A Great Afternoon at Hoboken Cove

Test spin on a shiny new Epic V5. Whee! Nice boat. Photo by Epic rep Gerald Kastner, thanks Gerry! My photos are down below. Click on any photo for a slideshow view.

It wasn't as easy to get there on a weekend as it would've been on a weekday, but I did make my way to Hoboken yesterday for the first annual Hudson River Cup, put on by Ke Aloha Outrigger and the Hoboken Cove Boathouse. If you happen to be in the Hoboken area, do follow those links for their regular activities, I was there for the festival but they do public paddling programs all summer, and there's a food truck pier a little ways north of there, you could make a very nice waterfront afternoon of it!

There was actually a moment on the way there when I nearly threw in the towel and went home - the issue was that the map program Facebook uses said that I could catch a ferry from the WTC, which turns out not to be true on weekends. If I'd thought to check that, I could've just gone to the 39th street Waterways terminal in the first place, where they did have a ferry to 14th street in Hoboken 7 days a week, that's how I got home and that worked great, but that mistaken direction sent me through the WTC area, which on a lovely summer day was of course swarming with hucksters shoving pretty souvenir books about the time all those people died under all the tourist noses. I know they're just trying to make a living and all but it feels so disrespectful and I just don't handle it well, having been there myself that day. To get to the ferry terminal, looking forward to a nice boat ride across the river after running that gauntlet, only to be told that that ferry doesn't run on weekends, was deeply disheartening, and I really did think about just heading for home. I think it was around noon or so, though, and the festival was slated to go on until 5, it wasn't like I was going to miss ALL the fun, so I decided to suck it up, take the PATH train, and hoof it the mile to the boathouse . 

And I'm so glad that I did, because I started to unwind just walking along the Hoboken shoreline; this was definitely my first trip to the Hoboken Cove Boathouse, and possibly even my first visit to the Hoboken shoreline, and their riverfront is pretty nice, with lots of parks (including a big run-through fountain that I was tempted to run through myself) but still an active little bit of a working waterfront too. By the time I got to the boathouse I was feeling a good bit less rattled, and there was the wonderful musician Bill Wynne singing songs from Hawai'i, and outrigger sprint racing going on in the cove, and so many old friends from Pier 63 days to say hello to. Ke Aloha is one of the area's newest boating clubs, but came about after some kind of split at the long-established New York Outrigger sent many of the original paddlers from that club looking for a new home. It may be a new club, but there's a ton of experience there, they have got themselves a lovely spot at the Hoboken Cove Boathouse and it's great to see them doing well there. I'm on something of a quest to get back in shape this year and with them not being that hard to get to from where I work, joining them for some practices may be an option worth considering.

I got there just in time for the 2 mile kayak and SUP race. I hadn't planned on racing, but when Jon, who's the one who told me about the day, saw me he asked me if I wanted to, and I figured "Why not?", if I could borrow a boat. One of the volunteers pointed me to a Drifter, which is not the boat I would ordinarily pick for a race, but I was just out for fun and figured I'd give it a shot. This actually worked out well - there was a moment when I noticed there were 2 Epic surfskis on the beach and thought "Oh dear, I'm going to get thoroughly smoked here", but those turned out to be demo boats and the only other kayak racer was one of the Cove's volunteers, who was in a Scupper Pro. With both of us in sitatops, it actually ended up being a pretty good race. He had the lead for the entire southbound leg, where we had the current with us, he'd done a better job at the start than me and although I wasn't too far back, I couldn't gain ground, we were pretty well matched in our sit-atops.

I had one horrifying moment when I rounded the buoy and discovered that I could hardly make any headway against the strong current AT ALL in this short, wide boat, for a second I was having visions of how embarrassing it would be if I couldn't get back under my own steam, but I was able to hold my ground while sidling over to get closer to shore and into the shelter of the piers, where I was able to move along much better. The other guy didn't know that trick, and that let me pull away and come in first by quite a ways. He did figure out what I was doing eventually, so he got something good out of it - you only get to pull that trick on a less experienced paddler once, at least if they are paying attention, which he was! You can really wear yourself paddling against that Hudson current, I remember that well. Actually the hardest part of the race for me was probably the last 50 yards or so, where you had to go out around the last pier and on to the finish marker, for that you did have to be out in the current a bit and man, it was a slog (Gerry the Epic guy actually said he was watching me finish and there was a good moment or three when I literally wasn't moving forward at all, and I believe it). I got there though, by that point I was not about to give up. I do hope next year they have more kayakers, it sounds like they had a good turnout from the outrigger community, I would love to see this grow. Spectacular setting for racing, too, with that cityscape across the river and the folks enjoying the Hoboken waterfront cheering us along.

Back at the boathouse, Aloha Hula NYC was performing, cornhole games were going on, and I tried out the Epic V5, which is a totally sweet little entry-level surfski. Someday I'm going to be in the market for a replacement for my Kayak Centre surfski, which I have literally repaired with duct tape and wire, and which I expect to just sink out from under me someday, hopefully not too far from the dock in the Paerdegat. V5 is definitely going to be in the running, I don't use my surfski for racing, more for summer workout paddles, the V5 is much more stable but still moves nicely, and is not horribly expensive. This is a totally unsolicited plug, I just really liked that boat, would be a lovely summer paddling craft. I should've tried the V8 that the Epic rep had there too, but the awards were starting up so I had to go get my coconut trophy! Finished off the day helping bring the OC-6's up from the beach; Aloha Hula NYC was dancing again, and it truly felt like a little taste of Hawai'i right there on the Hudson River shore.

Came home with my coconut and a plumeria lei that's still smelling lovely tonight. So glad I stuck out the bumpy start to the day, it was well worth the trip. Such a nice day!

 

Grand Re-Opening of the Kayak Dock At Governor's Island

There was some very good news for New York City kayakers (and people who aren't kayakers yet but would like to give it a try) announced by Graeme Burchall, current head of the Downtown Boathouse, on the local kayak email lists today - there will be an opening ceremony for the newly-installed kayak dock at Governor's Island on Wednesday. There was a kayak dock in the past -- the photos above and below were from City of Water Day 2011 -- but at some point it got damaged beyond repair and it took a lot of time, grant-writing, and hard work by Graeme and the DTBH crew to get it replaced.

