Current River temperature is 77°
Current River level at Latham is 5 ft, which is still 1 ft above drought level.
The one inch of rain that we received this week has helped out the corn and the grass and given us a little bit more flow in the river.
Sunday is a big day for the City of Rockford hosting the iron Man competition.
Preparations have begun for the course with a row of buoys from the rockmen South in the middle of the river.
Please use caution if you’re out tonight or tomorrow night to avoid these buoys. They will be trying to get some glow sticks on them but please avoid them at all costs.
The river will be completely closed to boat traffic starting at 4:00 a.m. Sunday morning from the Auburn Street bridge down to the dam.
The first racers will enter the water starting at 7:00 a.m. and it is expected to take possibly an hour to get all 2500 of them out on the course.
It takes roughly a half hour for the 1.2 mi swim downstream.
They will be exiting the water on a dock at Chestnut Street bridge and then hopping on bicycles at Davis park.
Swim first bicycle second and then the final leg is running.
Once the river closure has been lifted you will be able to see them running on the bike path along sinnissippi.
I’ve lined up 11 jet skis, 8 of which will have rescue sleds attached to the back of them.
Lifeguard will be on each jet ski with the driver.
There will also be numerous kayaks on the course and if they raise an orange flag the jet skiers will respond to that swimmer.
This is a great economic boost for Winnebago county and we are all hoping for safety for all the participants.
The heat Sunday I’m sure is going to take a toll on many of them.
A big thank you to Andy Sharp and his crew from woodchuck tree service.
Yesterday we transported his dingo, brush cutter and grapple bucket to pee Island for a much-needed cleanup.
My crew removed a few more trees along the shoreline to try and create as much boat parking for families as possible.
We also removed the large tree that has been stuck on the Latham bridge for the past few years.
A word of caution if you get off of the path there is a lot of poison ivy on both ends of the island.
Friends of pea Island I’m sure will try and help to eliminate as much of this as possible.
I’m sure many of you who are going to be out on this hot weekend will enjoy the much larger Beach area that Andy and his crew created for everyone to enjoy.
I can’t emphasize enough with this being the first really hot weather weekend how many boats are going to be out on the river.
Please drive defensively as the captain of your boat to watch out for other boaters, water skiers and jet skiers.
If you are pulling someone on a tube or water skis you must have an orange flag flying to alert other boaters.
I have flags available on my dock north of Riverside bridge for $10.
It is self-service and the honor system so please put your money underneath the cone that the flags are in. Please only take one per boat.
Let’s all be safe and enjoy this great weekend ahead of us for the river and for all the competitors who are in town for the iron man.