It is now April 1st.
My two boatyards (storage and mooring) are currently open in RI, but neither of them has any clue as to future restrictions. Can anyone suggest a reason that boatyards and marinas would be considered "essential" and be allowed to stay open with boaters socializing and congregating? My mooring yard runs a launch which for us is essential and they tell me they may limit passengers to maybe 3 at a time. For a field of 90 moorings that would cause lots of delays.
From my perspective, it looks like the earliest I could get to my yard to uncover and do all of the commissioning work would be early May. Given that projections are for this virus to peak between 1 and 3 weeks from now, even early May looks doubtful. So If I am looking at a June launching and then a 4 1/2 month sailing season at most, I am questioning if this is even worth all of the work to uncover, commission, clean the boat, deal with the damn seagulls dropping fish and crab remnants as well as liberal excrement as well, bad weather that always takes out a few weeks over the summer, and then having to decommission with all of the associated expenses and re-cover?
Then assuming that we do launch, where can we go? It would not surprise me to have Block Island, Martha's Vineyard, Nantucket, and many other ports closed to boaters. Even if you are allowed to go onshore, what might be the status of the restaurant and shops? This is depressing.
And my wife and I are over 70 and that puts us in the highest risk group. Will there be a "second wave" after social distancing is relaxed? Anything is possible.
So, is there anyone beside me that is thinking that it would be better to just stay on the hard this summer?
My two boatyards (storage and mooring) are currently open in RI, but neither of them has any clue as to future restrictions. Can anyone suggest a reason that boatyards and marinas would be considered "essential" and be allowed to stay open with boaters socializing and congregating? My mooring yard runs a launch which for us is essential and they tell me they may limit passengers to maybe 3 at a time. For a field of 90 moorings that would cause lots of delays.
From my perspective, it looks like the earliest I could get to my yard to uncover and do all of the commissioning work would be early May. Given that projections are for this virus to peak between 1 and 3 weeks from now, even early May looks doubtful. So If I am looking at a June launching and then a 4 1/2 month sailing season at most, I am questioning if this is even worth all of the work to uncover, commission, clean the boat, deal with the damn seagulls dropping fish and crab remnants as well as liberal excrement as well, bad weather that always takes out a few weeks over the summer, and then having to decommission with all of the associated expenses and re-cover?
Then assuming that we do launch, where can we go? It would not surprise me to have Block Island, Martha's Vineyard, Nantucket, and many other ports closed to boaters. Even if you are allowed to go onshore, what might be the status of the restaurant and shops? This is depressing.
And my wife and I are over 70 and that puts us in the highest risk group. Will there be a "second wave" after social distancing is relaxed? Anything is possible.
So, is there anyone beside me that is thinking that it would be better to just stay on the hard this summer?