Gone are the familiar docks along Boathouse Row. They were removed to make way for a long-anticipated and much needed dredging project that began earlier this month. As a result, Schuylkill Navy Vice Commodore Bonnie Mueller says people are now limited to where they can launch their vessels.
"Either from the west side, Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard or from the east in the area of of the East Park Canoe House and the Gillin Boat Club," she detailed.
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Mueller said the new guidelines are shaped by both the dredging and coronavirus.
"We're only allowed to be launching singles," she explained. "So that would be only individuals where paddling or rowing alone. And, of course, people need to be wearing face masks and doing the preventive measures before they're launching, using hand sanitizer around the docks, and so on and so forth."
The COVID-19 lockdown forced the cancellation of last months prestigious Dad Vail and Stotesbury Cup regattas. Mueller says she's not sure how the summer and fall will play out as the region enters the green phase and dredging ramps up.
"That's something that each of the individual event organizers are working through with the city of Phladelphia and Parks and Recreation permitting team," she said.