Author Topic: Anybody think there going sailing this year  (Read 11415 times)

JEN-et-ROSS

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Re: Anybody think there going sailing this year
« Reply #25 on: May 20 2020, 08:50 »
Can I  put a little perspective on this.........
Bearing in mind that the UK as a whole has had to date about 36000 confirmed deaths from Cov-sar-2 infections and an estimated total of 45000+ or so deaths where Covid-19 was a factor, and this is certain to rise significantly.
By comparison....
The Western Isles (largely due to the very early intervention of CalMac, Loganair and Flybe (r.i.p) in halting non-essential travel,) recorded 6 confirmed cases about 6-7 weeks ago, these have all long since recovered, and there have been NO deaths.
Please understand that the thought of pleasure craft from the South entering these waters is a worrying prospect for this fragile community and that up here the marinas/moorings and harbours are still closed to all but commercial traffic.


Symphony

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Re: Anybody think there going sailing this year
« Reply #26 on: May 20 2020, 11:02 »
I appreciate your concerns - however there are very sound reasons why small isolated communities have not been affected. They simply do not have the conditions that allow the virus to spread. Currently, London with a population of around 9m has an estimated new cases figure around 25 a day. Why is it so low? - because the activities that provide the environment for transmission have ceased. Crowded pubs, tube trains, buses etc no longer exist. You can clearly see this from the graphs of the deaths in London - rapid rise then steep fall as soon as lockdown started. Compare this with Scotland, Wales, or indeed all the other areas where there are few large conurbations where the graphs are flat. In particular the South West where I live, is not only flat but extremely low. Dorset has the lowest number of cases per head of any county, despite having a large number of care homes, an elderly population and a conurbation with a population of nearly 1/2 million. One of the major problems of dealing with this pandemic is the need (choice?) to govern by slogan, and apply the same policies across the nation(s). I applaud the devolved governments for diverging, even though they are driven by largely political motives. We have fallen into the same trap as we did with Aids - trying to make this "everybody's" disease when it is clearly not. Transmission now is almost 100% related to care settings - hospitals and care homes. It is not transmitted in the open, or even in shops (how many supermarket checkout staff have caught it even though they are exposed to hundreds of people a day?).

Long winded way of saying you don't have anything to fear from visiting yachtspeople, but be wary of any healthcare worker who has recently worked in a setting where there are infected people.

Anyway, at the moment you won't see any visiting yachts as national rules forbid overnight stays on yachts. Our club opened up late last week and is a hive of activity as members get their boats ready or go out for a day's sail if they are ready. Even though I am in the extremely vulnerable group, I have no qualms about going to my boat - indeed will be off soon to do some varnishing. If it was ready for sailing, I would be out today, but my lift has been delayed until next week (should have been 8 April). Hopefully by the time the boat is launched that restriction will have gone and normality will resume (for sailing at least).

JEN-et-ROSS

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Re: Anybody think there going sailing this year
« Reply #27 on: May 20 2020, 15:12 »
Hi Symphony, many thanks for giving my post some thought and offering a view on the situation.
While I completely agree with most of your comments, there are a couple of additional points to consider purely from a 'island' point of view.....
That is that the 6 cases I mentioned, all as far as I understand it, originated in Stornoway, via harbour activities, because there were so few it was possible to trace contacts and quarantine those involved...So, since there have been no more in the intervening weeks we can assume the the islands don't have anybody who is carrying the virus at present. It would be rather tragic if that happy situation changed.
Also, unlike 'Aids' this IS everybody's disease, unlike Aids it is highly infections, so can, as has spread through unsuspecting communities before anyone knew it was there, Aids could not do this..
I'm actually relating the views of our daughter, who is in the 'front line' of this as a Consultant Geriatrician, currently in Glasgow though did spend specialist training in Stornoway....She and her colleagues are very frightened by this infection and the possibility of a second spike if the 'lock-down' is lifted too soon.
Not just due to the mortality but the strangely and unexpected high incidence of severe morbidity that many are burdened with on 'recovery'.
Anyway, I hope we can all set sail again at some point and the economy hasn't been totally tanked............

 

Symphony

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Re: Anybody think there going sailing this year
« Reply #28 on: May 20 2020, 15:52 »
Yes, the answer is in contact tracing and isolation and as has been shown in countries that are good at it, the hot spots follow a distinct pattern being volumes of people in close proximity in confined spaces - night clubs, religious gatherings, migrant worker dormitories, close knit multi-generational communities as examples, in addition to the obvious health care settings. While it is more infectious than Aids and the transmission is different, its effects for the majority of the population are less severe than flu viruses. For those who are more severely affected, the elderly, those with existing conditions, probably those from some ethnic backgrounds, the strategy is to avoid being in a position where you can get infected. Some, like me who are active and in control of our own actions do this by following simple rules. Others, such as those who work in certain environments, or are of necessity in a vulnerable setting like a care home or hospital do not have the same choice. The result is what we see daily in the figures.

The challenge for our leaders is to propose policies that recognise these differences in risks and consequences. As we see from the current debate over opening schools (a low risk and low consequence move) they are hit with a wall of unfounded fear for which they are partly to blame because of their own campaign to make this "everybody's" disease.

Thankfully, recreational sailing is in the very low risk and consequence category of activities, particularly if all of the potential transmitters are traced and quarantined. Apart from not being able to stay on the boat overnight, singlehanded and family group sailors do not have any unique restrictions under the current rules in England. Equally they are unlikely within those rules to sail to any other nation in the UK.

We must be grateful for any bit of good news these days!

The Other Woman

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Re: Anybody think there going sailing this year
« Reply #29 on: June 23 2020, 16:08 »
Well it looks like we are back on the water from the 4th July but we're do we go?
Scotland not open
Ireland   not open
Wales.    Not open
Isle of Man  not open
So if you hear of anywhere that's open can you post it and we all might meet up there ;)
Thanks
Mick

Symphony

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Re: Anybody think there going sailing this year
« Reply #30 on: June 23 2020, 16:26 »
Wrong end of the country but lots of activity in Poole, but so far no overnighting. First went out on 16 June and it was almost like a summer weekend, what with lovely weather (but no wind) and lots of owners on furlough. Nearly all club boats back in the water except mine which had to come out for re coppercoating the keel. Will be back in Thursday and raring to go.