They pulled it off, though, and now the DTBH will resume running their free kayaking in the embayment on weekends for the rest of their season. The dock will also serve as part of the New York City Watertrail, so more advanced kayakers will now be able to paddle to Governor's Island and land there when the island is open (the one request is that paddlers who arrive that way check in, as safety plans for the island do require the operators to know how many people are on the island at any given time; there will be a phone number posted at the dock that paddlers can call to do so).

Congratulations to the DTBH folks for bringing this beautiful location back into play! I can't make the opening shindig on Wednesday but for anyone who's interested, click here for details. Arrival by human-powered vessel encouraged but not required. Should be a fun event!

Memorial for Capts. John Doswell and John Krevey - another photo set.

I have another small set of photos to share with you today - not as happy this time, as the event in question was a memorial for Captains John Doswell and John Krevey, both gone from us far too soon. Hard to imagine what sort of waterfront we'd have without them, but I think it would be a lot less fun and accessible. Krevey (both were regularly called by their last names) was providing recreational access to the Hudson at Pier 63 at a time when there was still some resistance to and even resentment of the growing popularity of recreational boating on our reviving estuary, and I think that by welcoming paddlers and trusting us to take responsibility for our own safety out there, he laid a solid part of the foundation for today's growing acceptance of our presence out there.

In the meantime Doswell was drawing the attention of us "civilians" to the working waterfront - there is still a solid maritime industry here in NYC, but the casual visitor to the shores of most of our boroughs could be forgiven if they didn't realize that, with all of the pretty parks that have sprung up in the more residential areas; Doswell celebrated that industry (and let us less-salty types celebrate it too) with the  Working Harbor Committee's Hidden Harbor Tours and the big annual Labor Day Tugboat Race and Skills Contest (those both carry on, that site has details if you're interested).

The memorial was held at Pier 66 (which I still always want to call Pier 63 even though it was moved to 26th street several years ago). A parade of boats was organized, including the kayaks and outrigger canoes that found such good early homes on Krevey's rusty masterpiece ("Pier 66" is actually a retired railroad barge); Hudson River Park based paddling  did ask me if I wanted to join them but I decided that since I was coming from work it would probably simplify my life if I just went to the barge - and besides, that way I could bring my Lumix and get some nice pictures, which I think I did. It was a beautiful evening, with a wonderful collection of people and boats turning out to pay their respects. 

 Click here to visit the album. 

BIG MEETING TOMORROW! NYC Comprehensive Waterfront Plan!

Oh, jeeze, I was not going to post today, too busy, but I should have been flogging this one for WEEKS. This is BIG - affects everyone who works or plays (or has any future hopes of working or playing) on or beside New York City's waterways:

From the Department of City Planning website:
"The Department of City Planning is currently preparing a Comprehensive Plan for the over 500 miles of New York City’s waterfront, defined as New York Harbor and its tributaries, creeks and bays. Vision 2020 will build on the original Comprehensive Waterfront Plan, published in 1992, and the city’s experience over the past 18 years in order to set forth a new long range vision for a 21st Century NYC waterfront. Specifically, Vision 2020 will identify key opportunities for improving our waterfront and outline strategies to realize this new vision."

First citywide public meeting is scheduled for -
Date: April 8, 2010
Time: 6:00 PM- 8:30 PM
Location: Murry Bergtraum High School, 411 Pearl Street, Manhattan

Notice via the Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance (link is to Waterwire article with more details) and the NYC Watertrail Association.

Free Public Kayaking in Yonkers!

Well shoot. I knew I was gonna leave somebody out of my big list last week & it turns out that I left out some old friends. Boo! So here, they get their own post:

The Yonkers Paddling & Rowing offers free public kayaking at the Kennedy Marina in Yonkers. Various weeknights from 3:30 to 8:00. For full details, click here!

This really was an oversight of the most inadvertent sort - Yonkers is one of my favorite clubs, and I'd actually thought about mentioning them, but I was doing very quick browses of websites to get links for the list. I looked at the YPRC site, because I did know that they'd been doing something like that for a while, I didn't see info about that happening this year. I did think of emailing but that got lost in the shuffle of other stuff I'm wrapped up in - but their commodore checked in & left a comment over the weekend. Turns out the public program info was in the "Kennedy Marina" link, which I'd thought was going to be about storage & boatbuilding (Yonkers does have an accomplished boatbuilder, Jack Gilman, on the roster - he's guided a lot of club members through the process of building kayaks & although the official club boatbuilding had been on hiatus due to lack of a workshop for a while, I think there was a possibility that that would resume in the new space at Kennedy Marina). Fortunately their commodore happened to check in over the weekend & gave me the proper link in comments. Thanks, Bob!

BTW, the comments on the original list took on a life of their own & there are a number of very good clubs in there that I hadn't mentioned because I was just listing stuff that anybody with a couple of hours (and maybe a little money) to spare could do. There's a whole next level of options for people who are ready to get a little more committed - many (although still not all) of those got mentioned in the comments.

Dedication of the New Dock, Sebago Canoe Club, Sunday, April 19th at Noon!

Last Saturday, shortly before launching on my last paddle off the old dock. Yes, the weather was filthy - it just served to improve the usual Gino's deliciousness!

From The Old Dock

I'd mentioned in passing the other day that the Sebago Canoe Club is getting a new dock this week!

The dedication ceremony is this Sunday, 4/19/2009, and YOU yes YOU are invited!

I'll understand if you can't make it since this being a blog and all, you might not exactly live close enough to make it to the Paerdegat Basin, but if you do live anywhere in the area & you'd like to come see the club I'm always blithering on about, the Sebago crew would love to see you there!

