Our Club will be practicing social distancing and launch load reductions. Also, if there is/are many members wanting transfer to their boat, then only the captain shall be taken out with the captain coming into the docks to pick up their crew..
Social distancing on a launch?
- Thread starter TimFromLI
- Start date
After 4 years of medical school, I can tell you that this new virus is nothing like like the influenza virus.
The corona virus is killing young healthy adults without any known risk factors, quite unlike the flu. It’s causing permanent disability and death via stroke, brain hemorrhage, kidney failure and other non-respiratory complications.
I’m practicing strict social distancing and infection control. I don’t want to cause the death of anyone in my family or community.
Dr. Judy Blumhorst
The corona virus is killing young healthy adults without any known risk factors, quite unlike the flu. It’s causing permanent disability and death via stroke, brain hemorrhage, kidney failure and other non-respiratory complications.
I’m practicing strict social distancing and infection control. I don’t want to cause the death of anyone in my family or community.
Dr. Judy Blumhorst
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Well the virus is real and it is killing people on Long Island. On the street where I live, 3 of my neighbors in two different households have had it. One of them lost his mother to it. One club member has had it and another has a cousin near death from it. It's a yacht club, most of our members are old. I am just trying to see what is reasonable and safe. In NY masks are the law in public places, for the safety of others, not the wearer. So all guests will wear masks and I think that taking 2 captains at a time OR members of same household will be the answer. I appreciate the input on safety measures. I think the touch and go at the dock will help to alleviate the launch backlog. I usually go down to the boat to tinker before everybody else anyway.
Herd immunity is a great concept and will be the ultimate defense, I suspect. I understand Oxford got a big jump on developing a vaccine already, so maybe that too. In the mean time, self-quarantine, stay-at-home offers, and social/physical distancing WILL slow the spread, so the stressed medical system can better utilize its limited resources to help those who are having a harder time than others. Masks and TP aren't the only things we are low on. Limited availability to ventilators, for example, could be a much bigger problem if we all just went out and got sick. On the other hand, that could sure free up a lot of beds in nursing homes and save families a lot of money. It all depends on what's important to you.
-Will (Dragonfly)
-Will (Dragonfly)
Fellow SBO-ers. No matter your opinion on the virus, I think we can all agree it's important; probably the most important world event of our lifetimes. I really don't want to shut down threads and eliminate the topic. But to avoid that we need two things from everyone:
1. Tolerance for other points of view.
2. A common set of facts. And by that, I mean facts from major universities, noted virologists, and the CDC or equivalent. No politicians, no blog posts, no doctors who made their fortune selling weight loss books, etc. There are other forums where you can cite that stuff all day long. In the interest of the lives of our fellow sailors, this is not one of them. If it turns out I'm wrong I'll be the first person lining up to apologize. If you have questions or comments please PM me but please do not post them here.
Thank you. And now back to our regularly scheduled programming.
1. Tolerance for other points of view.
2. A common set of facts. And by that, I mean facts from major universities, noted virologists, and the CDC or equivalent. No politicians, no blog posts, no doctors who made their fortune selling weight loss books, etc. There are other forums where you can cite that stuff all day long. In the interest of the lives of our fellow sailors, this is not one of them. If it turns out I'm wrong I'll be the first person lining up to apologize. If you have questions or comments please PM me but please do not post them here.
Thank you. And now back to our regularly scheduled programming.
I have a hankering for a doughnut. You send them Alberta doughnuts south of the border for a taste test... Not sure they will have any viral effect but they are likely to taste good and brighten up one’s day. Just make them low fat and use air express shipping. I hear once they get out of the cold weather and down here near a civilized temperature, they have a habit of disappearing.
Low-fat doughnuts are like jumbo shrimp.
Phil, I so agree with both these points, and I think they are related to some degree. This crisis has made it easy to climb up on the moral high ground for some and to act brave and stupid for others. The time spent criticizing others in nasty ways should be better spent doing real research on risk levels and mitigation strategies for ourselves.
As for how they are related, I have never seen such manipulation of facts by media to further an agenda. This then has allowed consumers of this media (both sides) to think there is a solid factual basis for their positions and look no further. Evidence of the phenomenon can be generally seen in the response split along age lines. Younger folk who are glued to social media and the internet in general seem much more concerned about the lockdown and older generations seem much more likely to be advocating for return to work and then getting out there.
I am a member of a couple of risk groups but have been at work every day since this started trying to be sensible in terms of hand washing, social distancing, and exposure to risk. My head and heart both think Sweden has it right.
