Date: Monday, May 11, 2020
To: Viking Rowing Club / Surfing community

Re: Surfing and singles rowing within social distancing guidelines

Thank you for reaching out to me individually. I am happy to report the commission and administration discussed your individual sports today. We agree that you can resume Wednesday, May 13 as long as social distancing guidelines are being followed.
Surfing and paddle boarding will be allowed, but gathering in groups on the beach is not. Please change and prepare for surfing off the beach and boardwalk until those areas are reopened.

Singles rowing and singles kayaking is allowed but doubles, quads and eights are not. ALL team sports are not yet allowed, and these fall under that category. In the case of Viking Rowing Club, we agree with your self-imposed guidelines that use of ergs, weights and congregating at the boathouse would not be permitted until further notice.
It is important that the social distancing modifications we have discussed leading up to today are followed. Today, Ventnor has 6 additional cases of Covid-19 for a city wide total of 24. We also have a number of employees and residents in 14 day quarantine due to contact tracing. These numbers and trends tell us we are far from past this national health crisis locally.
Practicing social distancing now is the only tool we have. The tendency to socialize during these activities is normal, but these times are not normal. The virus can be carried asymptomatically and inadvertently transmitted. Keeping the population of Ventnor as low as possible decreases the odds of transmitting the virus. For those reasons, we ask you to discourage your friends and members from traveling more than a few miles to our area to participate in rowing or surfing.
We hope that a slow easing of these restrictions over the next weeks and months will NOT result in increases in cases within your membership, groups and, of course, the city.

Thank you for taking this shared responsibility seriously, and please contact me with any questions.

Sincerely,
Tim Kriebel
Commissioner of Public Safety

https://www.downbeach.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Rowing-and-Surfing-May-13.pdf