May 8, 2017

Meet Adam Chernoff of Wateriders in River North

Local Stories

Today we’d like to introduce you to Adam Chernoff.

Adam, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
Charlie Portis started Wateriders way back in 1997 – with just 6 boats out of a shipping container – after going on a sail kayaking trip to Alaska. He wanted to share his love of boats with people, and had noticed how beautiful the view from the river is from a kayak. As the first kayak company on the Chicago River, he researched and wrote his own Architecture tour and Gangster tour, both of which focused on relevant areas of the river in Downtown Chicago. He would host guests in his spare time from his main job in commercial real estate. As the business grew, he brought more people onboard and was able to offer more consistent tours. After a move to a brand new dock behind the historic Montgomery Ward Catalog House (now called 600 W Chicago), he was able to offer rentals and even more tours as the business expanded further, attracting thousands of urban adventurers.

I started working for Wateriders as a dockhand and assistant tour guide back in 2012 during my summers in college. I really enjoyed the gig, as it allowed me to work outdoors with people I liked, to develop service industry skills, to get a good workout in on the job, and to have the freedom to try to make improvements to the business. I began working my way up to being a leader and eventually a lead tour guide after a few years.

In 2016, my co-GM Aidan Klug and I took over the reins from our previous general manager who had moved on to another job. We oversaw operations as Wateriders expanded a previous partnership with the East Bank Club to fully relocate the business to the club’s dock near Kinzie Street. It was a very hectic time, and we worked around the clock for over a month straight to make sure we were able to open in time for the season. All that effort was worth it, as our new spot is truly amazing. Our guests now get to start off much closer to the popular downtown attractions (plus, our view right from the launch is one that Chicago-area wedding photographers line up to use). It is also incredibly close to Wolf Point, the picturesque “hub” of the river, where the North, South, and East branches all come together. This allows our kayakers to choose where they want to go, and to easily experience all three branches of the river over the course of one rental.

2016 was an incredible summer. It was our best year to date, and a very exciting overall experience for us to see how we were able to grow and handle the major increase in volume. We have a great core group of guides and instructors who have been working together for many years now, and it really makes a difference in the quality of experience we can provide. Even with all the extra business, our service and safety performance last year was better than ever, and we are only looking to improve on all fronts moving forward! With the new Riverwalk finished and more attention being paid to the Chicago River, it is shaping up to be another great season.

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
The biggest continuous obstacle has been people’s false perception that the river is dirty. Chicagoans have historically polluted the river (it used to catch on fire!), and it had a very bad reputation. However, it has gotten remarkably cleaner over the past few decades, and even noticeably cleaner in the 5 years I have worked at Wateriders. Despite being covered in river water for the majority of my time on the job, I have never gotten sick from it – even after occasional splashing into my eyes and mouth. It is now considered safe to swim in, although given the heavy boat traffic, I would not recommend doing so.

Floating trash on the river is a bit of a nuisance and certainly looks bad, but is virtually always guided by the wind and waves into patches and corners (concentrating it and making it look worse), leaving the rest of the river clean to paddle in. It is a bit counterintuitive, but the surface trash is not indicative of the overall water quality of the river.

So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Wateriders: Chicago River Kayak Tours and Rentals story. Tell us more about the business.
Wateriders offers guided kayak tours and unguided kayak rentals in the downtown area of the Chicago River.

Our flagship experience is our “Classic” Architecture and History tour, which covers the rich history of Chicago as it developed alongside the river. We also host a “Ghosts and Gangsters” tour at night, discussing the infamous criminals who shaped our city while the buildings light up against the dark sky and the water shines like a pot of gold. These are narrated during curated stops along the river while our guests catch up and take a quick break from paddling.

On Wednesday and Saturday nights, we guide groups of paddlers down to Navy Pier to watch the fireworks, which is great fun and one of our most popular options. We do Sunset Paddles as well, which take our guests through the city during the “golden hour”, when the low light creates really interesting shadows and brings out more detail on the buildings, and then we return as night falls and the buildings all illuminate from the inside.

We also offer private versions of our tours at any available time, which can be tailored to the needs of the group.

Our unguided rentals have become very popular in the last few years as, seemingly as more people look for “unbundled” experiences. For this type of experience, our location is the most ideal, as it is right near the “hub” of the river, allowing maximum choice, and a very short distance to the main attractions. We also boast the best value for similar activities on this part of the river.

We are very proud to offer “Good Green Fun” in the City of Chicago, and to provide access to the river from such a great location. We are not out to maximize profit, but to offer as safe and enjoyable of an experience as possible. The East Bank Club is an incredible partner with outstanding facilities, including very nice restrooms in the lobby, and a cantina for refreshments. Our guides are very knowledgeable and skilled (over 35 combined years of experience among our four current lead tour guides) and truly care about people’s experience with us. We also have $4 parking in the middle of River North, which is a fantastic deal for up to 4 hours.

Has luck played a meaningful role in your life and business?
Weather is the main unpredictable factor for us. We can control almost everything we do here with a carefully thought out system of decisions, but we cannot change the weather, which plays a huge role in our success. On the surface, it is simple: people show up for outdoor activities when it is really nice outside. Furthermore, they also book more tickets for the future when the weather is good. Unlucky weather events (or a run out of them) can cost a lot of money, and if the weather is bad, we need to cancel both our guests and our staff. Some years have many more rain days than others, and this measure of luck has a huge effect on us.

Luck also plays a big role on the river. Everything is always moving – the water, the people, the boats. There are an unlimited number of different scenarios that can occur, created by subtle nuances in different weather patterns, vessels, and locations. There are bound to be times during the season when the surrounding conditions suddenly become highly unfavorable for us, and what we are trying to do, and it is easy to chalk this up to bad luck. This really drives me to look deeper into the mechanics of what happens on the river, and how to limit instances where we fall victim to “bad luck” (and maximize our “good luck”). It is frustrating to know in the back of my mind that we cannot control for everything, but such is life. We just have to do what we can to put ourselves in the best position to succeed, and to keep our clients safe.

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