Due to the Corona Virus Pandemic, it is no longer business as usual. Businesses are having to make changes or face going out of business. Jeff and I have been making changes to Liquid Fusion Kayaking and are committed to staying in business.
Jeff and I feel very fortunate that Liquid Fusion Kayaking is an outdoor business. For months of shut down, we were consulting with others in the outdoor and kayak industry about the challenges of the global health pandemic and how to minimize risk when we were allowed to reopen. In addition to the health and safety of our participants, we feel the responsibility to consider the health and safety of our community and our county/state/country. On the Mendocino Coast, we have a very small rural hospital with limited beds and only 2 ventilators. Many residents of our community are over the age of 65 and many have health issues and compromised immune systems.
We feel very fortunate that we were able to reopen, but it is definitely not business as usual. Kayaking in the great outdoors is very low risk in the whole scheme of what we know about how the Corona Virus is transmitted. However, we are erring on the upmost of caution.
For the summer of 2020, we have pivoted Liquid Fusion Kayaking's operation to include kayak rentals for the Noyo River. We have an ideal location for all age and abilities to get out on the water. Rentals enable people to kayak with people from their own household, go at the pace they want, and go when they want to go rather than being restricted to our tour schedule. We have implemented a contactless system for reservations, payment, and waivers.
We expanded our kayak fleet to include sit on top kayaks that are easy to use and fun for folks who want to swim and play in the water in addition to kayaking. A huge thank you to Dan and Josh at The Headwaters for their recommendations and helping us purchase a small fleet of Feel Free sit on top kayaks. I personally am loving the wheel in the back because it makes people smile and makes moving the kayaks much easier. It is a bit ironic that the model of our Feel Free tandems is Corona.
We also bought 40 new life jackets and paddles so that we could rotate them into service while used ones were being washed and drying. We are running our Noyo Meander and Noyo Sea Kayak Tours primarily as private tours or small groups. These tours are a great way for us to share the magic of our backyard waters with first time kayakers in a low risk way.
We shifted our kayak instruction focus from sea kayaking classes to private lessons. We designed a series of learn to kayak lessons for locals and visitors and have also implemented a fun and efficient 15 minute kayak skills tune up into our rental program. We are a little disappointed to tone down our ocean rock gardening adventures. We are running Whitewater of the Sea Adventures and rock gardening lessons as private lessons for individuals who can reliably self-rescue. Social distancing is not possible during face to face rescue situations. We feel the responsibility to avoid this unnecessary risk at this time.
We are having fun with our new programs and having fun in our own kayaking endeavors in our backyard. We both miss paddling whitewater rivers but have been having fun playing in the surf and rock gardens with our new Pyranha Rippers.
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| Having fun rock gardening and surfing the Pyranha Ripper aka the RipSnake. |
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| Fish Tacos! Jeff showing off a black cod that he caught while kayak fishing on the Mendocino Coast. |
We are determined to keep Liquid Fusion Kayaking a float and are developing some new ideas and programs for the future. Subscribe to Liquid Fusion Kayaking's monthly newsletter to get the scoop.
Be well, be kind, and stay healthy!!!
Cate
