Nothing new but I'm going to try to express everything a little more coherently than I did in my excitement last week. In fact better yet, I'm just going to borrow the standard announcement that was in the original email I received:
Info on Event for public/kayak club members:
5:30 Gather for Safety and Equipment.
6:00 Sunset paddle
7:15 Reception/Presentation with Renata @ Pier 63 Maritime
Would you be interested in paddling or meeting Renata while she's in town? Grab your kayak and join Renata at 5:30 pm, April 26th for a sunset paddle. Following the paddle, at 7:15, there will be a reception complete with photo's of her journey thus far, a Q & A session and more.
Info on Pier 63 Maritime can be found at www.Pier63Maritime.com
Info on Renata Chlumska:
Swede Renata Chlumska, one of the world's premier female expedition athletes, is going to be in New York the last week of April. She's currently pursuing a solo circumnavigation of the U.S. via kayak, bike and skate, something no one has ccomplished before.
She left Seattle on July 4, 2005 and has completed about 6,000 miles of her 11,000 mile adventure paddling and cycling around America. For more information on Renata's adventure, you can visit www.RenataChlumska.com
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I hope we can show her a welcome that's a good bit warmer than our water is right now!
Further information - I believe that the above schedule is meant for normal situations where people car-top their kayaks to a beach somewhere; in our neck of the woods, I imagine that most people will be paddling from elsewhere. I haven't heard what the nature of the 5:30 safety talk is but it would probably be considerate to try begin gathering in the water south of Pier 63 Maritime around 5:30 (as I mentioned before, if I get updates I will post them here).
Don't forget, the 7:15 part is on land, no boat required, great for non-paddling friends & family & anyone who hasn't got proper cold-water paddling gear, or just wants to meet Renata but doesn't have a good way to get their boat there. If anyone is considering cartopping in, it is possible to drive up to Pier 63 to drop off a boat but leave yourself plenty of extra time for parking & getting your boat down to the dock!
One more alternative - Manhattan Kayak Company is running a sunset tour concurrent with this event - this is not a rental, but a formal guided tour which will be paddling along with Renata. I don't know availability at this point, but they originally had space for a dozen experienced paddlers at a significantly reduced rate of $25.00. You would need to contact them with the topic "RSVP Renata" as your subject. That cost covers all the basic gear, there may be an extra charge for cold-water wear, please make sure that you mention that if you need it.
And this all bears repeating:
If you're an NYC kayaker & decide to paddle in to join in on the sunset paddle, please remember that the landing restriction - do NOT enter the embayment on the north side of the barge (between the barge & the piling field that used to be Pier 64), paddle in on the south side, over to the land end of the barge & under the bridge. Please don't mess things up for the residents, losing our right to launch would SO ruin my summer!
Another thing - please remember that the air is getting warmer but the water's still cold, dress for it, wear your PFD & make sure you have lights - there's been a lot of discussion of safety lately, there was just a meeting with the Coast Guard & commercial vessel operators, we're trying to get out the message that we're all good safe boaters - there will probably be media at this thing so let's look the part!
Finally I should just mention -
I am in no way formally connected with Renata's adventure - just very excited about it & wanting to spread the word - and my only current formal connection with MKC is that I pay them to keep a boat at the pier. That's all.
If anyone has any questions, please leave them in comments, I'll do my best to answer. BTW, that "low water - 0", "rising flood - 1", or "high water at the battery - 2/3/4" thing - that's my comments, may be too cutesy to be 100% intuitive, I have at least 1 friend who didn't figure it out until I explained it...click on that & a window for comments should pop up. Hopefully that covers all the basics, though!
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