Full details on the Sebago Canoe Club website. Ignore the detail about rsvp'ing by April 1st - let's just say that it's sort of an accidental, retroactive April Fool's Day joke. Fooled me anyways - I'd gone to post it a couple of weeks ago, saw the RSVP note, figured I'd better check in with a board member or two before I said anything and then, er, sort of forgot to ask until today. Sorry about the short notice!

Can't make it to this one, or rather wait to visit the club until the water's a little warmer & you can try out one of our boats? Join us at our Open House on Saturday, May 30th, or at any of our Open Paddles from June 3rd on! And if you've got a hand-launchable boat of your own, don't forget that Sebago is part of the New York City Watertrail - the club grounds are open from 9 am to 5 pm on weekend days from the Open House on May 30th all the way through the summer to Labor Day, I believe it is, and there's always at least one club member who can answer most questions a person might have on duty during those hours.

cross-posted at the Sebago Canoe Club blog.

Hoboken Cove Boathouse Seeks Volunteers!

This just in on NYCKayaker!

HAVE FUN ON THE HUDSON RIVER - AND HELP SUPPORT FREE RIVER ACCESS IN HOBOKEN!

Hoboken Cove Community Boathouse Organization is a non-profit 501(c)3 kayaking organization that is run by loyal river-loving volunteers. We are now working out of the city of Hoboken's Boathouse at Maxwell Place Park; future plans include our own boathouse at Hoboken Cove Park (16th St.). Community boathouses used to be a hallmark of our town’s historic past, all up and down the waterfront. As the Hudson River gets cleaner every year, we can reclaim our place as a great waterfront city. Public access to the water—our water—should be part of future planning!!

You can help support free river access in Hoboken and volunteer at a Hoboken boathouse! The Hoboken Cove Boathouse Organization is looking for volunteers for our next 5 program dates:

Sunday, June 7, 9am-1pm
Sunday, June 14, 11am-3pm
Saturday, July 11, 10am-2pm
Saturday, July 25, 10am-2pm
Saturday, August 15, 1pm-5pm

If you are a kayaker, that's great, but one does not have to know how to kayak to help out! We will train you on the spot!

Here's what we do as volunteers. The day of the paddling program, volunteers will be signing in paddlers, handing out info sheets, fitting paddlers with lifejackets, helping paddlers launch and land their sit-on-top kayaks on the beach, and of course, signing on new volunteers to help keep the kayaking program going all season! We will also need volunteers to help us on the river in kayaks during our 5 programs. We will be doing basic on water volunteer training for volunteers that would like to help out on the river . . . once the Summer days warm up the river! If you have a high skill level as a kayaker, please let us know. We use skilled kayakers to patrol the river during the programs. We will be running occasional river trips and will need kayakers to tag along on these lovely paddles.

We will also need volunteers to help run our Spring Fundraiser. We are a non-profit 501(c)3 and are presently borrowing kayaks from our generous sister organization in Manhattan, The Downtown Boathouse. We would like Hoboken to have our own boats and gear for free river access! The Spring Fundraiser date will be announced soon.

If you want to kayak, or just want to be around a fun river fest atmosphere---this is the right place! Come join us for a few hours-or all day! You can also support our cause by donating at our Fundraiser in the Spring and our non-profit free kayaking programs in the Summer at Maxwell Place Park.

Please contact us at

volunteer@hobokencoveboathouse.org

For more information, check out their website:
http://www.hobokencoveboathouse.org/

Hoboken Boathouse Public Meeting, Tuesday March 24th - plus Sad News - No Gateway Bike and Boathouse.

This notice came out on the NYC Kayaker email list* today. I can't make it, but it sounds like fun!

Tuesday, March 24, 2009, 6-8 PM, Maxwell Place Park Boathouse, Frank Sinatra Drive & Maxwell Place, Hoboken, NJ

Come tour the new Boathouse and beach at Maxwell Place Park and learn more about the Hoboken Cove Community Boathouse organization. Presentations will include an overview of Hudson River boating and how other NY Harbor boathouses – like the Long Island City Community Boathouse, Gowanus Dredgers Canoe Club, and the Downtown Boathouse – operate. We are also looking foryour input on the types of boating programs and activities Hoboken residents want and your help to make these goals a reality.

Meeting is open to all interested participants – beginner, expert, and non-paddlers alike.

Please RSVP (or for more information), by email at info@hobokencoveboathouse.org.
-- David DownsPresidentHoboken Cove Community Boathouse
http://www.hobokencoveboathouse.org/

david@hobokencoveboathouse.org

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=36210028096

For more information about the NYC Kayaker email list:

http://www.hrwa.org/nyckayaker-list/

************

Oh, and this reminds me of a piece of sadder news. You may not recall it, but earlier this winter, I was really excited about these guys - http://www.gatewayboathouse.org/ - opening up across the bay from us. One of the fun things about the Hudson River Park (and there were a lot of fun things, which is why I sort of kept my finger in the political stuff even after I dropped out of Manhattan Kayak Company - it wasn't always exciting but I always thought it was worth the time I spent on it) was having so many different human-powered boating organizations in such close proximity - you'd always run into people from the other places when you were out, you'd say hello, sometimes you'd join up with them for paddles, sometimes you'd just wave as you passed, whatever the interaction was, it usually added a nice extra social dimension. In Jamaica Bay, we're the only club, and I thought it was going to be great having another club in the bay. I thought I might be able to paddle over and try that-there windsurfing thing that's always being talked up on some favorite blogs of mine; I thought it would be fun for me & TQ to go over & rent a couple of bikes for the afternoon (they've got some beautiful bike lanes out there); and I thought it would be fun for us to invite them over for a barbecue (and hopefully be invited over there for something), or just plain stop by to say hello when we were paddling out that way.

So I was saddened to hear, earlier this winter, that they won't be opening this Spring. Sounds like the Parks thought they were getting a Downtown Boathouse-style operation when Gateway was more picturing themselves more in the Sebago model & the misunderstanding ended it.

http://www.rockawave.com/news/2008/1226/community/018.html

Hudson River Greenway also losing funding...

Oof. 4 posts in one day. 3 sort of serious. I will have to write some really atrocious poetry to get things back to normal...

