Sailing allowed in lockdown

[SimonFa]

Its another stay at home order with no travel for exercise so I take that to mean no sailing.

That's left me in an interesting position. My free storage ashore comes to an end on Monday and I had a relaunch booked. I even told them yesterday I was good to go if they wanted to do it before then, but needed notice because I and the mechanic I use have to be there as he had the sail drive apart and so need 24 hours notice.

I really don't want them relaunching and moving Venezia to her berth even though I'd put my mooring lines out on the pontoon. That strikes me as all sorts of insurance problems if I'm not there. I presume I won't won't be charged for the storage?

I do like the idea of her being ashore for even longer as I won't be able to sail, so that a very small silver lined cloud.

 

[lustyd]

Unfortunately marinas seem happy to go ahead with launching so you probably will have to pay since they are able to fulfil the contract this time. You won't be allowed to be present though, and you're not allowed to maintain the boat.

 

[SimonFa]

Unfortunately marinas seem happy to go ahead with launching so you probably will have to pay since they are able to fulfil the contract this time. You won't be allowed to be present though, and you're not allowed to maintain the boat.

If that turns out to be the case I'd better inform my insurance company because its not just the risk with the launch and move, its the longer term one until I can check the mooring and that she's not taking on water. A good westerly gale, not uncommon in these parts at this time of year, could find her wedged in to the boats on the other side of the trot. Two of those boats are liveaboard.

 

[Lucky Duck]

It was published yesterday on gov.uk/coronavirus (National lockdown: Stay at Home for England). That said, the rules there now bear no resemblance to the strict ones that appeared last night so maybe we're off on the merry-go-round one more time. At least we have half a dose of vaccine to look forward to

That is the guidance, I understand we are promised the actual legislation later today.

Its another stay at home order with no travel for exercise so I take that to mean no sailing.

That's left me in an interesting position. My free storage ashore comes to an end on Monday and I had a relaunch booked. I even told them yesterday I was good to go if they wanted to do it before then, but needed notice because I and the mechanic I use have to be there as he had the sail drive apart and so need 24 hours notice.

I really don't want them relaunching and moving Venezia to her berth even though I'd put my mooring lines out on the pontoon. That strikes me as all sorts of insurance problems if I'm not there. I presume I won't won't be charged for the storage?

I do like the idea of her being ashore for even longer as I won't be able to sail, so that a very small silver lined cloud.

Tier 4 was also reported as a 'stay at home order' but I have had some quite pleasant day sails and neither MoD nor the 'normal' marine division have shown any interest in my activities.

During the first lockdown I counter myself fortunate that it was on the hard standing so when it was launched two days after the restrictions were lifted in May I had a clean hull and fresh anodes.

 

[st599]

The new updated guidance removes recreation as a reason for being out of the house and seems to require staying in the local area, but doesn't define what that means.

 

[lustyd]

It does if you look today. That means village, town or part of city which is pretty well defined. For instance you'd need to stay in Fratton if you live there, rather than Portsmouth. That effectively rules out sailing as very few people can sail within those parameters!

 

[Adios]

The new updated guidance removes recreation as a reason for being out of the house and seems to require staying in the local area, but doesn't define what that means.

Sailing is an odd one. Its certainly can be a sport, it really depends on the intention of the skipper, so it must surely be legitimate to say it is exercise. Just because you are not racing at that time, can someone watch you from the shore and decide you are NOT training for your next race? Because you enjoy it does that automatically downgrade it to recreation? Will presenting a sweaty smelly sock in court count as proof that I was exercising ??

Sport England had sailing down as a permitted activity in lockdown 2 so it might be worth keeping an eye on their guidance

 

[Lucky Duck]

It does if you look today. That means village, town or part of city which is pretty well defined. For instance you'd need to stay in Fratton if you live there, rather than Portsmouth. That effectively rules out sailing as very few people can sail within those parameters!

The guidance contains an exemption that you may travel for exercise. However the question remains whether any or all of that makes it into law.

 

[lustyd]

The new guidance didn't this morning and I still can't see that exception. Right now it says:

"This should be limited to once per day, and you should not travel outside your local area. "

"If you do leave home for a permitted reason, you should always stay local in the village, town, or part of the city where you live. "

 

[Adios]

I can't see how this could possibly be read to exclude being on your own, on open water, doing exercise on your boat. How is that different to being in a park on your bike? If I lived a short way from my boat, and just needed to get off the footpath, into a tender and row to my boat I would feel confident that I wasn't breaking the law

"You can only leave your home to exercise, and not for the purpose of recreation or leisure (e.g. a picnic or a social meeting). This should be limited to once per day, and you should not travel outside your local area.

