Coronavirus And The Broads

[Oddfellow]

11 hours ago, Jemaki said:

Absolutely Marshman....but I don't think that there is anyone patrolling after the BA finish and as sunset is not until after 9pm potentially someone has a valid excuse to still be out until they return to their mooring and heading home.....or not as the case may be in some instances 

Don't bet on nobody patrolling and don't bet on the rangers not passing on details. Also, the Police Launch is road mobile. 

[Oddfellow]

56 minutes ago, marshman said:

I don't think the risk from over nighting is low - its NIL in the circumstances explained! Not low, NIL!

Its all about nimbys who won't allow second homers go back to their properties - I don't have a view on them as it does not affect me, but I am intrigued by the fact that some in Southwold, for example, still want them to stay away, yet in the same breath want extra Govt help in keeping their businesses alive, the very same the second homers attract and support!

Cannot have it both ways!!!!!

You do have a view because you refer to them with a derogatory name, "nimbys". 

I find this view most strange. Who would want people from outside the area potentially bringing in a virus that has had hitherto little hold? You seem to feel that the residents of Southwold are in some way concerned for their health and also their livelihoods. Selfish buggers. And why did they let all their property be bought up as second homes in the first place, eh? Brought this all on themselves, silly sods. 

There's a similar concern in these parts. With around 100 day boats in Wroxham and Hoveton, these now sleepy villages will be OVERRUN with people from outside the area as soon as hiring begins again. You think there isn't concern here too?  

What shall we do? Support tourism at government level to ensure that it survives two winters back to back or let a virus loose on it and see how well it copes? 

THE KEY THING that everybody who says that the risk of overnighting is low or nil is missing is this. If one person with the virus comes and leaves it on a gate latch, that's 72 hours of potential infection on that gate latch. The risk is low. If 10 people use 10 gate latches in 10 marinas, the risk has grown but not 10 fold because more and more will follow because Lockdown no longer applies to them. Expotential growth isn't hard to grasp, unless you particularly want to do something you are explicitly told you can't do but see others doing, especially high-profile people; at this point, the risk, in your heads, is low. Making people go home makes people think twice about the value of the journey in the first place and nobody here should forget this. 

 

[Vaughan]

7 minutes ago, FreedomBoatingHols said:

What shall we do? Support tourism at government level to ensure that it survives two winters back to back or let a virus loose on it and see how well it copes? 

I think Marshman's point is most valid regarding tourism but so is yours!

This is the conundrum.

I have been wondering, if I were still working, how would I be able to give a "trial run" to customers on a hire boat and stay within all these rules. I don't see how I could.

[Chelsea14Ian]

This point came up the other day,regarding car dealers. One dealer said that the customer would do a test drive on there own.He didn't say what safeguards were in place. I would think a deposit and or bank card car keys of your car.Not so easy perhaps with boats,some people have little  or no knowledge of boats.

[Vaughan]

16 minutes ago, Chelsea14Ian said:

This point came up the other day,regarding car dealers. One dealer said that the customer would do a test drive on there own.He didn't say what safeguards were in place. I would think a deposit and or bank card car keys of your car.Not so easy perhaps with boats,some people have little  or no knowledge of boats.

That is not the same thing in my view.  A test drive in a car assumes you have a driving licence.  A trial run on a hire boat is driving instruction to the inexperienced and it is very "hands on".

[Chelsea14Ian]

I agree not sure how that would  work,as you say,with someone with little  or no experience .

[Meantime]

I would suggest a trial run on a hire boat is a little more akin to a learner driver in a motoring school car. A test drive of a car can be completed solo providing all security aspects have been taken care of with regard to the test driver stealing the car.

[ExSurveyor]

What effect would it have on a handover if the social distancing measure is reduced to one metre outside ?

It will surely happen at some stage.

[Vaughan]

22 minutes ago, EastCoastIPA said:

is a little more akin to a learner driver in a motoring school car

But that does not include mooring the car to the bank, fitting lifejackets or crowding into the same little toilet and shower compartment to show everyone how all the buttons work! Nor does it include standing close enough to the helmsman so that you can take over the controls when all else fails!

[OldBerkshireBoy]

On 16/05/2020 at 13:33, grendel said:

I was going to suggest long life milk, i was going to suggest the smaller cartons, as then they dont go off before you have used it up

I was going to suggest taking a goat along - Then I thought better of it.  

[Oddfellow]

Boat handovers will be very challenging and I am scared of the risks. It is IMPOSSIBLE to be socially distanced whilst showing somebody how to pilot a boat. This will create risks that will be hard to mitigate or minimise. 

[TostockTimonier]

1 minute ago, FreedomBoatingHols said:

Boat handovers will be very challenging and I am scared of the risks. It is IMPOSSIBLE to be socially distanced whilst showing somebody how to pilot a boat. This will create risks that will be hard to mitigate or minimise. 

ppe like the unsung heroes wear at the post office, supermarket tills,petrol station tills etc.

 

[Oldspice]

1 hour ago, FreedomBoatingHols said:

Don't bet on nobody patrolling and don't bet on the rangers not passing on details. Also, the Police Launch is road mobile. 

Also at our marina the many security cameras are checked not just to ensure people have left to go home at closing time but also to keep a check on boats that haven't returned to their moorings after a day out .... 

[grendel]

under certain limited circumstances a test run is not needed, take me as an example, i am returning to a yard that knows me, i have had several of their boats before and i am solo helming, i have had this particular boat only last year, so no trial run will be necessary as i know the boat, I have nobody else aboard with me so the risk is for one person, myself.