But since I posted that notice about the press conference tomorrow, I wanted to post about another organization that stands to be lost to this year's budget cuts - the Hudson River Greenway.

I know these are hard times & it's hard to find places to cut budgets. I work in finance, my company's been doing it just like every other company, every city, every state, the whole country.

Things have to go. The trimming apparently has to go beyond the fat & into the meat.

But it's really hard for me, as a paddler, to see the Greenway falling under the axe. The idea is apparently that their work will be parcelled out among other agencies. But the Hudson is such a NY state treasure, I hate to see it turned into just extra duties for other agencies, where the best use & preservation has been under the eye of one deeply invested group.

As a paddler, I know that I am indebted to this group for the increasing ease of access for kayakers & rowers. They worked closely with the Hudson River Watertrail Association on creating the Watertrail. The Watertrail increased ease of access & encouraged the resurgence of human-powered boating all the way down to NY Harbor. It set an official precedent, saying "These recovering waters are valuable not just for commercial shipping, but for small recreational craft, just as the river used to be before we filled it so full of pollution that you couldn't go near it".

I don't think I was even living in NYC when work started on the Watertrail. I certainly hadn't discovered kayaking yet - if I was here, I still standing on top of seawalls, watching the water swirl by & assuming (like a proper child of Hawaii) that the only reason it would be so hard to get to the water would be because there was something terribly wrong with it.

Meanwhile, the people from whom I first learned to kayak were chipping out their tenuous toeholds on the river. I came into an NYC paddling scene that was gathering momentum, but still struggling - there were (and still are) those who didn't like the increasing recreational use of NY Harbor & the North River; there was (and still is) deep concern among public officials about the safety of kayaking & the insurance risk posed by public access - but the Watertrail Association and the early paddling & rowing groups & people were making a lot of progress & I joined a growing wave of people who were tasting the fruit of that early groundwork. 10 years later, we've got a real, full-grown paddling & rowing community with skilled paddlers who are eager to pass on what they've learned to newer paddlers, an actual New York City Watertrail & although there's always room for more learning & growth, human-powered boating seems to have gained a real acceptance as a legitimate use for NYC waters.

That's what's made NYC work for me. Without the boating, I don't know if I would've ever stayed in this city that long.

I owe a lot of people a debt for that, and people at the Greenway are among that group.

I'm not aware of any formal campaign to save the Greenway, but I did use the "Contact the Governor" website to voice my support. I'm never sure if that sort of thing makes a difference or not - but failure to speak up tends to be mistaken for acceptance.

For more about a wider range of work done by the Greenway, check out their website:

http://www.hudsongreenway.state.ny.us/

There's also a posting on the Hudson River Watertrail Association's site:

here it is...

And if you want to send an email to the governor about it, here's that Contact the Governor page I used.

Thus endeth the rant. I promise I shall strive to make my next few posts foolish & frivolous!

Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance - 2008 Waterfront Conference Part 1 - New York Harbor Boat Tour

So as I'd mentioned, last week Thursday, I decided to take a vacation day to go volunteer for the Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance's 2008 Waterfront Conference, Launching the Waterfront Action Agenda. I may have sort of "retired" from even the low level of waterfront political involvement that being a paddler in the Hudson River Park always seemed to entail (and sometimes I feel like this blog has suffered, have basically devolved into chirpy trip reports from the earlier days when it was chirpy trip reports interspersed with reflections on the challenges of water access for NYC residents) , but I've never stopped being interested in the interplay of long-established, but up to a point (don't forget that, up to a point is key!) dwindling commercial uses and the recreational uses (both on-water activities & the waterfront parks that are gaining momentum as modern urban amenities). It's not always an easy balance, but the MWA has done a rather remarkable job of getting all these diverse users of the waterfront to gather to discuss & formulate a plan for responsible use of New York City's waterfront. The resulting Waterfront Action Agenda was the focus of the conference, and I'm very glad I was able to attend.

The morning began with a tour of the Upper Harbor. How better to kick off a conference about the waterfront & the navigable waterways to which it gives access than with a boat ride around some of the very waterfront that we were all there for?

Here are Jennifer Stark-Hernandez & Carter Craft, two of the MWA staff who've worked on this & any number of other MWA events over the years. This was Carter's last hurrah with the MWA - after 10 years with the MWA, he's moving on to work for Miller's Launch, a marine services company in Staten Island. Going to be very strange not getting those MWA announcements from him!



The event volunteers had been asked to arrive at Gangway 4 in Battery Park at 7:30 am. Carter & Jennifer made sure we were well fortified with coffee & doughnuts.

Half an hour later, we all grabbed our clipboards & went to work registering the attendees! I have to say this was one of the easiest volunteer stints I'd ever done - I ran into my friend "DragonSandy" from the Hoboken Boathouse later in the day, and she'd been volunteering during the leadup, when packets and lists and this & that were being organized & compiled - sounds like that was when they really could've used more hands. Signing people in was really the main work I did during the day - beyond that, it seemed like the staff had things pretty well in hand (although President Bush made our lunch late, but what can you do about that?). But that first half-hour was hectic! Fun, though, I saw an awful lot of people who I knew from my kayak & schooner-crew days on the North River. Sebago's great but I did meet some really good people back in those days, too. Nice seeing 'em again. Here you get an idea of how many people came - I think the count was something like 400.

I'd fully expected that the volunteers would get everybody signed in & on the boat, then wave goodbye & head over to the Museum of the American Indian (the venue for the afternoon sessions) to help set up - or at least hang out & wait (and I could easily have spent an hour in the museum). My next official job on the volunteer list was shown as "usher", and it looked like I was supposed to report to begin doing that at 10:15 - the boat ride was shown as going until 10:30 - so I was very surprised (happily so!) when somebody handed me a sticker and said "Get on the boat!" Woohoo! Ran on...realized I'd left my backpack & info packet under a bench, ran back off, Jennifer was running towards me with all my stuff, I grabbed it & jumped back on the boat.

