René’s old blog
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High tide photography
High tide is a common phenomenon in Venice, and on some parts of the city it has a noticeable visual impact.
A normal high tide will usually reach a level of 80-90cm on the official scale, which will cause a few percent of the city to flood a bit, mostly around San Marco and the Rialto bridge.
Extraordinary high tides up to 110cm are by now reasonably common, and they happen practically every year, and often many times during a winter. At 110cm about 12% of the city floods, but in most places a pair of wellies will be sufficient to get around.
Exceptionally high tides of 140cm or more are rarer, but they do happen, and with ever higher frequency. At 140cm over 50% of the city floods. In most cases of exceptionally high tides you’ll need a pair of thigh high waders to move around the city.
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High tide in Venice
On a late Tuesday evening Fabio shouldn’t even be in his trattoria, which is only ever open for lunch. Yet here he was, sitting with his face in his hands behind the counter, while the water was pouring copiously inside. The barrier he had put in the front door was of little help keeping the […]
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Yes we can!
The city of Venice issued yet another ban on kayaking in the city canals on June 3rd, 2019, and Venice Kayak has taken the city administration to court yet again.
This is becoming a never ending story.
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Maintenance time
All wooden boats need regular maintenance, and a 45 years old gondola is definitely no exception.
This time we’ve had her cleaned under the water line and applied anti-fouling.
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Kayak ban – preliminary hearing
The municipal administration of Venice made an almost total ban on kayaks in the city canals on August 1st, 2018. Venice Kayak took the city to court and on March 20th, 2019, the TAR (tribunale amministrativo regionale – the regional administrative tribunal) sentenced in our favour.
On June 3rd, 2019, the city administration issued practically the same ban again, with some very minor changes, but with some of the formal issues from the first ban corrected. In our view they are blatantly in breach of the first sentence, but they did it anyway.
The TAR held a preliminary hearing of the case on July 3rd, because Venice Kayak had requested a temporary suspension of the ban until the actual hearing is scheduled. Unfortunately, the tribunal has not suspended the city decision so for not the ban on kayaks in the city canals stand.
However, it also doesn’t.
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The Plague Doctor
This week Be Venetian participated in the filming of a documentary on the Lazzaretto Novo. The island of Lazzaretto Novo is the oldest quarantine station in the world.
All travellers arriving in Venice from the late 1400s were subject to a health check. Those suspected of being infected with the plague were quarantined on the island of Lazzaretto Novo, until they were deemed safe.
A special “plague doctor” performed these health checks. From the early 1600s the plague doctor wore a distinct protective dress, which included a beaked mask.
We participaged in the part of the documentary where the plague doctor travels across the lagoon towards the Lazzaretto Novo island.
The Lazzaretto Novo is now a museum, open for guided visits on weekends.
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Kayaking ban – Venice Kayak?
Venice Kayak has to modify the range of tours on offer, due to the newest ban in kayaks in Venice. We can no longer do all the tours on all the days.
The municipal administration in Venice has issued yet another kayak ban in the city. Like the last time, they have done so without any kind of warning, literally from one day to the next.
While such procedures might be legally admissible, they are nonetheless morally reprehensible, leaving stakeholders with no time to prepare and adjust.
The hostility is obvious, and the city administration no doubt want to bleed us dry, knowing that we’re a small company with limited resources.
With the new rules, in force from Tuesday, June 4th, we can only paddle in Venice after 5pm on weekdays, after 3pm on Saturdays, and all of Sundays and holidays. We are forbidden 100% on the Grand Canal and a few other of the major canals in the city.
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New kayak ban in Venice
The municipal administration in Venice has issued yet another kayak ban in the city.
Their previous attempt failed disastrously in court. The tribunal decided that they had failed to prove that a kayak is more dangerous than many other vessels the city happily allows in the canals.
This time their reasons are these:
kayaks [and others] … are likely to cause damage to the decorous image of the historic city which, disregarding the uniqueness of its structure, is comparable to any other art city in Europe.
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Cruise ship accident in Venice
This morning a huge cruise ship, the MSC Opera, lost control in the middle of Venice city, hit the quay and a moored ship.
Four persons are hurt, but non seriously.
This must be the end of these monsters in the city of Venice. Ships that size do not belong in the lagoon.
Below are a handful of videos which show the dynamics of the accident from several different sides. After the videos I’ve tried to collect what information is available on the accident, the dynamics of it and its causes and effects.
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Paddling Planet update
Paddling Planet has been running for over ten years now, but due to a change of server I’ve had to replace the software behind the site.
The old software hasn’t been updated for years, and is by all means abandoned. After a bit of fiddling, I have managed to make things appear not entirely unlike before.
Please let me know if something is broken, presuming there are still people using the site 😜
www.paddlingplanet.com
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Ban on kayaking in Venice (continued)
The City of Venice did it again, and issued a ban on kayaking in Venice active from August 1st, 2018. Venice Kayak took the city to court, and won, so the ban is overturned for the time being.
The whole sorry affair is blogged on the Venice Kayak site.
This ban is unrelated to the 2015 ban discussed on this site.
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Be Venetian in Danish TV
Be Venetian coach René Seindal appeared on Danish national television on May 13th, 2019, in the show “Gintberg på kanten”, about the elections for the European Parliament.
René is Danish, and lives and works in Italy under the EU rules of freedom of movement.
In the show René tries to teach Gintberg to row the Venetian gondola, with some success 🙂
The show can be watched online here.
The section with René starts a 4:30 and ends at 10:00.
The “Gintberg på kanten” show is in Danish, without any subtitles.