an Olympic Class.

I have been working with the US Olympic Sailing Team, the International 420 Class office, and Regatta Chairman at the host venue, Yacht Club Sanremo. Over the weekend I received word that the waiver approach is a realistic possibility, which is why I am now sharing it with you - and requesting information from you.

Here are the details and what is needed from you:

ACTION REQUIRED BY YOU: Complete this online google form no later than Monday night, Sept 7 (sooner is helpful). I want to submit this info (per process outlined below) on Tuesday, Sept 8.
I realize this form asks for some information you have provided previously. We're asking again to ensure all your information is fully up-to-date as some of you have changed crews, etc.
The process for waiver approval:
All the information you provide on the form (including photos of your passport email to me separately) will be packaged up and provided to the US Olympic Sailing Team office.
The info will be packaged up with letters from the US I420 Class office (me), from the International 420 Class office, the event host at Yacht Club Sanremo, and submitted to the Italian Sailing Federation who will submit it to the Italian government authorities for approval.
US Olympic Sailing has used this process and received approvals in 2-3 weeks. As such, we believe approval is possible before the end of September.
Some important notes:

You can change your mind an not go even after we submit your information for approval, or even after we get approval. (e.g., submitting your information does not require that you go, and backing out won't jeopardize anyone else's ability to go).
The US Class is not requiring any deposit or payments from you at this time (we will seek a deposit only after the travel waiver is approved).
This waiver process has been used successfully for other US Olympic Athletes to travel to Italy and other EU countries. However, it hasn't been tried with such a large group of people (we are potentially 42 sailors, plus parents, coaches, etc.).
Dates

The actual regatta is from Tuesday, Oct 27 to Sunday, Nov 1. (Notice of race attached)
Tuesday is measurement, followed by 5 days of racing (Wed thru Sunday).
The Team USA schedule:
Friday, Oct 23: Fly to Italy overnight
Sat, Oct 24: arrival, drive to sanremo and arrive sometime Saturday afternoon, Oct 24. Because it gets dark early at this time of year, it's doubtful sailors would arrive earlier enough to get your charter boat rigged and get on the water.
Sun - Monday: Training
Tues - Training, measurement
Tues night- Opening Ceremony
Wed- Sun: Racing
Sunday after sailing: closing ceremony
Depart, Monday, depart Monday, Nov 2. or Tues, Nov 3. (to fly home Monday you will probably need to drive to Milan after racing on Sunday night, which means arriving at an airport hotel very late (there is a Sheraton in the airport itself). I did this in 2016 - it was a long drive after a long day at the regatta).
Optional Team USA Pre-Regatta Training

Since some sailors are doing school remotely this fall, some have asked if we could arrive sooner than Oct 24 for more training. This IS possible.

We can offer training to begin on Sunday, Oct 18.
You can arrive in Italy anytime, and start training any day from Sunday onward.
Obviously, we will ensure the correct number of coaches based on the number of people who fly over 'early' and their arrival dates at the venue.
The main Team USA budget will be based on arrival on Saturday, Oct 24.
Those choosing to arrive 'early' will pay an additional per-day fee. (see budget info below)
Important caveats about Travel information required in the online google form;

Flights: You must provide your departure and arrival dates and airports, including intended flight info (airline, flight numbers). BUT you do NOT need to book the flights, nor have a paid airline ticket.
Hotel: You must provide all your intended lodging location(s), and dates of stay. Again, you do NOT need to book the hotel(s).
If you plan to arrive prior to training and not travel directly to Sanremo, or stay after the regatta and/or travel afterwards away from Sanremo, you need to include all that detail (the Italian gov't needs to know when and where you will be when in Italy).
Your final destination must be Italy – you cannot fly to France and then drive to Italy.
Milan is the closest major airport - a 4 hour drive/300km). You cannot fly to Nice, France (only 1 hour drive) or any other airport outside of Italy as the waiver is only for entry into Italy, not into all of the EU.
Your passport information will be in the Italian system for final arrival, not another EU country.
If you have EU country passport you can travel on that passport (doing so would remove you from this entire waiver process). It is your responsibility to ensure use of your EU country passport will permit entry into Italy. If in doubt, I suggest getting the wavier for your US passport.
Fly non-stop to Italy if possible - to remove any potential immigration issues when transferring flights (with the US banned from most countries, airport authorities are not used to seeing US citizens traveling thru their airports.
If you must fly via a connection, we have heard it would be better to connect thru London Healthrow than thru another EU country. Also, covid has flared up in Spain and parts of France (as well as on the Italian Island of Sardina, where a Maxi regatta was just cancelled).
Logistics & lodging

Sailors are responsible for their own travel and lodging.
Sanremo was the venue for 2016 Worlds. We know the area well.
The town of Sanremo is about a 25-30 min drive (14 km) west from the marina.
The hotel at the venue (at the boatpark) is: www.aregaimarina.it/en/
Other important caveats:

Upon arrival in Italy (and before being permitted to enter the venue at Sanremo), everyone will need to get a COVID test IN ITALY (and which comes back negative). I don't have any details on the logistics of this just yet.
We have been told by the Regatta hosts in Sanremo that we do NOT need to quarantine for 14 days upon arrival into Italy. Obviously, such gov’t policies can change at a moment's notice.
The US Olympic Sailing Team has been using this website as a reference: https://reopen. europa.eu/en/map/ITA. But... this site for EU citizens and does NOT address requirements for US citizens. There is very little information available about requirements for travel into the EU or into Italy from the US because the US is under a global travel ban and not able to travel without a waiver, and waivers are not available to the vast majority of people.
Nautivela has confirmed they can deliver charter boats (and privately owned boats in their warehouse) for the pre-regatta training.
You should contact Alberto Portiglia (owner of Nautivela) to secure your charter. His email is: alberto@nautivela.com. He has the list of Team USA sailors. I gave him a heads up today to expect about a dozen charter boats.
The Nautivela factory is in Milan – so it’s relatively easy for him to get charter boats down to Sanremo when we need them.
There is no guarantee that:
As this whole waiver effort is new since COVID, we may not get approved because we are a much larger group than anything US Olympic Sailing has done before.
The regatta could be cancelled at any time between now and the event date due to covid outbreaks in Italy.
The regatta could be cancelled at any time during the event for the same reason.
Even with all this approval, there is still a remote chance that someone could be turned away at immigration when arriving in Italy. So far this hasn't happened with any US Olympic Athletes, but it did happen with an Olympic athlete from another country.
Plan on a lot of extra time at your US departure airport – CBP is not used to seeing these waivers, and it could take an hour or two to get thru all their questions, etc.
Budget

The budget (e.g., the fee you pay the US Class) is $3500 per boat (not per sailor), and includes:
sailor regatta registration, coach regatta registration, coaching, coach boat charter, coaches lodging, travel and meals, and a team shirt from LonGundie.
The budget is based on 8 days (Sunday, Oct 25 thru Sunday Nov 1) on the water with 4 coaches and 21 teams attending (listed at the bottom of this email).
If fewer sailors attend, it may reduce or increase the budget, depending how many don't go, and how many coaches are needed.
The cost for pre-event training (on water starting Sunday, Oct 18 thru Saturday Oct 25) is $225/per boat, per day. Sailors can arrive any day starting Sunday, but once sailors start training they pay for all the days following (e.g., once we staff for coaches, they are at the venue for the remainder of the period).
As a reminder, you’re responsible for the cost of: your travel, lodging and meals, your 420 charter boat, and any team apparel you choose to purchase (from Team1Newport).
Lastly, we are extremely appreciative for all the help US Sailing and the US Olympic Sailing Team has, and continues to provide us with the waiver process.

I ask that you please refrain from contact US Sailing, the US Olympic Sailing team or anyone 'you know' to try and put in a good word or help things along. These folks are working their butts off to help us - while at the same time doing their 'day job' of supporting all our Olympic Sailors. Same holds true for the International 420 Class or folks at YC Sanremo (who expect to interact only with the Class Association in each country).

Don’t hesitate to call or email with questions (this is certainly not a simple or straightforward international regatta).

Team USA Worlds gear is now available for purchase! Go to: https://www.team1newport.com/420-Worlds-Championship-2020/products/1212/

Dori & Lon Gundie WILL be creating the official Team USA shirt!!! (Cost will be included in Class event fee, distribution to sailor in the fall. Not via Team1Newport. No action required now on your part).

Regatta website: http://2020worlds-2020jreuropeans.420sailing.org/en/default/races/race

Remember, the US Class handles registration. Please DO NOT contact the International Class office, the regatta organizers or the venue. Ask me.

Latest Team USA Worlds

(updated 7/28/20)

Black bold skippers = yes or probably yes

Red Bold skippers = no or probably no

Open Fleet (14 spots total)

1. Will Michels/Spencer Kriegstein

2. Oliver Hurwitz/Ethan Froelich

3. Peter Foley/Audrey Foley

4. Ben Honig/Connor Fischetti

5. Mason Stang/Timmy Gee

6. Micky Munns/Tyler Wood

7. Maddie Rice/Brooks Turcotte

8. Haru Masumoto/Nicky Abate

9. Connor Bennett/Ted McDonough

10. Parker & Laurel Tyson

11. Michael McCulloch/Garrett Blosen

Women's Fleet (14 spots total)

1. Vanessa Lahrkamp/Katherine McNamara

2. Hannah Freeman/Francesca Edmands

3. Jacqueline Quirke/Gwen Donahue

4. Chiara Bruzzi/Ella Marsden

5. Sophia Devling/Alexandria Stauffer

6. Kyra Phelan/Sophia Browne

7. Chloe Holder/Cali Salinas

Open U17 Fleet (6 spots total)

1. Declan Quirke/Will Stork

2. Alec Van Kerckhove/Dylan Murphy

3. Freddie Parkin/Thomas Whidden

4. John Wood/Brianna Ross

5. Robert Ulmer/Kurt Stuebe

Womens' U17 Fleet (6 spots total)

1. Ava Hurwitz/Elle Sykes

2020 Worlds Update July 26, 2020

Thanks for responding to the survey earlier this month with your desire to go to Worlds in Oct.