So here are some pictures from the boat ride! It was interesting - just as the Action Agenda focuses on a broad range of topics, the boat tour took us all around the Upper Harbor, which gives you a great view of those varied uses - and our tour guides were an absolute who's who of NYC & NJ waterfront planners & authorities, and one would hand the mic over to the next as we passed from one speaker's area of authority to another. We started by heading north for a view of the Hudson River Park, then crossed the river to Jersey.

Here's the Goldman Sachs headquarters. Might not be much joy inside that building these days - but at least the building is green.
One of the facets of the agenda is working for the ecological health of the harbor, and that's quite directly affected by what happens on land. I think that the increasing push for development of the "wrong" sort (and I think everyone at this conference would agree on one thing - that luxury condos & big-box stores are just maybe not the best way to use our waterfront) was one of the motivating factors for MWA organizing the task force groups that developed the agenda - but it's not like there isn't going to be some development (no development would be a very bad sign) - where it happens, though, there are a lot of ways those buildings can be built to lessen their environmental impact.

Next tour highlights heading South down the Anchorage Channel (the main channel running north up the Upper Harbor & continuing up the section of the Hudson known as North River, along Manhattan's west side) - Ellis Island & the Statue of Liberty.

Continuing south down the harbor, the next feature of the tour was the anchorage that runs down to the Verranzano Narrows Bridge. This harbor is still very much a working harbor. Remember how I mentioned that commercial use was dwindling "up to a certain point"? Well, one thing I don't think I was aware of, having been totally out of touch with the commercial folks for some time, was that shipping has actually been growing at a pretty healthy rate in the area. As was mentioned in that article about the Erie Canal I linked to a couple of posts ago, the high cost of gas has actually done much to push shippers to use more fuel-efficient forms of transportation whenever possible. This crowded anchorage shows the results.

Tug & barge units (like this Reinauer pair, identifiable by the distinctive red & tan paint job) are incredibly more efficient than trucks.

So the industry is growing, and one of the challenges faced by that industry is that the support facilities haven't been able to keep pace with that growth. The fact that a site in Red Hook, Brooklyn, that had previously occupied by a working drydock has been replaced by a parking lot for Ikea was not just mentioned in one of the afternoon sessions I attended - it was spoken of with deep concern, and illustrated with before & after slides

The tugs & barges in the anchorage are like planes on the runway - they're all waiting their turn (this one's been cleared for takeoff). Another problem that was mentioned as something the industry has been having to deal with was that the growth has meant needing to use more of the more northern anchorage spots. That puts moored barges & their attendant tugs closer to Hoboken & Jersey City, and apparently the sound of the tugs' generators get complaints from some of the shorefront residents. Reminds me of some of the concerns that the tug operators in Red Hook's Erie Basin were voicing (may still be voicing) as the luxury condos started opening up nearby - I remember a quote about how they were afraid that while their new neighbors might think that living near a tugboat yard was terribly quaint, the quaintness might wear off after a few 3 a.m. tugboat whistles. Again, the balance isn't always easy.


Speaking of Red Hook, following our swing through the anchorage, we headed across the harbor to the Brooklyn shorline. Here's a Saudi Arabian container ship being loaded in the Buttermilk Channel, which runs between Brooklyn & Governor's Island. The area is also home to the aforementioned Erie Basin, and the Brooklyn cruise ship terminal that's the NY base for the QMII. Yes, there's still quite a bit of maritime industrial activity around here.
Over the last few years, the area's also become the Next Hot Place to Live. Gentrification & shipping don't necessarily mix. Interesting thing about our current economic crisis? I think that at least 4 times during the day, I heard the slowdown of the runaway high-end residential development this city's seen in the last few years quoted as being something of a silver lining - the mad stampede to grab that waterfront will stop, and there will be time to consider the consequences of letting these existing industries be pushed out for things like Ikea parking lots.


Heading on north along the Brooklyn shoreline - here's another transitional area - was shipping, now slated for the Brooklyn Bridge park. They've begun tearing down the piersheds in preparation for that. Again, this is a situation where the decision was made to fund the park by including space for luxury condos - another contentious issue of balancing public & private use of this part of the waterfront. I'm not even sure I've taken a side on that one - if, as has been suggested by condo detractors, the condominium owners try to discourage the public, that's bad - but if the result is a really nice park & there isn't any attempt at exclusion - maybe it's not so bad? Although somehow the idea of funding a park with luxury condos seemed like a better idea (if it is a good idea at all) back before this whole economic meltdown. Well, I guess we'll see.

Finally - here, we're heading back for Battery Park; we were going to go have a closer look at the waterfront in there (the next area slated for a major renewal project) - but speaking of waterfront politics - Bush was in town, and as you can see, the security's tight!


That's it for Part I. Part II to come later this week.

Jetskis of the Purple Sage

Very interesting article about the issue of access to public lands for ATV's & other recreational users out West in the New York Times today.

Fascinating parallels between the situations described there & the ones we end up with regarding access for various types of recreational craft on New York City's waterways.

This could be my last post for 2007 - TQ's coming down from CT tonight, we've got a date to paddle out the old tomorrow (with snow in the AM forecast, I don't know if that's a hot date or a cold one!), & then we'll paddle in the new with the rest of the Sebago crew at the Tuesday Frostbite Regatta.

I've made a big batch of my mom's famous pecans for the potluck. Looking forward to the day!

Anyone else greeting the New Year by getting out on the water?

That's all for now. Here's my best wishes to everyone for a very healthy & happy New Year!

See you in 2008!

Brooklyn Bridge Park Meeting Monday 11/26!

Updating - just to make sure it's clear, that's NEXT week Monday, the 26th.
***********

I wonder what the New York City waterfront is going to look like in 50 years. All these waterfront parks initiatives...

The Hudson River Park is well on the way.

