Scotland - When do you plan to launch?

[Deleted member 36384]

There has been plenty of comments from PHE and PHS about this dragging onwards until the end of the year. Also others warning that foreign travel is not likely for holidays. I have asked this question before and never received an answer, why have governments reacted like this and trashed the economies? Taking that further, why do you think they are continuing with similar strategies into this year? I think if it is left to its own devices, Covid would be a bigger wrecking ball than it already is.

My boat is a lunched, I am genuinely worried about it just sitting there, relatively safe in a secure marina. However, onshore would have been better as it removes a high degree of risk, with lesser risks introduced. So far the boat has sat through a number of gales, the marina staff have been diligent. I can construct all sorts of excuses for justifying going north to the boat, a 3 hour drive for me, but so far have resisted as the marina looks after the boat.

My thoughts, come April, if this is dragging on, would be to have the boat taken out the water around June, if there is no sign of this going away. I am not confident that we will be free to go sailing if we live outside the region where our boat is moored. I am not sure how fair that is, as I can justify to myself that I am only risking myself. However, we all know that is a fallacy.

The magic marker for you all should be me taking my boat out the water, if so, get ready to go sailing, if not get ready for lock down extensions. I always predict the governments actions wrongly.

 

[ProDave]

Might I respectfully point out we might not have later! Speaking rather grandly on behalf of "the retired" - don't wish your time away young man and never feel envy of those who are senior in years for 2 reasons.
1) You'll be here one day
2) Life as a workslave is not that bad - at least all your bits and pieces are probably still working well and your income still has opportunities to increase.

Seriously - if you could - would you swap?
I think not

Watching various friends and relatives getting old, and then falling off their perch earlier than expected. my mantra now is to retire as young as possible, and for me that means 60 and not a day past my 60th birthday.

Trying to ensure I get SOME retirement that I am still fit enough to enjoy.

 

[awol]

As an antidote to "Stay at Home" I went for a trawl through digital photographs from racing events since 2006, coincidentally the year I retired - my crew really should concentrate more! A lot more sunshine than I remember but the sad part was the number of faces that have died and boats that no longer came out to play. I intend to get a few more races in before I become just a faint memory.

 

[JumbleDuck]

Watching various friends and relatives getting old, and then falling off their perch earlier than expected. my mantra now is to retire as young as possible, and for me that means 60 and not a day past my 60th birthday.

Exactly my thinking. I'm actually going in the summer before my 60th birthday but delaying my pension until I reach 60. Worthwhile delay in my scheme. Meanwhile it's already great fun in work, whenever I am asked to do something, saying "You know that I'm only around for another three years, don't you?" And if they offer any sort of reasonable deal before then, I am offski. UInfortunately of my two main roles nobody else can do one and nobody else wants to do the other, so deals are, for the moment, unlikely.

On topic reason for leaving in the early summer: so I can move on to the boat for at least four months that year.

 

[Martin&Rene]

Jumbleduck gave a quote;

We may have a window of opportunity to prevent that if we get as many people vaccinated as quickly as possible, and maintain pandemic precautions until it is truly safe to relax them.

Thankfully I and 20 odd million British residents have already had a vaccination, in my case of a vaccine developed by Oxford University in England and paid for by the British Government. They are now forecasting that all the over 50’s will be vaccinated by the end of March. Death rates are declining rapidly.

Despite what some people seem to think, eliminating Covid is not possible in the same way that eliminating Flu is not possible. I think some people are forgetting the other effect of easing lockdown. It would mean that tens of thousands of people can go back to work and start earning a full wage. I am guessing that there are not many people on this forum who have been furloughed, made redundant, lost their job, closed their business, lost their business or ended up in debt. We cannot afford to stay in lockdown for ever.

When we finally do get out sailing, I will do as I did last year and that is to go out and spend money in all the places that I visit, as I recognise that the livelihoods of so many depend on the income from “tourists”. If we do not do that, we may find ourselves in future sailing from one "ghost town" to another.

 

[Deleted member 36384]

Jumbleduck gave a quote;

We may have a window of opportunity to prevent that if we get as many people vaccinated as quickly as possible, and maintain pandemic precautions until it is truly safe to relax them.

