The pool sessions have been canceled in several locations. That actually freed me up to boat yesterday since normally I help with a beginner class. I got in a car with others for the shuttle and didn’t think twice about it, Then I got slightly pummeled on creek- at least in those brief seconds it seemed a lot more important to be tucked up tightly (scraping over rocks) than worry about the corona virus. My outdoor activities will increase (when eventually I stop going to work) but I am likely to do more solitary hiking than group boating. On Sat I went hiking and saw a group of virginia boaters (out of state) boating on Piney (class IV/V creek) at a beefy water level. It has the reputation as a s**t creek (sewage) and indeed had a slight oder. I’d say those folks had bigger more immediate things to worry about than Corona. Risk is relative. It was also an indication that people are still traveling out of their home state to boat. That’s something I can’t do as a state employee right now but I didn’t have those plans anyway.
I checked the pantry for tp. I’m good to go, no worries
The consensus around here seems to be that paddling is fine, but the shuttle and social events before and after are problems.
I’m not big on the social events anyway, but I am torn on the shuttle. I think the risk is low, but 4 or 5 people jammed in a car certainly doesn’t meet the social distancing guidelines. Put fewer people in the car, and that means that more people need to share a car a second time for the return trip - which is worse? Would opening the windows help? Disinfecting hands before and after you get in the car? Masks? Maybe we should all bring bikes for bike shuttles. I guess I can wait a couple of weeks to see how this plays out, but I’ll be bummed if we can’t paddle whitewater this spring because of this.
For now I guess it is hikes and “up-and-back” flatwater trips that don’t involve a shuttle for me. I didn’t paddle this weekend, but I did do a nice hike along one of our local rivers - it felt great to be outside.
The best thing you can do for your physical and mental health is to go outside and get fresh air and exercise. Hunkering down indoors is counterproductive.
How has the global crisis that never was effected me?
Well the end of hockey was postponed and probably canceled. I found that out as I was trying to buy tickets last week. Also the indoor football league is postponing their season. I’m a season ticket holder and since the season already goes into late June, there will certainly be game that are now scheduled where I am too busy to go, since the season will be pushed at least until the end of July.
Store shelves being empty doesn’t bother me too much. I tend to have extra of paper products and enough of the basics in the pantry to stay away from the morons in the stores. At least as long as I have more meat in the freezer!
As for paddling I don’t see how it would effect me anyway. I don’t tend to paddle with other people so anyone else’s fears don’t effect me. The fact that it was about 16 degrees out when I woke up yesterday and 21 today has however had an effect on my paddling. I just haven’t been able to muster the hard core required to paddle in that temp recently.
Both of the places I teach and guide for have shut down. One is UCSF, which has basically shut down academic classes and all other group activities (gym, pool, etc.) and as a teaching hospital is on the front line of fighting this (and has had a couple of positive tests with some staff), so no surprises there.
The other is a local, family owned rental, tour, and class location. They just announced a shutdown to end of month (at minimum). They looked at paddling and figured that was safe, but looked at the registration and rental gear and couldn’t ensure that the virus couldn’t be passed in that process, so figured it would be best to shut down as part of the effort to flatten the curve. Helps that this is a slow time, so the financial burden likely isn’t too bad, but I suspect they would have shut down even if it was the middle of the high season.
Personal disruption - I was planning a 10-day-ish paddling trip in Taiwan, which was canceled a few weeks back. Hopefully 2021.
Adding to what @Overstreet said about Sterling being from area (Washington state, where Skooks is just north of Vancouver, BC), in may ways Sterlings were designed with Skooks in mind. The Hurricane Riders were a group from BC who surfed Skooks a lot and were integral in the Sterling designs.
That takes us through most of the whitewater paddling season. I know there are a lot of solitary paddlers around here, but as someone who does a lot of group trips, this is getting depressing…
The New York Paddlesports Racing Association (Formerly the NY Marathon Canoe Racing Association) recommends canceling or postponing all upcoming races for the next two months, now through May. There are some very important and popular early races included in this time period.
Personally I will miss those races, but will continue my personal fitness training paddling solo canoe. But am currently still awaiting ice out.
Just learned that the pool where my kayaks are stored has locked down until April 6. Not a big deal right now as this is what the water looks like here and we have an incoming storm this week. But if things thaw out at the end of March, will be calling/emailing to try to get them home. All they’ll need to do is unlock the doors then move to another room, but it will take me two trips.
“Gimme two yaks, gimme two yaks, mister!
Gimme two yaks through your door?
Gimme two yaks, gimme two yaks, mister,
and I won’t breathe on you no more!”
Socially distanced from your yaks, or so some have herd.
Just got back from paddling here in Michigan and saw far more people outside than usual, adults and teenagers (school’s out “for 3 weeks”). OTOH my 401k is now a 301k so I may not be buying that new bent shaft paddle after all.