An East River Park downtown is in the most preliminary planning stages (and I still wish I'd been able to attend the CB1 meeting where the nut job who wants to fill in the Harlem River if they won't let him do another Battery Park City downtown was going to speak, with Marcy Behnstock, aka "the woman who stopped Westway" in the same room...),

Halfway between the two lies the Brooklyn Bridge Park. This one's contentious issue involves the luxury apartment buildings that planned as income-generators. Of course me being me, what I'm really interested in is water access there. What a great put-in that would be for journeys in the upper harbor, East River, or North River! To see where that's gone (the conservancy had some weird ideas about how to accomodate kayakers at one point, seemed to think kayaking was all Downtown Boathouse type free sitatops between a couple of piers - that's a nice thing if you can get enough people to make it work, but there are SO many more levels of human-powered boating than that going on in NYC!) I'll probably go to the meeting they're having on Monday evening. Know it's Thanksgiving week, and people are busy, but anyone interested in the future of that stretch of waterfront should try to attend!

Thanks, Tim, for the heads up!

Wanna see a few pictures of the park in question, at least as it was a couple of years ago? Here's a post from a gorgeous December day when Pia of Courting Destiny and I did a little urban hiking.

Pier 26 Update

Here's a very good writeup of Monday's meeting.

Another interesting snippet of publicly available info - remember that opinion poll about waterfront use that I posted? Well, the results were pretty wild:

What would you like New York City to do with its waterfront? (3/9/2007)

15% parks, with views and promenades
4% cultural destinations
1% housing
78% recreation opportunities: boating, swimming, fishing, etc
2% maintain manufacturing

OK - there are definitely ways that poll could have been better. Multiple choice, for starters - looking at the poor old Rustbucket alone, that barge, all by itself, provided 3 out of those 5 items - it was a lovely place to sit & watch the river roll by (park, with view if not promenade), it was an awesome venue for concerts & other performancess, and of course water access was being provided for all kinds & levels of boaters (and the odd swimmer too). Then I guess the other thing I would've liked to see was some mention of "P-O-R-T" - not ALL four letter words are bad...

I guess the only thing I would be sort of vehemently against would be housing. I like the Hawaiian plan of the beaches are supposed to be PUBLIC - people can build houses BY the beach, yes, but there are rules about maintaining public right-of-ways providing access to those public spaces. The other ones - yes, for me personally, I don't think I'd still be living in this city if it weren't for the kayaking, but I've seen all of those uses & they all seem to be of value - and not necessarily incompatible (any more than motorized & non-motorized vessels are, pffft) as long as each set of users recognizes the value of the others & all work together.

whoa. that was one big pipe dream moment wasn't it?

Anyways. Picky picky picky, that was clearly not meant to be a highly scientific poll, it's just part of a series of weekly snapshots. For what it was, the outcome was interesting!

Now I go attempt to finish the seemingly endless work I had this week. Silly silly me, I insisted on having a bit of an after-work life this week - paying for it now. Blech.

Public Notice and the Hudson River Park Trust

Ah, meant to put up some pretty pictures tonight but I just remembered that there was something I'd wanted to post about a while back, but never gotten past bothering the poor people who are on various lists that I'm on. Going onto the Community Board 1 website & having such an easy time finding information about their upcoming meetings reminded me.

As I've mentioned before, I've been active in Hudson River Park stuff since I joined Manhattan Kayak Company in early 1999. Being a partner in a company that needed the Park to accomodate kayaks to even exist was a great motivator for going to all the various meetings where the Park was discussed. Once I left MKC in early 2002, I eased up on my activities of that sort - once I spoke only for Me Myself & I, LLC, I was inclined to leave the bulk of that stuff to the Officially Involved. Still, since access was still important to me, I tried to keep abreast of developments, follow the various changes, and when it seemed like it would help the Trust to hear what paddlers wanted if a whole lot of us were all shouting at the same time, I was always ready to join in on email or letter-writing campaigns & try to rally others to do the same.

I was cleaning out some extremely old emails late last year, and I ran across one that I'd sent to NYCKayaker back during my time as an independent-though-involved paddler at Pier 63. It was dated July 2003. It was entitled "Having a Voice in the Hudson River Park", and it was basically one of my usual over-wordy diatribes about how good it would be for people to take an active role in Park stuff by attending meetings, listening to what was going on, and speaking up if they didn't approve.

Most of it was just generic rah rah, blah blah, if we all speak together the Trust will have to listen stuff - but the first sentence was pretty interesting & sort of sad, considering all of the really unhappy exchanges I ended up having with a lot of people I really didn't want to fight with from late September on (as the closing of the barge played itself out). If you were for some bizarre reason actually paying attention to the various plot twists, you might recall my December 1st Tale of Two Emails post - for those who missed that, there'd been a meeting of the Advisory Council to the Hudson River Park Trust that I would have really liked to attend, except that word never spread beyond a very small group who'd taken the lead (the rationale I was given later was that the meeting room was too small for wider attendance). I was frustrated with both the Trust (for not having anywhere on their website where a person who wasn't in the "in crowd" could find out about Park-related meeting) and the (then) newly announced Hudson River Paddler's Guild", whose stated goals are sounded admirable enough in their introductory email, but who I nevertheless felt were taking advantage of the lack of freely available information on park-related matters by presenting themselves as an intermediary between the Trust and the independent paddler (for which service the "independent paddler" need only pay a $35 membership fee). I would rather have seen the Guild immediately go to work on getting the Trust to re-open a process that used to be very open, but has evidently closed down some over the last relatively uneventful year or two. Interactions between the Trust and the paddlers have often felt like a two-steps-forward, one-step-back process - somehow this time, though, it's felt more like no steps forward, three steps back.

That was really driven home by the first sentence of this email I'd written back in 2003 -

Hudson River Park Trust meetings are open to the public. Public notice is available
here: http://www.hudsonriverpark.org/public/board.html.

So apparently back in July 2003, the Trust ACTUALLY HAD A PUBLIC NOTICE PAGE.

Did you try the link? Not exactly helpful now, eh?

I'm pretty sure that back in 2003, that link would have taken you to something a lot more informative than in does here in early 2007, as in the email I went on to describe that now-lost page as being the way to see what meetings were coming up & whether they'd be of interest to the general paddling public or not.

