Barry was Commodore when I joined the club and I would see him regularly on the back of his big boat at the centre of the outside dock.
The last few years his boat has not been in its slip but I have had the pleasure of saying hello when he stopped by to visit. Barry did us the great service of taking charge and caring for the club for so many seasons.
Summer on the river in 2021 turned out to be a long warm season defined by the closing and opening of the locks at Lockport. With so little rain, the level of the river was consistently near normal and the river never did flow strongly. The lack of current added to the growth on ours boat hulls and the docks, so cleanup was a a bigger job than usual. Our new electric power washer helped with that.
The pandemic restrictions kept the clubhouse mostly closed but as the restrictions eased up people were able to meet on the docks and I hear there was some fairly regular barbecues on the weekends.
The lost revenue from being unable to rent out our space was lessened by income from a movie shoot on our site. The movie production painted the garage a green colour that has not been appreciated and there are plans to cover it up next year.
Movie production alters the look of our garage.
There are a few activities making use of our river access this winter as well. A curling tournament and a company that harvests ice will be using our ramp in the upcoming months.
Well they are not quite ‘in’ yet, but the task of assembling and attaching the docks is nearly complete and on May 31st members will be parking their boats on the water.
Empty docks after sunset May 29th
Thanks to everyone who helped put this together. There are a number of new members this year who I am sure are ready to get out there. Everyone is excited to have a place to go in this time of lockdowns but we do need to follow the current health regulations so the socializing will have to wait.
Summer on the river is wonderful, let’s get started.
Now that we are experiencing the joys of midwinter, I will post some more club history to get our thoughts back to summer on the river. The Winnipeg Free Press is searchable online for free if you have a library card and today I will share what I found from the first year of the club in 1956.
All the meetings were advertised the week before and welcomed all boating enthusiasts.
The club was active with the issues in the city pertaining to the river.
The club’s group activities made the newspaper.
The club sponsored a long distance swimmer and accompanied her from Grand Beach to Winnipeg Beach.
The club announced the annual general meeting and Al Brophy was kept on as Commodore. The ‘better facilities for bathing’ comment seems strange.
The process of putting the Redboine Boating Club docks back in the water has begun. And to celebrate that, I will share the story of one dock in particular. Dock #1 is located at the east end of the row closest to shore and has a well engineered notch for one of the posts that hold the docks in place.
Last year ended with a sudden rise in the river due to record September rainfall and with the rush to get the boats and docks safely out of the water dock #1 was left chained to the post with only a corner of it visible above the surface. The river froze at a very high level and although attempts were made there was no chance to rescue the dock. It spent the winter in the ice.
Spring came and the ice broke up and more attempts were made to rescue the dock. It was tied to shore with a strong rope and plans were being made while the quite high spring flood was happening. The dock broke free of the ice, snapping the rope, and started floating down the river with the ice. Luckily it did not get far and was tied up to the shore just west of the club.
As the spring flood receded, dock #1 was brought to shore and included in the spring repair ritual. After much straightening and board replacement it was put back in the water, the first in, after being by far the last out.
This of course is only a small part of the story. If you want to hear of all the adventure and heroics I think Pat Bohme is the member to ask.
Late in 1963 a building appropriate for use as a club house was found and a plan to acquire it was put in place.
A temporary office for the Toronto Dominion bank was available and the club raised the funds in part by selling shares to members. In the previous 3 years the membership had more than doubled to almost 200.
The share paid off by paying part of the membership fees over the next 7 years.
An extensive report on the state of the Red River and what should be done for its redevelopment within the city of Winnipeg was written in 1960 by T. Atkinson from the U of M school of architecture. A copy of the full report is still kept by our club. In the report there are descriptions of all the existing features along the river including this paragraph about the Redboine Boat Club.
Today we share the typed minutes from a meeting at what was most likely a cold day in February of 1956. It would be a while before the club procured a clubhouse of their own own so these meetings were held at the St. Vital hotel. I like the details of the raffle and the signatures of the President and Secretary.
Welcome to midwinter. For the enjoyment of members and to possibly encourage new members to join there will be the occasional post coming to share some of the artifacts that have been preserved concerning the history of the club.
Today the item to be shared is a typed one page history of the club that was written some time after 1964.
Redboine Boat Club 