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Chill! Remembering a Cool Row

In the heat of late summer, I thought it timely to post this photo of Joe and Patty Pezely, fervent rowers, who have tackled the Schuylkill River from Delaware Bay up to Schuylkill Haven in Pottstown. They’ve rowed at least three times with the Schuylkill River Sojourn on its 112-mile paddle from Schuylkill Haven to Boathouse Row.

Joe and Patty Pezely: cold but magical


But they’d never done it in winter. So last Dec. 7, they went out for for the Schuylkill Canal Association‘s Holiday Luminaria festival, when the river  is lined with 2,000 luminaries. The idea is to paddle downstream from Lock 60 in Mont Clare for about 2 1/2 miles, portage over to the canal, and then paddle  back at night.
 It happened to snow.  

The night paddle for Holiday Luminaria festival


“We knew it would be cold, but we had no idea it would also snow, adding a level of magic to the trip that we wouldn’t have traded away for anything,” Joe wrote for the publication of their club,” Main Line Sail and Power Squadron.
The event is usually held in early December.  For more information, go here.