So when I was pestering Noreen about getting public notice on their website, and she was offering having people email her directly to be put on the list instead (still meaning that you had to be enough of an insider to know that emailing her was the key to getting notice - better than nothing but still not really public, somehow)- all I was asking for was for the Trust to reinstate a service that they used to provide as a matter of course.

A Tale of Two Emails:

Today, I'm just going to post 2 emails, sort of to try to close out the train-wreck issue:

The first is from Noreen Doyle at the Hudson River Park Trust, in response to an email I sent her after trying & failing to find an easy way to find out about future meetings. I'd decided to do that became evident that the paddler's grapevine (formerly fairly reliable) was now apparently suffering from phylloxera:

I'll ask that your home address be added too, and we'll correct your email. And of course, people can email me if they want to be on the circulation list for meetings. It would be helpful if they could understand that the Advisory Council itself includes organizations that are specifically named to the Council. There is a legal cap on the number of members that can be added. Others are welcome to attend in that the meetings are public (though as I said space is limited at most meetings). It is up to the Chair to set the agendas, and the Trust does not control this process. People who want to know more can read the Hudson River Park Act, available on our website. Pier 63 Maritime will shortly be added to the Council as a result of last week's vote, subject to our Board's confirmation.


So...she may not thank me for the but wotthehell, Archie, wotthehell:

ndoyle@hrpt.state.ny.us

Better than nothing. Still these meetings are supposed to be public, and if the public can't find out about 'em easily, maybe that's not really public enough. It shouldn't be any easier for noted squeaky-wheel Bonnie Q. Frogma to find out about this stuff than it is for Jane Q. Paddler who paddles a Feathercraft Java & has never heard of any of our assorted local list & clubs & what-have-you, but is curious & finds the Hudson River Park website through a Google search.

Now here was the other email - from one of the folks who DID get word about the last meeting:

Dear Bonnie,
Hi, my name is Bill Bergeron and I am a paddler who used to store his boat at Pier 63. I am writing to you today to announce some exciting news that I know you'll be interested in. I, along with a number of local paddlers, have formed the Hudson River Paddlers Guild. The "Guild" is a non-for-profit corporation devoted to the interests of independent paddlers, like yourself, who use the Hudson River and surrounding waterways. We formed the Guild to give a voice to our community when we found that, as independent paddlers, we had none during the closing of Pier 63.

While the situation at Pier 63 has been our first focus we have incorporated with a larger mission ahead:

• To promote and support the practice of recreational watersports, in particular kayaking.
• To encourage training, technique, competition, and safety programs for the community of paddlers who seek ways to improve their skills and knowledge.
• To provide a forum for human-powered boaters, not-for-profit organizations and commercial entities that share the Hudson River to promote safety and communication for all.
• To improve and protect safe public access to rivers and to promote care for the aquatic environment of all rivers, in particular the Hudson River, for recreation and enjoyment.

This vision, of an organization that represents the paddlers point of view, would be incomplete without you. I am writing to ask for your input, let me know what you think the Guild can do to meet the needs of our community.

As you may, or may not be aware, independent paddlers are already having an impact. As part of a team of paddlers and water-front community advocates, we are supporting John Krevey in his ongoing efforts to modify his existing DEC permits. These amendments would provide for both storage and launching facilities to return to Pier 63 Maritime when it reopens at Pier 66A.

Recently, we were encouraged when The Hudson River Park Trust Advisory Council voted, unanimously, to recommend that the Hudson River Park Trust support John's suggested amendments. In addition, the Advisory Council will be sending a letter of support to the DEC. While this is encouraging progress it will be months before we know if these amendments will be granted.

In addition to our efforts to restore what has been our community's home, the Guild has joined a consortium of other non-profit and private groups to make what we hope will be a successful bid on the recently released Pier 66 RFP. The details of our proposal are still in progress but so far we are supporting:

• Boat Storage that is convenient and reasonable priced.
• Safe and clean facilities, including docks that are well maintained and not slippery; good lighting; readily available emergency equipment.
• Flexible launch hours, as per independent paddlers needs
• Hot showers, changing area and lockers

We would like your suggestions about how the design and operation of this new facility can serve your needs.

We also need your support. If you believe that independent paddlers should have a strong and unified voice, if you believe that access to our cities waterways should be safe and unfettered, if you believe that paddlers should be caretakers of the river environment, then join us.

Becoming a Guild Member is simple. For just $35 you will not only have a seat at the table where your voice is heard and information comes to you first-hand but you will enjoy these additional benefits:

• Website, currently under construction, with timely news and information on the issues that effect our community presented in a clear, concise and timely fashion
• Bi-monthly newsletter covering the greater Hudson region
• Subscription to Adventure Kayak Magazine, a fresh new voice in paddlesports.

To become a member simply fill out the attached PDF and send it along with a check to the address below. I will follow up within a few days of receiving it with information on how you as a member can get involved and send your suggestions.

You can get involved today by sending this message and the attached membership form to anyone you think shares the interests and ideals of our community.

Yours truly,

William Bergeron-mirsky
President
Hudson River Paddlers Guild

Interested but not ready for membership? Reply to this email with "Friend of the Guild" as the subject line and we will continue to send you updates as we make progress in this exciting time for our community.

As I'm handing out emails - Bill's is bill@hrpg.net .

Some of what they're proposing sounds useful, but I'm having a really hard time swallowing: "For just $35 you will...have a seat at the table where your voice is heard and information comes to you first-hand".

I thought that's what my tax dollars were supposed to get me.

I also have a problem with the fact that they got word of the last Advisory Council meeting & did not spread the word. No, it's not their responsibility, but it just bothers me that they didn't.

Ah well. Lovely paddle I had yesterday, wandering the mazelike grasses of the Elder's Point Marsh with TQ, looking down at the shells on the bottom through water clear as glass, musing over important questions like "If sailors get sea legs when they've sailed for a long time, what does a paddler get after paddling for a long time?". I'm pretty much settled on staying where I am. In some ways, I think it may a far, far better place for somebody who's as burned out on the Hudson River Park access issues as I am.

Community Board 4's letter of support - YEAH!

