Dear Members and friends,

I am writing to you from the Azzurra Lounge, where the model room and library of our Club are located, a quiet place that I invite you all to rediscover. As you know, normal operation has resumed at our headquarters, it would be superfluous to highlight the reasons for the delay in opening, we are working hard so that what was missed out on in the first part of the season may be recouped in October, when we will extend the opening period. Our intention is to offer Members the opportunity to enjoy the beauty of autumn in the Costa Smeralda and the region that hosts us the opportunity to lengthen the season, a decision that we hope will act as a driver for all the tourist services in the area.

In the past few months unimaginable things have happened, which in some ways seem to have set the economy back by decades, while at the same time providing an unexpected acceleration towards technologically advanced solutions. Every crisis also brings with it opportunities that must be grasped.

In this spirit, over the past few months the YCCS has been working to find solutions to adapt our activities and services to the anti-contagion provisions and offer, as always, a unique and safe stay in our home in Porto Cervo.

I would like to thank the management and the entire staff of the YCCS, and the Crisis Management Committee for their intensive efforts to ensure that our headquarters can be used safely and in full compliance with the legal regulations.

As you know, each season is accompanied by an edition of the YCCS Magazine, and this year is no different, but with an innovative twist. The traditional paper edition has become digital, with new content that will be published over the course of the season, so the magazine will always be up to date. It will be available from the YCCS website or from the updated app, which I suggest you download, as the Members area will provide continuously up to date information ranging from the procedures that we have put in place at the YCCS to manage every eventuality to the weekly events scheduled.

The regatta calendar has necessarily undergone changes, the sailing events planned for May and June have been cancelled and, as I write these words, we are waiting for the definitive guidelines from the national sailing federation in order to resume sporting activities as soon as possible. While the organisation of the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup and Rolex Swan Cup events continues with the necessary flexibility, and the Sailing Champions League regatta has been postponed to October, I would like to recall the first competitive success of 2020: our sporting symbol, Azzurra, reigning champion of the 52 Super Series, won the first - and at the moment only - leg of the 2020 season, in Cape Town, South Africa. Congratulations to skipper Guillermo Parada and all the crew, but above all thanks to our Members the Roemmers family who continue to bring the YCCS burgee to podium success around the world.

This historic period has given us the opportunity to rediscover the pleasure of simple things, which we had perhaps lost sight of to some degree. Like the beauty of nature, and the sea in particular, which today more than ever must be protected and safeguarded. I do not think I am overstating the fact by pointing out how far-sighted Princess Zahra Aga Khan's vision was, when in 2017 she indicated the sustainability of the marine and coastal environment as the route for the next 50 years of the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda. As you know, based on that input the One Ocean Forum was organised, which gave life firstly to the Charta Smeralda and later to the One Ocean Foundation. On 8 June, on the occasion of World Oceans Day, the foundation had the privilege of being invited by the United Nations to speak at the worldwide conference on the theme of "Innovation for a Sustainable Ocean". We presented the second of our reports as part of a multi-year research project dedicated to the relationship between the economy and the environment: "Business for Ocean Sustainability - A Global Perspective" drawn up with the support of SDA Bocconi, McKinsey & Co. and the CSIC. We believe in the fundamental role of companies in accelerating change, through this project we want to inspire and involve the business world. The Green New Deal will probably be the key to humanity's recovery and many of us will be happy to offer our contribution.