NYCkayaker Pier 63 is closed.

[Mo Fridlich]

How true Ralph's words ring. On last Saturday's Brooklyn Bridge Swim I 
launched my kayak under the Brooklyn Bridge. There actually was a board walk 
with bikers and joggers and a nice little (it was high tide) sandy beach 
where the kayakers and swimmers started out.
I remember my first paddle in NY Harbor back in the 90's before any public 
launches. We happen to launched at the same spot under the Brooklyn Bridge. 
It was a garbage strewn area where we had to climb over old concrete and 
rusted car wrecks. When we returned at high tide the beach (if I may call it 
that) had shrunk and was literally crawling with hundreds of rats. Lucky for 
us they stayed out of our way while we hurried back across.

Mo Fridlich

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "ralph diaz" <ralphdiaz at optonline.net>
To: <bonnie13 at earthlink.net>; <nyckayaker at rockandwater.net>
Sent: Wednesday, September 13, 2006 6:26 AM
Subject: Re: NYCkayaker Pier 63 is closed.


> Bonnie,
>
> Thanks for your update/analysis of the situation with Pier 63.  While New
> York and the mini dramas in the Hudson River Park saga fade further and
> further from memory for me up here, I do like to know what continues to go
> on.  Pier 63 was always a mixed situation as you know and address it
> accordingly.  Still, it is sad to see something so funky as the barge 
> (and,
> in that way, very seakayaky) end, a mother ship to a fine sea kayak
> business, storage for a small army of kayakers, and the outriggers home
> base.
>
> But so much positive seems to be going on as well on the kayaking scene in
> the harbor as illustrated in nyckayaker.  I am amazed at the level that 
> has
> been reached, for example, even the idea of a swim across the Narrows let
> alone it actually happening and sufficient numbers of sea kayakers capable
> of supporting such an open water swim.  The numerous round-Manhattan 
> paddles
> that were set up a few weeks back.  The Downtown Boathouse's continue
> maturing in the level of sea kayaking that goes on and I don't mean just 
> in
> the numbers of the people being put on the water but also the quality of 
> the
> sea kayaking.  The list of milestones goes on and on.
>
> You down on the waters off of Manhattan's shores may be too close to the
> scene to fully recognize the history of kayaking that is being written 
> down
> there.  I see it from here and it does put a smile on my face as I 
> remember
> pretty humble beginnings for sea kayaking back in the late 1980s and 
> through
> even into as recently as the late 1990s.  It has come a long way and may 
> it
> continue to be there for all of you.
>
> ralph diaz
>
>
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