Thankfully I and 20 odd million British residents have already had a vaccination, in my case of a vaccine developed by Oxford University in England and paid for by the British Government. They are now forecasting that all the over 50’s will be vaccinated by the end of March. Death rates are declining rapidly.

Despite what some people seem to think, eliminating Covid is not possible in the same way that eliminating Flu is not possible. I think some people are forgetting the other effect of easing lockdown. It would mean that tens of thousands of people can go back to work and start earning a full wage. I am guessing that there are not many people on this forum who have been furloughed, made redundant, lost their job, closed their business, lost their business or ended up in debt. We cannot afford to stay in lockdown for ever.

When we finally do get out sailing, I will do as I did last year and that is to go out and spend money in all the places that I visit, as I recognise that the livelihoods of so many depend on the income from “tourists”. If we do not do that, we may find ourselves in future sailing from one "ghost town" to another.

It is mass tourism, priced to be competitive and with minimum profit margins, that just keeps many communities ticking over. Our yachting inputs to the finances of these places is probably minimum. My marina has seen zero reduction in my spend as a result of Covid and likely a significant reduction in their expenses as the public stay away; nice work if you can get it. Globally, as a result of Covid and Brexit, some sectors served from Scotland's exports have been significantly impacted: food and drink, Oil and Gas being two obvious examples.

As far as I can tell, elimination is not the objective, despite the lexicon used. It is minimum numbers to allow controls to be managed. Also, it is starting to appear that vaccination will play a significant role in reducing both transmissibility and lifecycle of the virus, but we still have a long way to go yet, in Scotland.

 

[ctva]

Might I respectfully point out we might not have later! Speaking rather grandly on behalf of "the retired" - don't wish your time away young man and never feel envy of those who are senior in years for 2 reasons.
1) You'll be here one day
2) Life as a workslave is not that bad - at least all your bits and pieces are probably still working well and your income still has opportunities to increase.

Seriously - if you could - would you swap?
I think not

You misunderstand my point and no, I am not wishing my life away but Martin&Rene sum it up nicely. As it is about livelihoods and those of us that do work treasure our few weeks freedom a year to recharge our batteries as much for mental health as anything else.

It has been said in many quarters that this pandemic and the reaction to it has widened the gap between the haves and have nots. As a ‘have’ in this situation I am luckier than many but worry for them.

 

[claymore]

You misunderstand my point and no, I am not wishing my life away but Martin&Rene sum it up nicely. As it is about livelihoods and those of us that do work treasure our few weeks freedom a year to recharge our batteries as much for mental health as anything else.

It has been said in many quarters that this pandemic and the reaction to it has widened the gap between the haves and have nots. As a ‘have’ in this situation I am luckier than many but worry for them.

I really don't think I misunderstood your point - it is a valid one. My point is that there are a few of us who would very probably trade places with you, given the chance!

 

[WoodyP]

Watching various friends and relatives getting old, and then falling off their perch earlier than expected. my mantra now is to retire as young as possible, and for me that means 60 and not a day past my 60th birthday.

Trying to ensure I get SOME retirement that I am still fit enough to enjoy.

I thought like you, until I reached 60. I found that having a job I enjoyed gave me purpose, and money to spend. I eventually jacked in work in 2019, looking forward to more time to enjoy things. Still enjoying stuff and not missing working, but Covid has rather reduced the opportunity to do other things.

 

[Skylark]

Skylark,
It might be worth posting some spare keys to the Marina and asking for the betteries to be put on charge (assuming you have a multi-stage intelligent cherger with shore power.

Two days later and the batteries are now on charge. Standing voltage readings for the 3 banks were recorded by the very helpful JWD marina staff. Domestic 12.5, engine 12.6 and Aux (bow thruster) 12.4. Not bad after standing for around 6 months.

A very grateful and appreciative berth holder.

 

[steve yates]

I thought like you, until I reached 60. I found that having a job I enjoyed gave me purpose, and money to spend. I eventually jacked in work in 2019, looking forward to more time to enjoy things. Still enjoying stuff and not missing working, but Covid has rather reduced the opportunity to do other things.