You can exercise in a public outdoor place:

• by yourself

Public outdoor places include:

• parks, beaches, countryside accessible to the public, forests

Outdoor sports venues, including tennis courts, golf courses and swimming pools, must close."

 

[lustyd]

I can't see how this could possibly be read to exclude being on your own, on open water, doing exercise on your boat. How is that different to being in a park on your bike? If I lived a short way from my boat, and just needed to get off the footpath, into a tender and row to my boat I would feel confident that I wasn't breaking the law

"always stay local in the village, town, or part of the city where you live. "

You have water and a yacht within those parameters? Go for it! I'd say rowing away from shore is outside of that definition. It's clear that the spitit of this new lockdown is not to go anywhere. I argued for sailing previously, as recreation was intentionally allowed. This time not so much, stay home.

 

[Lucky Duck]

The new guidance didn't this morning and I still can't see that exception. Right now it says:

"This should be limited to once per day, and you should not travel outside your local area. "

"If you do leave home for a permitted reason, you should always stay local in the village, town, or part of the city where you live. "

Page 10, first bullet point (and elsewhere in the document)

• outdoor exercise. This should be done locally wherever possible, but you can travel a short distance within your area to do so if necessary (for example, to access an open space

There is no definition of "area" in the guidance which is why it is best to refer to the actual legislation rather than the guidance. Particularly as this statement would be nonsense if the test in your post was to be applied (i.e. village, town, etc)

In practice I suspect our ability to go sailing will depend on whether or not harbour masters take it on themselves to close their waters as they did in March and whether or not marinas and the like close their gates to us.

 

[lustyd]

Oh for goodness sake I missed that bit, and that's deeply frustrating that they'd still leave it open like that. The changing of other wording and the definition of local area now in the doc suggests the spirit of the guidelines has changed though so I'll be staying home now. I won't argue with those that interpret them that way though, if the government were competent the rules would be clear and we'd all be sailing by now.

Let's stay positive though, half a dose for all, some time this decade ?

 

[matt1]

I'll let the dust (& legislation) settle and then ring MDL. I'm on a Crown Estate mooring but MDL are due lift me out and relaunch me in March. No point me coming out the water if I can't work on the boat, or not even allowed to get the boat to their lift dock in the first instance. I'm also not in a position to pay someone to do my antifouling. I thought I'd be fine leaving my lift out until the end of March!

 

[Adios]

"always stay local in the village, town, or part of the city where you live. "

You have water and a yacht within those parameters? Go for it! I'd say rowing away from shore is outside of that definition. It's clear that the spitit of this new lockdown is not to go anywhere. I argued for sailing previously, as recreation was intentionally allowed. This time not so much, stay home.

It seems contradictory to say "always stay local in the village, town, or part of the city where you live. " and then use the examples of places you can go as "beaches, countryside accessible to the public, forests" which no one has in their village or town. No need to add estuary to that list as it seems covered by countryside.

The reason I don't think it is contradictory is because the "always stay" is the general rule with specific exceptions. We are allowed to travel for work. We are allowed to travel for exercise.

Going against the spirit of the law would be driving 100 miles past perfectly good forests and beaches to get to another one for no good reason. Or if you live in Birmingham insisting you have to go to a beach rather than countryside. But driving to your nearest forest or beach or countryside, which will always be outside your town or village, is a defined legitimate exception to the general rule.

 

[Adjag]

The guidance does seem a bit tighter than the March lockdown (eg it defines "local"), I think I read somewhere the legislation will be published Wed morning? I assume it'll be a Statutory Instrument (here or hereabouts The Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (All Tiers) (England) Regulations 2020)

 

[wully1]

The rules on the more civilised side of the border state:

local outdoor recreation, sport or exercise, walking, cycling, golf, or running that starts and finishes at the same place (which can be up to 5 miles from the boundary of your local authority area) as long as you abide by the rules on meeting other households

So I can pretty much carry on as normal as long as I stay away from the islands. And people - which is easy on a boat this time of year.
But I’ll be staying at home or in the Loch at most.
Id like to crack on with a bunch of upgrades that I was going to do alongside but I would expect that to be a No-No from the Marina.
Oh well, time spent planning is never wasted and there are many,many folk a lot worse off than me in this pandemic so I’m staying happy and staying home.

 

[Never Grumble]

At least we have half a dose of vaccine to look forward to

Over 70?

 

[Lucky Duck]

Just had an email from my marina assuring me they will be looking after my boat while I cant be there

Ho hum

 

[ryanroberts]

Other than being able to crew my boat from Tinder, nothing seems to be substantially different yet. Assuming the bridges still open up I will be going for a daysail on nice weekends. Marina services remain open, which makes a change from lockdown one where I had to wash my knickers in the sink and shower on board.