Thursday, June 16, 2011

One Heckuvah Swim, Camping in Brooklyn and -- A Sunfish For My Dad?

Links 1 through 3 - Wet Feat!:

If you are on Facebook, you already may have seen some of my raves about a truly amazing athletic feat that was accomplished on Wednesday. A swimmer by the name of Liz Fry swam from Manhattan to Sandy Hook, NJ and then BACK TO MANHATTAN. Holy cow. There's a short article with details here, you can see her route here, and Vladimir (whose pictures I've posted here before - this can't have been too different from paddling with that dolphin!) got great shots. BTW, the GPS track is actually a little longer than the swim was 'cause it was on Vlad's boat, and he kept going up to New York Kayak, where he stores his boat).

The fact that somebody swam this absolutely blows me away because I paddled the same route once. It wasn't the longest day paddle I've ever done (that was probably a paddle to the Tappan Zee Bridge, somewhere around 50 miles) but it was by far the most challenging. If you're on Facebook and you missed my description & are curious, I shared my recollections here.

Incredible.

Link 4:

The one thing that would have taken the trip to Sandy Hook that I did from one of the hairier trips I've ever done (TQ likes to say that it's not an adventure until something goes wrong; by that rule, this was an adventure times four or so) to one of the most spectacular trips would have been A CAMPSITE AT SANDY HOOK. My gosh. It was Fall, it was a beautiful day, we got to Sandy Hook late in the afternoon and it would have been nothing short of heavenly if we'd been able to pitch some tents, cook dinner, talk story under the stars, fall asleep to the sound of the waves of the beach and then wake up in the morning & paddle back. As it was, we had about a half-hour to stretch legs & then back in the boats to do again (and this time in the dark). Well...I hope I haven't gotten anyone TOO excited, because NO, there is still not a campground at Sandy Hook, and I don't know anything about it if there are any plans that way.

But there IS going to be a public campsite opening up at Floyd Bennett, which is in the Gateway National Recreation Area. There's been camping there for a long time, but only for organized youth groups; the one exception I know of when adults unencumbered by packs of children for whom they have agreed to be responsible (yikes) are allowed is the annual fishing tournament. Now that I'm thinking about it, I think I may have heard a rumor or two about the new development - but this was the first formal announcement I saw.

I don't know if I'd kayak camp there for the sake of kayak camping there - it's almost too close to the club to bother when we've got places like the Norwalk Islands not too far away - but I'm already thinking about how Sebago could offer a Kayak Camping 101 class. Be a great intro for anybody who's thinking about it & wants to have a nice low-pressure, low-risk trip to figure things out.

And if the Floyd Bennett site goes well, maybe someday they might consider other places in Gateway.
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I was going to add another link, but it's getting a bit late and I'm actually feeling sleepy instead of insomniacal. Plus I need to buy a prop for the other link (hee hee hee) and I didn't have time to go buy it tonight because I decided to go up to Macy's to sign up to win my dad a Sunfish! Behold, my father's possible future boat:

And being the good and loving daughter that I am, I will even offer to store the boat at Sebago - out of my own pocket & everything - until such time as he can arrange to come and collect it!

Want to lessen my chances of winning? That's OK, it's actually quite a nifty giveaway, at least if you happen to live near one of the 2 stores where this Macy's/Nautica joint promotion is going on. You don't even have to buy anything - just stop by either Macy's in Herald Square or Macy's in Dadeland, Florida before Father's Day and look for the peppermint sail!

(PS - note to my dad - I'm only half kidding about you coming and getting it...)

7 comments:

my2fish said...

I hope you (and/or your dad) win the Sunfish! that would be so sweet.

bonnie said...

Wouldn't that be awesome?

I was originally totally joking about giving it to my dad - but then I started thinking about a family gathering we had in Michigan a couple of years back. We were staying at the home of some family friends who live on...Beel Bawse Lake, does that sound right? Anyways, we were given blanket permission to use all the water toys & one of those toys was a Sunfish. My dad got sort of psyched when I went out & started pulling together the pieces. Unfortunately we weren't able to find the sail so it was a no go - but yeah, my dad likes sailing, and they must have a decent-sized lake or two, and he (and maybe even my mom, although my dad is much more athletically inclined) might just have fun with a simple little sailboat.

Anonymous said...

I stumbled by your photo's, I paddled for Sebago Canoe Club for years, flatwater racing, great times and stayed at the cabin on lake sebago. Live on the Northfork of LI, Southold now. Great pictures.

Sean

bonnie said...

Thanks, Sean! It's an excellent club, I've really enjoyed it and feel very fortunate to have landed there when my storage in Manhattan got shut down in 2006. I had always thought I would be a bad and cantankerous club member but sometimes it's good to be wrong.

I'm headed up for a day at the lake tomorrow - first time since 2009, between temporarily sidelining myself from the instructional team (I wasn't able to join in when the first round of ACA certifications went on because the IDW & ICE collided with budget season at the day job) and a temporary long-distance phase with my guy that took a couple of weekends a month, I just never went. Said guy is now in Brooklyn and I can't wait to see him see the lake for the first time tomorrow!

bowsprite said...

a Laser for Dad!

Sandy Hook is so so incredibly beautiful. I love it there.

What a swim! Now, when I'm swimming and the current off Brighton pulls me towards Sandy Hook, I will feel very embarrassed to whine.

my2fish said...

bonnie - whomever won the boat in Miami apparently doesn't want it (or just wants to make a few thousand easy dollars).

2011 Sunfish - $3200

I guess I would have liked the winner to actually want the boat and plan to use it. oh well.

bonnie said...

Awww, greedy effin' bastard! What's next, stealing candy from babies?