By John Poimiroo

Boating has the ability to reanimate primal sensations. Floating on a calm body of water can be like being immersed again inside the womb. All sense of time and place are washed away by the comforting rise and fall of swells. For many, boating isn’t a journey, race or thrill. It is simply a moment. 

This year, for many it may be a moment that is all too fleeting.

Drought, now classified by the U.S. Drought Monitor as “exceptional” in parts of 15 California counties and as “extreme” in most of El Dorado County, is having as deleterious effect on recreational boating as it is on the state’s economy and workforce.