The risk as Andy says is if i bring the virus to the area, or pick it up in the area and take it home to an area that may not have a great deal of cases at present. Passage through potter heigham bridge could be achieved by the yard member wearing gloves and a mask, and me waiting in the rear well deck while passage was undertaken. not impossible under the circumstances.

but i am not the typical case, most hires will not be solo, most will need a handover. so that and cleaning boats between hires will be the main issue.

[Oddfellow]

10 minutes ago, grendel said:

under certain limited circumstances a test run is not needed, take me as an example, i am returning to a yard that knows me, i have had several of their boats before and i am solo helming, i have had this particular boat only last year, so no trial run will be necessary as i know the boat, I have nobody else aboard with me so the risk is for one person, myself.

The risk as Andy says is if i bring the virus to the area, or pick it up in the area and take it home to an area that may not have a great deal of cases at present. Passage through potter heigham bridge could be achieved by the yard member wearing gloves and a mask, and me waiting in the rear well deck while passage was undertaken. not impossible under the circumstances.

but i am not the typical case, most hires will not be solo, most will need a handover. so that and cleaning boats between hires will be the main issue.

With respect, there is no main issue. There are a bunch of very new and little understood risks to this whole scenario. Cleaning is just one issue and actually a relatively easy one to manage as it will be just ONE person on the boat with appropriate equipment and materials. Handovers are a BIG problem as it should involve the whole crew but this is impossible if social distancing is to be observed. Reception will be very different and strict arrival slots will be needed too. We will encourage people to bring their own, clean bedding. There's so much more to the matter than you would believe, including the fact that the BA will not permit operation until it has signed off risk assessments.

And we still don't have a date as to when this MIGHT be able to start. There's plenty of chatter from the industry and the Canal & River Trust is getting it's knickers in a real twist, but the facts remain that DEFRA is in charge ultimately and then the BA and then the individual yards need to get going again. 

None of this will be easy. 

 

[TostockTimonier]

31 minutes ago, grendel said:

cleaning boats between hires will be the main issue

I would have to agree with you there grendel

[annv]

I would be very concerned about touching surfaces/ utensils ect after someone a stranger has touched them as this virus lasts for 72 hours on some  surfaces, if on my boat i can control this ie wearing gloves when mooring and using the water point but going to shops pubs and toilets no way staying at home is the safest, where you can control your environment against others. John 

[TostockTimonier]

16 minutes ago, FreedomBoatingHols said:

None of this will be easy. 

Agreed

[TostockTimonier]

14 minutes ago, annv said:

I would be very concerned about touching surfaces/ utensils ect

Everything, letters, parcels, flyers, papers  etc, anything that is outside of your house has the potential to carry the virus. I unwrap, then dispose of the packaging/envelopes and use my hand gel to disinfect before touching anything else.

[vanessan]

41 minutes ago, TostockTimonier said:

Everything, letters, parcels, flyers, papers  etc, anything that is outside of your house has the potential to carry the virus. I unwrap, then dispose of the packaging/envelopes and use my hand gel to disinfect before touching anything else.

Something that we have got to continue day in day out for a long, long time, wash hands or use sanitiser gel. And don’t touch your face!!

[grendel]

4 minutes ago, vanessan said:

Something that we have got to continue day in day out for a long, long time, wash hands or use sanitiser gel. And don’t touch your face!!

this is something i have difficulty with, mainly due to wearing glasses, i have 3 pairs, distance, vdu and reading, and i am constantly changing between them, now i hear you all say varifocals, but really for the work i do they would be worse than useless. the majority of my work is transferring data from drawings to screen, to do this properly i need to see all of the drawing and the full height of the screen, varifocals dont give me a big enough area of view.

but that said, i am constantly swapping between glasses, handling them and transferring from my hands to my face. hand washing yes sanitising gel  only when i cant wash my hands, antibac wipes  all the time. but i guess this puts me at greater risk, as does having a beard as face masks dont fit properly. so i am very careful to maintain social distance when out and about (once a week shopping).

[Poppy]

8 minutes ago, grendel said:

this is something i have difficulty with, mainly due to wearing glasses, i have 3 pairs, distance, vdu and reading, and i am constantly changing between them, now i hear you all say varifocals, but really for the work i do they would be worse than useless. the majority of my work is transferring data from drawings to screen, to do this properly i need to see all of the drawing and the full height of the screen, varifocals dont give me a big enough area of view.

but that said, i am constantly swapping between glasses, handling them and transferring from my hands to my face. hand washing yes sanitising gel  only when i cant wash my hands, antibac wipes  all the time. but i guess this puts me at greater risk, as does having a beard as face masks dont fit properly. so i am very careful to maintain social distance when out and about (once a week shopping).

A decent optician will help.

[grendel]

1 minute ago, Poppy said:

A decent optician will help.

I have been to decent opticians, and taken examples of what i need to be able to focus on at one time, basically drawings with a lot of vertical lines, close together, and they have agreed varifocals or even bifocals are out, when i need to be able to see the top and bottoms of vertical lines two foot long, and distinguish between them at all points, you just cant wear varifocals as the lines go out of alignment and when i look from top to bottom i could end up skipping sideways be several lines, which in my job is a serious no no, thus three pairs of glasses. i am also awkward as i have one lazy eye and also need rotation of the axis of the spectacle lenses for the other

[BroadAmbition]

What about Laser treatment - Would that do it?

A mate of mine now in his early sixties had it done about five years ago.  Never see him wearing glasses anymore, he says it was the best money he had ever spent on himself

Griff

[grendel]

laser treatment effectively corrects for one lens of the glasses, which would probably be the distance, leaving me with 2 pairs, add to that the fact that every two years my prescription changes, two years down the line i would probably be back to square 1 with 3 pairs. every two years my reading glasses tend to become my vdu glasses and  i get new distance and reading glasses. maybe once i stop working and staring at a computer all day, things will settle down.