Ignoring COVID-19 regulations

arto

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The current guidelines for England state that:

"You are not permitted to stay overnight away from the place where you are living..."

and

"Day trips ... are permitted as long as you can return the same night."

(See 1.15 in the FAQ, or check out the latest amendments to the legislation where you will find "No person may, without reasonable excuse, stay overnight at any place other than the place where they are living," though since the regulations don't actually define "overnight" there could be some interesting arguments on that topic.)

Marinetraffic, and the discussions elsewhere on this site, indicate that a significant number of people are ignoring or considering ignoring the guidelines. Are the using their "instinct" like Dominic Cummings, or are they simply unaware of the rules?
 
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pvb

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Oh dear, another sad post from one of the forum police force. Staying overnight on a boat, either alone or with one's wife/partner, is going to introduce absolutely no danger to anyone else. People need to be sensible, not religiously follow mindless rules.
 

arto

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I'm neither police nor part of any force.

I'm sure the people who choose to break the regulations can justify it - to themselves at least. I'll put you down for "instinct" then.
 

arto

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It looks to me as if it would be perfectly legal to sail around the UK. You would just need to do day sails (some of which would be long, but that's OK since the hours of "overnight" are not specified) provided that you travel home at the end of each day. Unfortunately while it might be legal, it would be somewhat impractical, not to say expensive.

If you can make your normal home unsafe, then it would be legal to stay elsewhere overnight. So renting a rabid dog and leaving it in your house (for example) would provide you with a perfect excuse to go sailing and stay onboard overnight since you could employ the "escape risk of harm" excuse. An easier alternative might be to generate a raging argument with a neighbour/spouse/family member who then threatens you with violence, in which case the same excuse would presumably apply, though I guess your neighbour/spouse/family member might get into trouble as a result.
 

LONG_KEELER

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Oh dear, another sad post from one of the forum police force. Staying overnight on a boat, either alone or with one's wife/partner, is going to introduce absolutely no danger to anyone else. People need to be sensible, not religiously follow mindless rules.

It's unfortunate that you respond with aggression when there is no reason to.

I think that many people agree that over nighting on the hook produces very little risk
in spreading the virus.

People generally abide by the law and expect to being prosecuted for not doing so. I
have no intention of reporting anyone as it's up to them what they do. I think that many
people just do not know about the restrictions.
 

DownWest

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Are the fuzz lkely to look at peeps overnighting on their boats? Plenty of 'work' with the masses on the beaches.
Unless reported by sad people, a none event. Plus, doubt they would chase it up.
 

V1701

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It looks to me as if it would be perfectly legal to sail around the UK. You would just need to do day sails (some of which would be long, but that's OK since the hours of "overnight" are not specified) provided that you travel home at the end of each day. Unfortunately while it might be legal, it would be somewhat impractical, not to say expensive.

If you can make your normal home unsafe, then it would be legal to stay elsewhere overnight. So renting a rabid dog and leaving it in your house (for example) would provide you with a perfect excuse to go sailing and stay onboard overnight since you could employ the "escape risk of harm" excuse. An easier alternative might be to generate a raging argument with a neighbour/spouse/family member who then threatens you with violence, in which case the same excuse would presumably apply, though I guess your neighbour/spouse/family member might get into trouble as a result.

I don't think you'd need to go to such drastic lengths at all, we're allowed to anchor off (I don't think they've specified a limit on the number of nights ) so you could theoretically keep going as long as you like with impunity as long as all you ever do is anchor off...
 

arto

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You need to get a life, as does the OP.

Already got one, thanks.

Agree with @DownWest that the police are unlikely to take an interest, so the chances of being prosecuted are small. Doubtless many people feel the same way, and perhaps the law is only really intended to be obeyed by "sad" people. Political advisers and others know better :cool:
 

pvb

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Already got one, thanks.

Agree with @DownWest that the police are unlikely to take an interest, so the chances of being prosecuted are small. Doubtless many people feel the same way, and perhaps the law is only really intended to be obeyed by "sad" people. Political advisers and others know better :cool:

Go on, tell us all that you never exceed 70mph on the motorways..... ;)
 

arto

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And there are loads of exceptions.

Here they are. Sadly none of them seem to apply to my wish to "go for a nice long sail," which is a shame. @pvb - any suggestions?


(2) For the purposes of paragraph (1), the circumstances in which a person (“P”) has a reasonable excuse include cases where—

(a)P needs to stay elsewhere to attend a funeral, as—

(i)a member of the deceased person’s household,

(ii)a close family member of the deceased person, or

(iii)if no-one within paragraph (i) or (ii) is attending, a friend of the deceased person;

(b)P is an elite athlete, a coach of an elite athlete, or (in the case of an elite athlete who is under the age of 18), a parent of the elite athlete, and needs to stay elsewhere for the purposes of training or competition;

(c)P needs to stay elsewhere while moving house;

(d)it is reasonably necessary for P to stay elsewhere—

(i)for work purposes, or for the provision of voluntary or charitable services;

(ii)to provide care or assistance to a vulnerable person, including relevant personal care within the meaning of paragraph 7(3B) of Schedule 4 to the Safeguarding of Vulnerable Groups Act 2006;

(iii)to provide emergency assistance;

(iv)to avoid injury or illness, or to escape a risk of harm;

(v)to obtain medical assistance;

(e)P needs to stay elsewhere to fulfil a legal obligation or participate in legal proceedings;

(f)P is a child that does not live in the same household as their parents, or one of their parents, and the overnight stay is necessary to continue existing arrangements for access to, and contact between, parents and children;

(g)P is unable to return to the place where P lives, because—

(i)it is not safe for P to live there,

(ii)P may not lawfully travel there, or is required by law to stay in another place, or

(iii)the place where P is living is not available to P for any other reason.
 

Keith 66

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Quote (iii)the place where P is living is not available to P for any other reason. Unquote.

"Well officer the tide has gone out & i cannot get back up the creek". Think that covers it.
 

ryanroberts

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I’m not a lawyer but that wouldn’t seem to work. The place actually is available to P, but P is unable to avail himself of it.

Previous home is on a brokerage mooring. Trying to think of one that doesn't involve saying the live aboard word to marinas
 

bdh198

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Forum Anchoring COVID Police Alert...!!!

?...?...?‍♂️

I can’t think that all these boats have a “reasonable excuse” for staying over night away from the place they are living, and that’s only the ones who forgot to turn their AIS off! If the police bothered to get a launch out they would probably do quite nicely with all the PCNs they’ll be able to issue.

8AC5276F-1AD8-411A-A20E-FD8C75841B6C.jpeg

Each and everyone of those little pink AIS dots has a past track showing them arriving at Newton Creek today (yep, I checked them all - I seriously need a life).

On a more serious note, it’s not a good look that so many yacht owners (already seen as a “privileged class” in the eyes of much of the public and press) are giving the Regulations the Dominic Cummings middle finger.
 
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