I wanted to let everyone know that there is interest from the following skippers who replied "yes" or "probably yes":

Ava Hurwitz
Oliver Hurwitz
Will Michels
Jackie Quirke
Declan Quirke
Ben Honig
Freddie Parkin
Alec Van Kerckhove
John Wood
Mason Stang
Micky Munns
Haru Masumoto
Peter Foley
Sophia Devling
Kyra Phelan
Kurt Stueve

As a reminder, Team USA has slots for 40 boats (14 Open, 14 Women's, 6 Open U17, 6 Womens U17), so we're nowhere near capacity in any of the fleets.

In terms of planning, as you know, sailors are responsible for their own travel, lodging, and boat charters. The class is responsible for hiring the coaches, coach travel & lodging, coach boats, and event registration.

Tentative dates:
*Friday, Oct 23 - Fly to Italy
Sat, Oct 24 - arrive sanremo, collect charter boat
Sun - start training, measurement
Monday - training, measurement
Tues - Sun - racing
Monday - fly home

If some sailors want to arrive earlier to train, it's possible the Class can make arrangements with coaches to pre-event training. Our assumption is that, since sailors will be in school at this time, pre-regatta training would be limited. Also remember, it gets dark around 5:30pm in late October, so sailing days are much shorter than the summer.

Coaches
Steve Keen will be the Team USA head coach, as normal. The number of sailors who ultimately decide to go (at which when deposits become non-refundable) will determine how many coaches we need.

Travel
In the pre-covid days, the closest airport with direct flights was Milan/Malpensa (about 4 hour drive). The closest airport, with a connection, is Côte d'Azur, Nice, France (about an hour's drive). However, besides dealing with a connecting flight, there could be border crossing issues (due to covid) from France to Italy. In normal times the border crossing involved simply paying a highway toll. And in 2016 parents often went sightseeing in France - Nice, Monaco, Antibes, Cannes - there's lots to see.

Obviously, with the current Covid situation in the US, and travel limitations and bans to Europe, the class has not made any commitments that can't be cancelled, and we have pretty good flexibility well into September, if not later, before we would need to spend any money (which would then require deposits from all of you).

I have heard there may be the possibility to get a waiver for travel into the EU because the 420 is a training boat for the Olympic 470 class, and that athletes associated with the olympics may be able to get an exclusion from the ban. I'm looking into this further with US Sailing.

Deposits/Commitments
In terms of commitments from you (e.g., deposits), as we did with the Worlds that was cancelled, I don't want to collect money if it turns out we can't go, and I then have to not only refund all the payments, but incur the credit card processing fees which aren't refundable.

Charters
Nautivela will handle charters, as normal (their factory is only a few hours drive away in southern Milan).

As a reminder, because Worlds is not an open event, Nautivela will only charter boats to sailors on the qualification list I provide. I will give them a heads up this week on the number of potential charter boats USA sailors may need, and ask Alberto when he wants to start hearing directly from you to firm things up. I assume because the venue is fairly close to the Nautivela factory (in milan), and most Europeans don't charter, Alberto will have plenty of boats available.

Hotels
As I mentioned in a previous email, since Worlds was in sanremo in 2016 we know the area and can make recommendations for lodging options. There is a nice hotel at the marina (https://goo.gl/maps/ xYLzy2hp5UXptFvu6) that some stayed in last time. It's literally adjacent to the boat park - a 2 min walk. Some parents also did AirBnBs. And many also stayed "in town" in sanremo, which is close to many restaurants, but it's about a 25-30 min drive on local roads.

Team USA Gear
We've made arrangements for Team1Newport to offer a wide variety of gear for parents and sailors at: https://www.team1newport.com/420-Worlds-Championship-2020/products/1212/. If there are other items you'd like - let me know and I'll ask Martha (Team 1) to add them to the online store.

Lon Gundie Gear
I hope that Dori will be able to create the official Team USA uniform shirt like she did last summer (but I haven't actually asked her yet ;-)

New US I420 website and area for TeamUSA
We recently upgraded the USI420 website (https://usi420.org/), which is now running fully on ClubSpot (the same platform used for 420 Class membership). We're still working to update all the content, so bear with us. there is also a private area (https://i420.theclubspot.com/ team-usa), only for Class members, where we will post Team USA private information about Worlds (such as a copy of this email) so you don't have to dig thru your emails to find all the important info.

I hope we'll have a better handle on the true likelihood of going to worlds in a month or so. I'll also let you know of any drop-dead deadlines (for deposits, for the final go/no-go decision, etc.)

As always, don't hesitate to contact me (president@usi420.org) if you have questions.

Regards,

Michael

Michael Rudnick
President, US I420 Class Association