Boating into Chatham has its risks

Sir: Some press has been given of late to boater traffic and tourism from Lighthouse Cove up to Chatham and, yes, there are many factors which have affected its demise. They include fuel costs, debris in the river, speed limits and general lack of promotion of our community and its attractions.

For the most part, we will probably never again see the glory days of packed city docks and marinas for the aforementioned reasons.

We have been cruising boaters for years and have heard all these reasons from our fellow boaters for some years, however, we do find the trip to Chatham an enjoyable ride even though we have done it many times. This past Ribfest weekend was one such trip, and a few of our friends joined us. Our numbers would have been larger except for the fact that city staff had apparently informed many, earlier in the month, that no hydro or facilities would be available.

After many phone calls to city hall by us and others we were able to get the docks serviced for hydro and water. We commend Brian Bennett of the recreation department and public works staff for putting in a whirlwind effort to make this happen. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to put the word out soon enough to encourage other boaters to make the trip.

Thanks also go out to the organizers of Ribfest for another great community event.

Our weekend was marred, however, by vandals at the dock unplugging our shore power lines, tossing beer cans into the boats and untying lines to a visiting boater from Belle River which caused their boat to float down the river. These incidences threw a damper on an otherwise great weekend and is another reason why boaters don’t return as this has happened too frequently in past years.

Jim & Ruth Tattersall

Chatham