Can't resist posting this - it was a bright spot in a miserable day, plus it's a great statement of how all this business started. In other news that I choose to see as VERY good, someone from the DEC has actually returned a call from MC, the gentleman who ended up acting as our spokesperson (and doing a great job) after the original spokesperson managed to ruffle a lot of feathers (especially mine) & finally stepped down. The DEC was the one organization in all of this that seemed like a faceless beaureaucracy, there wasn't any name attached - well, now there are some, and one of them has taken the time to really talk to MC, and like everyone else involved, it doesn't sound like they set out with the intent of taking water access away from a bunch of people who've been enjoying it for years.

That doesn't necessarily mean everything's going to be hunky-dory now, there may still be some patient persuading to be done - but it feels like progress.

Like I've said before - there don't seem to be any bad guys here - it's all just the unfortunate result of various policies which may have seemed, to the writers, like they would work well, but had an unexpected result.

Now the one weird thing is that the DEC person has introduced a bit of a new angle - saying something about there were also some environmental considerations involved...

I'm not going to go into that right now though.

Enough preamble....
***********
City of New York
Manhattan Community Board No. 4

J. Lee Compton
Chair

Robert J. Benfatto, Jr. Esq.
District Manager

October 6, 2006
Louis Oliva, Acting Regional Director, NYC
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation
Region 2 Headquarters

Re: Pier 63 Maritime (Lackawanna Railroad Barge) at Pier 66A: Kayaking Application

Dear Mr. Oliva,

As you are aware, Pier 63 Maritime, a former railroad car-float transformed into a waterfront access site, is a very popular center for historic ships, park visitors, neighborhood residents, commercial and recreation boaters, maritime enthusiasts, and, as was amply demonstrated to Community Board No. 4 (CB4) at a recent meeting of its Waterfront & Parks Committee, a very large and active community of kayakers.

Approximately three years ago, Pier 63 Maritime (P63M) came before CB4 to seek its endorsement of a plan to move the barge to Pier 66A, a partially restored railroad float bridge, when its lease from its landlord at the time, Basketball City, was terminated as stipulated by the Hudson River Park Act. The plan was approved by CB4 concept.

Subsequently the owners of P63M began discussions with both the Hudon River Park Trust (HRPT, its new landlord to be) and New York State Department of Environmental Consetvation (DEC) with regard to this move, slated to occur in the coming months. It is our understanding that these discussions have resulted in a pending permit from DEC and a draft lease, still in negotiation, from HRPT.

At the last meeting of the Waterfront & Parks Commeittee, several issues related to this move were discussed in detail, in particular (and the subject of this letter) the status of kayaking at the barge after it moves to its new location.

According to Manhattan Kayak, a subtenant of P63M, as wel as numerous independent kayakers, approximately 150 to 170 kjayaks and canoes are currently stored in and/or launch from Pier 63 Maritime. The majority are stored below the deck of the barge with the remainder on adajacent floats -- none are stored above deck. These boats are divided between Manhattan Kayak's own training and tour boats, a kayak water polo club, New York Outrigger and independent privately owned kayaks, the latter being the largest contingent by number (over 100).

It is our understanding that the DEC permit as currently proposed, does not allow either the storage of or the launching of kayaks or other human powered boats from P63M once it moves to its new location at Pier 66A. We also understand the reasons for this prohibition may come from one or more of the following reasonings:

1. That there will be a boathouse and hand-powered boat launch immediately north of Pier 66A (at Pier 66) that will be sufficient to handle the current and/or anticipated activity of this nature,
2. That P63M will be host to motorized vessels as permitted (historic vessels, commercial excursion boats and water taxis) and will thus be unsafe for kayaks, and/or
3. That P63M at Pier 66A will lie within a "motorboat zone" as defined by the Trusts's Estuarine Sancturary Management Plan, and therefore human powered boats are not permitted at this location under the plan.

The kayking community has demonstrated to us that the first reasoning (capacity of the planned boathouse at Pier 66) is not valid based on the numbers presented - up to 170 in the current situation compared to a capacity of about 55 (according to the kayakers) in the new boathouse -- leaving over 100 without a place to launch or store kayaks. It further appears that other kayak facilities in the Hudson River Park are not capable of absorbing this overflow. It is also evident that this activity seems to be growing in Hudson River Park as well as other locations.

As for the second reasoning, the kayaking community has stated that combined kayaking and motorized boating ahas taken place at Pier 63 Maritime safely and without incident for many years, as well as at other locations such as Pier 40 (also within Hudson River Park, the 79th Steeet Boat Basin and many other locations in teh city, state and the US.

As to whether the interpretation of the Estuarine Sanctuary Management Plan prohibits kayaking within motorized boating areas, we have no opinion. However, the owner of P63M has ageed to keep motorized vessels away from the north side of the barge, paving the way for the Trust to re-designate that area for human-powered vessels if necessary. If such a change is needed and if all parties can agree to such a solution, CB4 sees no reason to object.

In summary, it appears that a definite need exists to accomodate both kayak storage and launching at p63M as well as the adjacent boahouse at Pier 66, and that there is no particular danger in allowinng this to occur. Assuming that such activities are in accord with either the current or potentially revised Estuarine Sanctuary Management Plan to the satisfaction of DEC, the Trust, the kayakers and the owner of P63M, and based on our knowledge of the situation, CB4 urges DEC to allow the kayaking and human powered boting activities (storage and launching) to continue at the new location as they have for many years at its current location.

This letter was pase unanimously at the October 4th meeting of Manhattan Community Board No. 4

Sincerely,

J. Lee Compton
Chair
Community Board 4

John Doswell
Co-Chair
Waterfronts and Parks

Kristin Dionne
Co-Chair
Waterfronts and Parks

***************

HEAR HEAR! Thank you, CB4!

fingers crossed & knocking wood now...

BTW I think that letter outlines the current situation better than anything I could say, and with that all the who said what to whom and when I was starting to go into becomes blissfully irrelevant.

Maybe tomorrow I can write about rolling at Lake Sebago instead...