rebeccmeister | As luck would have it [rowing]

Before I headed down to the boathouse this morning, I took a couple of minutes to check the flow gauge at the Green Island Dam to get a sense of what to expect. We mostly dodged Henri - just got a gentle sprinkling of rain on Sunday and Monday, but one can never be too sure of what has happened upriver. The flow rate was still high, but not as high as the peak on August 20 (~50,000 cfps then vs. 38,000 cfps today). For comparison, the average discharge for this time of year is 6270 cfps. So I shrugged my shoulders and headed down to the boathouse to see things for myself in person.

I probably should have checked the other gauge we have a quick-link to on our website, the one that shows the water surface elevation basically at our dock in Albany. High tide this morning was at 6:12 am, and the surface elevation was at about 6.5 feet.

For a more literal translation of what that means, here's a photo of our docks that I took at 7 am, after the water surface elevation had already started to go down by quite a lot:

At 5:30 the water was reaching the bottom of that sign and came up over my knees at the lowest point of the bulkhead slope. Just to the left of the sign you can see the outline of a cinderblock that was underwater, making for very hazardous footing going out to the dock, in addition to the generally uneven surface and steps.

One brave rower went out, but we sent all of the brand-new rowers home. Some of them are shorter than me and the footing was just too treacherous. Pondering my options, I decided I would feel more comfortable kayaking rather than rowing, so I did. I can easily wet-launch the kayak and my feet were already wet, after all.

The current was very strong again, and the surface of the water was flat, although foamy and greasy in spots. Simultaneously wonderful and disgusting. Let's not discuss the biology of the foam and grease today.

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After rowing, two blocks away from the boathouse, on my way towards campus, I spotted something on the ground as I biked along. It was unusual enough that I turned back around to go check it out and maybe pick it up. I didn't really thoroughly look at what I'd picked up until I got all the way in to campus:

I'd been thinking it was going to be a bad year for lucky pennies, due to a lot of car travel and various pandemic factors, but I guess now I'm wrong.

I'm going to put this towards the rowing club's New Boat Fund. That has to be good luck, right?