Too many fun things this weekend

for those of you who have absolutely no interest in attending a boathouse junk sale at pier 26 on the Hudson River or any of the other highly local festivities I mentioned because, oh, (to pick a random example) you live in Spain or something, there's a link to some awesome pictures of Nova Scotia that were taken by one of my P 63 paddling friends in the very next post - you'll probably like those better!

Speaking of the Yonkers Paddling & Rowing Club - I wish I could paddle up for the Yonkers Riverfest! It's tomorrow, and as it turned out, I am working on the schooner, but if that hadn't happened, I was mulling over the idea of getting up at some ungodly hour of the AM & paddling up on my own (this was if I didn't decide to go to Coney Island with the P63 crew, which was another option). The YPRC will be giving kayak demos & taking people out in their very cool old war canoe, it would have been a LOT of fun to go up & help out.

I may still get up a little earlier than required by my 11 am start time at the schooner in order to stop by the Downtown Boathouse end-of-an-era garage sale - here was the blurb I got from Tim -

This Saturday we are having the first annual, and last ever Pier 26 yard sale. We are giving up some of our prized possessions that we have accumulated over the years. We have a lot of Nautical items, boating supplies, building materials, etc etc that are going for next to nothing. No reasonable offer will be refused! Its Saturday October 1 at the Pier 26, Tribeca, location. The only rule is that whatever you buy you have to remove from the Boathouse!

The Downtown Boathouse has reached the end of the line at their current location on the Hudson River as construction on that segment of the Hudson River Park now requires the demolition of the piersheds on Pier 26; they'll be moving into some spiffy new digs up near the Intrepid. They've been at their old location ever since they started & it's of course accumulated all the usual junk that tends to accumulate. I sort of doubt I'll find anything I need - for starters I pretty much already have everything I need - but you never know - plus I guess I do want to take one last look around at a place where I did spend a fair amount of time in my first few years of paddling, first as a guest, later doing volunteer instruction (including a class where I attempted to teach what looked to be a hundred people an efficient forward stroke - I don't know if anybody actually got anything out of it but I understand it was quite a sight to see, Ralph Diaz wrote up a description for NYCKayaker that totally cracked me up, I have to see if I can scrounge that up - ).

BTW as long as I'm posting blurbs - here's the aforementioned New York Kayak Polo fundraiser details - as I said, I haven't had time to go play with them, but I'm definitely going to go party with them for at least a while tonight. They're a nice bunch (even the Mad Russian - I think every kayak polo team should have at least one mad Russian!) & it's been fun having 'em at the barge this year!:

New York Kayak Polo is having its first fundraiser this Friday, September 30th, at Pier 63 and you're invited!

A $10 donation gets you free food, music from our DJ, and a look at the game through videos on a big screen. Beer from Brooklyn Brewery and wine are just $4. It's a great deal and will be a fun night.

Come learn about the sport, our club, and our bar tending and grilling skills. Maybe we'll even convince you that it's not so silly to throw a ball and play bumper boats while paddling. Plus, you can talk to people you've met on the river and see what some NYC kayakers look like with real clothes on!

When: Friday, September 30th, 7:30 pm until late
Where: Pier 63 Maritime. It's just west of the West Side Highway
near 23rd street (the entrance is at the north end of the Basketball
City parking lot). 1, C, or E subway to 23rd St, then walk or
M23 crosstown bus to Chelsea Piers.

All are welcome so bring your friends. We look forward to seeing you!

I have a feeling that at least some of these guys (e.g., the Mad Russian) have a lot more party stamina than me and that the chances of my making it to the DTBH garage sale will be in inverse proportion to my being silly enough to try to keep up with them!