Lockdown.

[Beryl]

I’m privileged to look down over one of the finest reef breaks in Cornwall. Today there was excellent surf and about thirty surfers out all day on average. As an ex-surfer I’m tending to think they are socially distancing otherwise they would crash into each other but others may think they are ignoring the rules and should be fined as they hop back onto dry land. It’s a bit like kayaking in some ways...

[adventureagent]

I'm with u. The problem is when we pack our sh after, or before. We forget and get too close. So, I guess really I'm thinking we all need to go individually. That includes transport to/from. My friends paddle together, travel together. Live in different houses with their families. Great vectors. And yet there's so much space out there on the water. ride-sharing shouldn't be part of our practise, I think.

[jam bo]

Leven?

As long as they are local, I don’t think surfing or kayaking isn’t allowed under the current guidelines.

But define local. If they did, it would be easier...

[P4ddy]

Leven?

As long as they are local, I don’t think surfing or kayaking isn’t allowed under the current guidelines.

But define local. If they did, it would be easier...

Well you can travel 25 miles according to Dominic Cummings.

[P4ddy]

https://www.cornwalllive.com/news/cornw ... id-4921075

[jamesl2play]

We cannot even paddle on a canal in Wales. No driving for exercise either.
If I could I would, if the surfers are local then good luck to them.

[ChrisJK]

Covid doesn't like salt water, but I wouldn't wish to put the RNLI at risk because I inadvertently took a swim.
If I could trolley my kayak to a canal I just might have given it a go.
The advice is to live as far as possible as if one had Covid, It is damaging us all for sure. As adventurereagent points out it's the car sharing and similar activities that are a possible problem.
Watching footballers make their overpaid celebrations winds everyone up!
This forum is good therapy, I've picked up loads since joining and have been using time to prepare for when I can more freely get on the water.
Numbers are dropping in my area but apparently the South African variant has landed locally.

[Chris Bolton]

Watching footballers make their overpaid celebrations winds everyone up

They claim it's impossible to resist celebrating; I'm sure footballers in previous generations were more restrained. It's an interesting contrast with the celebrations of Ben Ainslie's America's Cup crew as they won their 5th race to reach the final of the Prada Cup - in a country with no Covid restrictions, I saw one crew member pat another on the back.

[Jim]

The principle that should be being promoted is to to take your exercise as close to home as it is safe to take it, and to take whatever form of exercise is normal or you.

The Welsh situation is appalling, and I beleive is causing paddlers to take more risky forms of exercise.

[Aled]

I don't know what Canoe Wales are advising (I'm not a member), but the Welsh Gov position is clear: it isn't illegal to go kayaking/canoeing, they only request us not to.

From the Welsh Gov website:
"There are no legal limits on the kind of exercise that is permitted. However, in practice, this will be constrained... to start and finish at home..."
"... we also ask people to avoid activities that involve a significant degree of risk (for example, swimming or other exercise at sea or in lakes, rivers and other waterways)."
"There are no limits on the distance you can travel during exercise, though the nearer you stay to your home, the better. Your exercise should start and finish from your home and generally, this should not involve people driving to a location away from home."
"The need to carry sports equipment is not regarded as a justification on its own for driving in these circumstances."

From this I take that the Police will not be able to issue fines for someone who shoulders/trollies their kayak from their house to the water, but if you get it wrong and call out the rescue services, or alternatively if someone maliciously or spitefully calls the rescue service, you'll be at the mercy of being shamed by the media, social media, etc.

[jamesl2play]

From the Canoe Wales web site:

'Therefore, to comply with advice from Welsh Government, Canoe Wales advises that all paddlers stay off the water for as long as Wales remains in Alert Level 4. All Canoe Wales-affiliated clubs must close from 20 December 2020, and all paddlesport activities and events in Wales must be cancelled, including coaching courses and training sessions.'

[Aled]

Again, not sure how it is elsewhere, but in Wales it seems to depend what sort of boating you're into:

From my local sailing club: "Individual boating is still permitted as legitimate exercise if you “…have access to water local to you”. So the slipway will remain open but the clubhouse facilities, including the toilets, are closed".
The locals are having a wonderful spell of winter sailing in their single-handed dinghies.

[Beryl]

On the first lockdown on a good surf day the local helicopter rescue pointedly hovered near the break for five minutes with no effect on the rascals. Yesterday it just flew over on its ‘once a week show the flag around the coast’ sortie. It’s difficult to police surfing and they look after there own if it’s serious... I broke my nose in a New Year’s Day surfing session. It was greeted with hoots of laughter by my fellow surfers. Even when I turned up at Truro casualty in my wetsuit they didn’t take me seriously. The doctor just grabbed my nose, clicked it back straight and didn’t even put a plaster on it....

[P4ddy]

You can do whatever you like in Southampton. Gyms are open, hairdressers are open, pubs are open and yet we are in tier 4. So bring your kayaks and paddle the itchen. No one cares it seems.

[seawolf856]

Or just take to your 'local' river, like the Dee in Chester yesterday, despite the blizzard.

[Beryl]

I hope you didn’t have to paddle from your front door!

[seawolf856]

It’s local but thankfully not right up to my front door. There are however many properties along the river which have been badly affected. We spoke to a couple who asked us for help with their damaged pontoon, their boat had been swept away and found 10 miles downstream in the Dee estuary!

[DaveCrampton]

I'm fortunate to live on the Forth, in Fife. We have been for a short paddle as it is local. On Sunday we had superb weather, and an ebb tide and tailbreeze to drift home on.

[seawolf856]

Wow, what a back yard!

[Owen]

That's my local water as well, trouble is I don't live in Fife. I live in Clackmannanshire and the sea is over five miles away. I can still walk in the Ochils so I shouldn't complain.