The end date of the 2020 season was the usual Thanksgiving weekend, when the locks are opened up and the river level starts to drop to the normal winter level known as 0 feet at James St. station. Thanks to Chester and Pat and the others who helped to get the docks out. We encourage members to take part in this to help lighten the load and learn what is involved in the annual ritual.

As everyone knows, most things in 2020 were not the usual. Because of COVID the use of the clubhouse was restricted and we were not able to book any gatherings.

The river level was not normal for much of the summer and it shortened our boating season considerably. I will share some screenshots from the cities river level web page to show how it unfolded.

The graph above shows the river dropping in October after thanksgiving and the drop in May after a fairly high flood season that left the ground soaked and delayed the docks going in until the end of the month.

The river stayed normal for almost two weeks and the docks were in place and a small number of boats got in when the excess of rain to the south of us caused a 6 foot jump in the river. The docks were hanging on by chains and no more boats were allowed in. The tending of the chains is a demanding task, again thanks to Pat and Chester.

I got my boat in the river as June ended then pulled it out again a few days later as more record rains south of us caused a quick rise of about 7 feet. It was another 3 weeks before the docks could be secured well enough to allow all member boats in to start the season.

The rest of the summer was wonderful out on the water. It was nice to have the river to enjoy when so many other activities were shut down by the pandemic. Plans are in the works to improve the mechanics of the chains attaching the docks to the piles so that these river level interruptions are minimized.