Although I no longer moor my boat I still get emails from my old boatyard. I got a notice that their launch service will have no more than 4 persons on board at a time. limiting it to 2 persons per boat (family members). They did recommend using your personal dinghy if possible. All I could think about is how busy the launch drivers are going to be. I now slip my boat a few harbors south. I'm still not sure if I'll be launching this season. Tore my MCL and meniscus skiing late February and elective surgery has been sidelined for now. I'm mobile but uncomfortable. I'll be deciding soon but am waiting to see what areas in my sailing grounds will be open. Can't see a robust restaurant business, live music and dancing (the Admiral) going on. I'm sure all the quiet anchorages now being crowded. Until then I will continue working on boat projects. The weather here is still pretty cold.
Stay safe, not only for yourself but for everyone you are around.
Stay safe, not only for yourself but for everyone you are around.
I can't believe you are so cavalier about this pandemic. Over 75,000 Americans are now dead that were alive and looking forward to 2020 on December 31st, 2019.
So if the limit is 3 people on the launch and the “powers that be” are attempting to abide by the 6ft distance advisory then 21/3 = 7. Add another person and you get less than 6. Yes there is the argument about same household but that’s ignoring the safety of the launch operator (wouldn’t you just love to have that job right now!). How do you prove and/or check that people are from same household???
Could/should the club add more launches for this season?
I note there is a lot of questioning of the decision makers in this and several other threads these days. Understandable and I’m not claiming I’m innocent of that. However I would like to offer a few things to consider:
1) If you don’t like the decision makers that are impacting your life run for their office.
2) Before you run for office volunteer your time as a coach, trainer, sponsor of a youth organization. The interaction with parents and some of the kids will thicken your skin.
3) Lets not forget that this is a sailing forum.
Take care of yourself and others.
Yikes. It's not very often than uncle @Phil Herring pipes up and states the premise for discussion. Far be it from me to offer my opinion, it's usually wrong and presented from deep in the posterior, but I'd suggest you guys heed the advice as presented
I question whether that is safer, both in terms of distancing (que at dock) or old fashioned accidents. I'm not a COVID-denigher, I swear, it just sounds less safe, over all, to me. Many people are not that confident or skilled single handing near docks. I think it would be safer to allow 2 people.
I visited my boat today but did not get to go out--engine trouble.
I observed that the fishing charter boats were heading out, but that they seemed to be limiting the group size to 6-10 people (these are 45-foot boats) and required masks for everyone, no exceptions.
I observed that the fishing charter boats were heading out, but that they seemed to be limiting the group size to 6-10 people (these are 45-foot boats) and required masks for everyone, no exceptions.
I am one of the powers that be but I am only one vote and one opinion. I am just trying to figure out what is both safe and practical. I don't want the launch drivers intimidated by members behaving badly because a rule has no basic common sense and more importantly, I don't want to see a launch driver or elderly member get sick. My 12 years of coaching kids sports taught me that the adults are not the most reasonable people and my 6 years on the board have taught me that the members sometimes aren't either. Thanks for your input, stay safe.So if the limit is 3 people on the launch and the “powers that be” are attempting to abide by the 6ft distance advisory then 21/3 = 7. Add another person and you get less than 6. Yes there is the argument about same household but that’s ignoring the safety of the launch operator (wouldn’t you just love to have that job right now!). How do you prove and/or check that people are from same household???
Could/should the club add more launches for this season?
I note there is a lot of questioning of the decision makers in this and several other threads these days. Understandable and I’m not claiming I’m innocent of that. However I would like to offer a few things to consider:
1) If you don’t like the decision makers that are impacting your life run for their office.
2) Before you run for office volunteer your time as a coach, trainer, sponsor of a youth organization. The interaction with parents and some of the kids will thicken your skin.
3) Lets not forget that this is a sailing forum.
Take care of yourself and others.
As with any reopening in these “abnormal” times any decision is challenging. I would think that anyone at your club will be overjoyed about getting out on the water and hopefully be patient and understand that decisions made are for safety reasons.
Here’s some thoughts for what they are worth.
If the starting number is small it lets people get accustomed to how to make it work on the launch. There might be potential to increase if everyone is behaving. Starting out too high and reducing will be much harder.
If the wait time is causing too much trouble then present the idea of multiplying the number of launches. So how much are members willing to pay for faster service.
"Same household" is just a convenient way to describe the situation. It doesn't matter. If a group of eight guys come strolling down the dock and they are high-fiving, chest bumping, getting in each other's faces, they are a group of related adults who are already giving and getting what each other has. Limiting their group to two at a time on the launch won't make them safer. It will, in fact, leave some of them behind, where the possibility of some other unrelated person might come upon them while they wait on the dock longer than needed be. If two people arrive separately to the launch, on the other hand, they would be better served to board the launch and ride out to their boat, one at a time.
This says nothing about the safety to the pilot. An N95 mask and an understanding of how to wear it, take it off, sanitize it while keeping hands sanitized, should be enough for the pilot as long as everyone is in open air and no direct touching.
-Will (Dragonfly)
It’s going to be hot in those masks come summer. Compliance will be an issue with many, even if they want to comply. Riding a launch outdoors is better than most other forms of shared transport, but mask compliance will help.