NYCkayaker East River Paddling

Mon Sep 24 14:14:18 EDT 2007

Re: NYCkayaker East River PaddlingYou are making a very good point here.  To sailboat people the East River represents an obstacle which must be surmounted in order to reach to an area suitable for sailing.  To the paddler launching into it (the river) presents an opportunity to test his/hers skills.

As the captain of a multi ton, expensive, complex boat, personally responsible for the lives and well being of ones friends and family one must acquire a mindset which prioritizes safety above all else.  In consequence I always made it a point to avoid known hazards.  That left only the unforeseen to be dealt with.  Of course as experience grows what was previously avoided  becomes manageable thereby opening previous must avoid options to consideration.

Two different but totally valid points of view.  Of course the physical realities of operating in the environment at issue remains the same.

Richard Smith
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: rob buchanan 
  To: Erik Baard ; nykayak 
  Sent: Monday, September 24, 2007 1:17 PM
  Subject: Re: NYCkayaker East River Paddling

  Richard:

  I just want to second what eric said in response to your notion that the east river is not a place for small boats. Yes, the water moves fast at the peak of the ebb and flood, and yes, it can behave in complicated ways. But for many of the city's human-powered boaters, that's whole joy and beauty of the place. I mean, how lucky are we to one of the planet's greatest tidal straits right down there at the end of our streets? It's  a living geography lesson presented twice daily, a constant reminder that this city is and will always be a part of the natural world. And, on the practical side, a veritable conveyor belt, sometimes smooth and sometimes churning, that can rocket us up to the bronx or down to the narrows in the space of an afternoon. Is it navigationally challenging? Yes. Too challenging? Well, you could ask George Washington, who got 10,000 members of the Continental Army across it in small boats on a foggy August night in 1776, thereby saving the fledgling republic's skin. Or you could go paddling with long island city boathouse, or rowing with east river crew, and see for yourself how dangerous and terrifying it isn't. 

  Rob

    In a nod to my Jewish friends at the new year, Oy vey iz mir!

    As the founder and operator of a successful kayaking boathouse on the East River, I must dispute nearly the entirety of this reply. Or as Wolfgang Pauli might have put it, the summation of assertions is "not even wrong."

    There are several very viable launches on the Manhattan shoreline. The most obvious are at the beach below the Brooklyn Bridge and the beach at the center of Stuyvesant Cove (end of East 20th Street). The Brooklyn and Queens shorelines are amazingly well-suited to paddle and rowing, though not all viable spots are designated. Off the top of my head, I can name soft shorelines at Dumbo, the new state park at Williamsburg (hoping the state will catch up to the city in allowing launches), sandy coves in undeveloped Hunters Point, several coves and a dock at Gantry Plaza State Park, below the Williamsburg Bridge, below the Wellfare Island Bridge, Hallets Cove (the site of weekly walk-up paddle programming for people of all ages and abilities), and Pot Cove. Plus numerous in the N/E stretch of the waterway, of course. Also there's an easily adapted riprap rock spots include the end of Grand Avenue in Williamsburg and the end of Second Street on the Newtown Creek in Hunt! ers Point.

    On the Newtown Creek there are several other step-down locations, and a ladder launch at the end of Manhattan Avenue in Greenpoint worked quite well for the East River Kayak Club for years. A new launch is being constructed there at this very moment. Ladder launching, and sometimes a floating dock, works beautifully for us LIC Community Boathouse people at Anable Cove and Anable Basin.

    The solution to the Manhattan/FDR bulkhead problem is the construction of emergency exit points (ladders, small docks, etc.), not the banishment of small craft. 

    Traffick on the East River is surprisingly light, and that's not just the perspective of a guy whose family worked aboard barges and tugs on that waterway throughout most of the 20th century. Even newbie public paddlers often ask, "Wow, is the river always this empty?" That said, rather than discouraging access, let's encourage people to learn ferry routes and barging patterns, consult tide and current tables, join this list serv, become aware of security zones, knowledgably use marine radios, exceed legal requirements for night lighting, and make crossings cautiously. 

    There are plenty of places in the metro area which are suitable for small boats. The East River is CHIEF among them!

    :)

    Erik Baard

    http://www.licboathouse.org <http://www.licboathouse.org/> 
    http://www.naturecalendar.com

      -------- Original Message --------
      Subject: Re: NYCkayaker East River Paddling
      From: "Richard Smith" <sailnut at att.net>
      Date: Mon, September 24, 2007 9:49 am
      To: <NYCkayaker at rockandwater.net>,  "Chris" <cgk8 at cornell.edu>

      Although I have never paddled in the East River I have navigated it many
      times in sailboats of varying sizes.

      That said I would strongly discourage any thoughts of a public launch site
      or recreational boating from the South Street Seaport north to Gracie
      Mansion.

      Currents in this area can approach 6 kts. In the west passage at Roosevelt
      Island whirlpools develop which make navigation in a powered boat difficult.
      The Manhattan Shore is bulkheaded and it would be extremely difficult if not
      impossible to land on in an emergency. Roosevelt island and the Queens
      shore are bulkheaded and/or fil! led with rip/rap again non-hospital to
      landing.

      Heavy commercial marine traffic can be expected and there is little a tug
      with tow or a commercial vessel can do to avoid a small man powered craft.

      There are plenty of places in the metro area which are suitable for small
      boats. The East River is not among them!

      Richard Smith

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