I could easily have stopped working at 35, too many other things to do and work just gets in the way, but with a young family and no money it was never an option Luckily I managed a lifestyle where despite working I got away a lot, usually managing a cumulative 3-4 months every year until, ironically, a couple of years ago. I'm 53 now and intend to make 2023 my last year of working, because 3-4 months just isnt enough! There is an entire world to carry on exploring.
I've worked a lot and worked hard but I've never bought into the work is good for you idea, it has been a necessary evil, albeit I managed to always make something I enjoyed doing. But never for its own sake, I would never do any of it if I wasn't being paid
I've never earned huge money, but my living costs have always been kept relatively low, and as much was spent on trips and travelling a year as the entire household budget used, and those experiences and memories are worth any number of new cars and sofas and kitchens and other consumerist shite that we are told to spend our money on.
Give me food, drink and tickets to far flung places over them any day And of course, boats just give you so much access and with accom to boot, they really are brilliant inventions1

 

[JumbleDuck]

I thought like you, until I reached 60. I found that having a job I enjoyed gave me purpose, and money to spend. I eventually jacked in work in 2019, looking forward to more time to enjoy things. Still enjoying stuff and not missing working, but Covid has rather reduced the opportunity to do other things.

I seriously thought about retiring at the end of 2019, but decided to hang on a few more years - not least because my pension increase by 8% for every year I do. In view of what has happened since, I'm glad I decided as I did. Two years of enforced idleness when I could have been earning would have been galling.

 

[mrangry]

I was lucky to retire at the end of 2019 at 50 years of age and looked forward to it in the years leading up to it. That said I feel a bit young to be on the scrap heap and with all this covid going on jobs are thin on the ground. I did set up a small landscape gardening company so will see where that takes me this year if I can stay away from the boat for a bit.

 

[WoodyP]

If only I could find a way of living frugally ?

 

[wully1]

I find it best not to think about it - in normal times, April is a tad early. The Chents cruise always ran on the first May Bank Holiday and it was always bloody cold. Despite global warming fears, it is likely that the pack ice will not have gone from Loch Melfort before May.
My agent - a fine fellow - Wullyum by name, will advise me when he has my dinghy ready for deployment....

I can have yer dindgy in the waattturr inside the hoor if ye want. Might take a bitty longer if yer Lairdship requires air in it.

 

[steve yates]

I can have yer dindgy in the waattturr inside the hoor if ye want. Might take a bitty longer if yer Lairdship requires air in it.

If you read this with the thought that dindgy is a new word for willy (not wully) it makes a horridly fascinating kind of sense. One then wonders who is the hoor and how long has his lairdship had issues with his "dindgy" needing air in it to come up

I'll get my coat.

 

[wully1]

If you read this with the thought that dindgy is a new word for willy (not wully) it makes a horridly fascinating kind of sense. One then wonders who is the hoor and how long has his lairdship had issues with his "dindgy" needing air in it to come up

I'll get my coat.

You have a very sick mind

 

[Martin&Rene]

Whilst they may not be liked by some of the previous posters, the Westminster crowd certainly got it right by sticking their neck out and funding the Oxford/AstraZeneca research and procurement programme, placing orders for many different vaccines and then developing a system for getting the doses into peoples' arms using an extended 2nd dose programme. Latest forecast is that all over 40's will have had a first dose by Easter.

So back to the original question!
By betting is still on that NS will delay opening up until 2 weeks before election day, despite the damage it is doing to anybody in the hospitality and other industries, just so she can say "What a clever girl am I".

 

[dunedin]

..........
So back to the original question!
By betting is still on that NS will delay opening up until 2 weeks before election day, despite the damage it is doing to anybody in the hospitality and other industries, just so she can say "What a clever girl am I".

So by my reckoning that would make me a political hostage ......or better a political refugee, so I could legitimately go and seek political asylum (by boat) in one of the other UK nations

 

[ProDave]

So back to the original question!
By betting is still on that NS will delay opening up until 2 weeks before election day, despite the damage it is doing to anybody in the hospitality and other industries, just so she can say "What a clever girl am I".

That is hoping the Scottish electorate have a short memory and never watch or read anything other than Scottish news.

Otherwise they will still remember at the election, that we were kept locked up a lot longer than England and Wales.