Waterskiing on the Rideau Canal during 'Waterlude' in 1990

The Rideau Canal is closed to skaters, ice sculptures are melting and disappointed festival-goers have renamed the annual Winterlude festival "Waterlude."

• Winterlude suffers consequences of warm, wet weather

Sound like 2016? The same scenario played out in 1990 inspiring CBC reporter Mark Van Dusen to try out waterskiing on the Rideau Canal.

Other nicknames for Winterlude26 years ago include "splashlude," "bottom of the lake lude"and "rubberbootlude."

In 2016, part of the Rideau Canal was open to skaters for the first weekend of Winterlude but shut down on Sunday night due to warm weather. The fine for going on the canal while it's closed is a minimum of $100.