Red Hook

"You're in a bad spot," came back the voice on the radio.

I was leading a couple of clients on a trip from Pier 40, home of the local shop I work at. We were coming back from Red Hook, Valentino Park, a small patch of beach directly across from the lower tip of Governors Island.

We were near a green buoy off the northwest edge of Governors Island, directly across from the Battery in Manhattan, keeping in place while we waited for this vessel (The J, I'll call her - anonymity so as to prevent an feuds). We were in a great spot. From our vantage we could make all the Statue of Liberty ferries, traffic coming out and in to the North (Hudson) river, round the bend from the East River, and the Staten Island ferry, which had just left Whitehall bound for its namesake destination. We could see everything and were ready to make the crossing - once the J moved out of our way.

"We'll be on the move once you clear us," I said over the radio. She had plenty of room, and we waved at her passengers as she passed, then surfed in her wake. She was basically a floating gin palace, taking afternoon partiers - a wedding party, by the looks - around the harbor.

Red Hook is a part of Brooklyn along the shore, immediately north of Bay Ridge. There are several new pocket parks along the waterfront. As economic development came to the neighborhood, the city put in these little parks. Valentino Park is a small one, perhaps sixty yards wide and bisected by a narrow pier for onlookers. Directly across the harbor is the Statue of Liberty, and views south generally afford the Verranzano Bridge. The towers of lower Manhattan, Wall Street, beckon to the north, just beyond Governors Island.

This was my first trip out here. I've only been deep in the harbor a few times. What happened was, wr had a couple of regulars hoping to just "go somewhere", and based on the timing I worked out some possibilities. Red Hook was a medium level - about 3 miles each way, crossing the high-traffic zone of New York's Battery, down along Governors Island, and then a short jot over. It was about the right challenge level for the clients, and also myself.

We paddled out with considerable ebb current in our favor.

Passing Pier 26.

Out across the harbor.

Onwards!

Along the way we overtook a group of four paddlers, basically from the other kayaking shop in Manhattan. There were two guides and two clients - one of whom was kinda slow, mostly due to poor form.

We kept together for the crossings. I coached their straggler a bit before handing him over to their guides. My clients were doing OK but I wanted to coach them on their strokes and talk through some chop we were going to pass through. The water along Governors Island gets rather shallow at low tide.

Approaching the south end of Governors Island.

Passing he day marker.

The beach we landed at hd a small public kayaking program in operation - mums and dads and their kids in sit-on-top boats. We landed in small swells of about a foot, then pulled our boats up the the side, to keep the beach clear. Then we had snacks.

One bit of advisory, overlooked by many paddlers. EAT! You're burning calories. Especially people who get cranky when they don't eat. You'll need the energy not just for the physical energy but the emotional and good decision-making energy.  You won't always have the cowgirl there to offer her spare Clif Bars, fruit, and other sundries.

Passing Governors, One World Trade in Distance.

We rested nearly an hour, in which time we found a local Key Lime Pie shop, a motorcycle shop, and the loo (a porta-potty). Now, I've been to the Florida Keys many times and that is my benchmark for Key Lime Pie. I will have to return to this place to check them out.

Snapshot on the return, near Governors Island.

The paddle back was remarkably easy - we had quite a lot of current with us, especially once clear of the Battery. Remember that "bad spot"? We did just fine. Once the J cleared, we paddled steadily towards the western edge of Battery, took a short break in South Cove, and then out into the current, easily past the ferry terminal at World Trade, and back home to Pier 40.

All in all it was a bonnie trip. What started as a hot day quickly cooled with winds from the south at 7-10 mph, against current giving us some playful wind-against current waves. The crossings at Battery tested my local knowledge of traffic - really, there are about three well-defined flight paths, and once you spot all the players you just have to keep track of them.

Some clouds rolled in and the wind subsided on the way back, so we did not have following seas as strong as expected - welcomed by my clients, though I was hoping to give them some top tips.

All three of us had had long days at work the whole week. This was a welcome respite from the vigors of "day jobs"!

Smorgasburg

Paddled to Brooklyn Bridge Park today from Pier 40 - that's Houston street and the Hudson river for you landlubbers. With the nature of the tides, that meant we actually left Pier 40 against near-maximum flood tide, meaning it was nearly three knots against us.

It was hard work just to go south. We made it, getting around the ferry terminal at Battery Park City and taking a short break at South Cove. Then we continued on around Battery, towards Pier A.

There was a lot of chop. For one thing there was all that incoming tide glancing off the seawall of Battery. For another, there was enough traffic down there to generate waves that would bounce of the walls and hit is again. I took three foot waves abeam, quartering from all quarters, before, behind. With the tourists on the esplanade, I couldn't help but break into a reasurring song:

As I sit here today,
Many miles I am away,
From that place I pulled my pony through the draw.
Where the oak and blackjack trees,
Kiss the playful prairie breeze, 
Well I feel like in those hills I still belong.

Way down yonder in the Indian Nation,
Riding my pony on the reservation, 
In the Oklahoma hills where I was born.
Way down yonder in the Indian Nation,
A cowgirl's life is my occupation,
In the Oklahoma hills where I was born.

Well, I felt at ease.

Shortly after, we passed the New York Water Taxi, the Statue Cruises, and then we just had to wait for the Staten Island ferry to get out of our way. By then we were on the East River, where the incoming tide was in our favor.

We crossed over to Brooklyn, where we saw a class of sit-on-tops learning to paddle. After we said howdy, we paddled down to another pier and landed on a small beach. We made nice with the natives, who were setting up their kayaking program, and then to the Smorgasburg - a moveable feast/flea market that is near the Brooklyn waterfront on Sundays!

We had a lot to choose from. I had a small brisket sandwich, and an Arnold Palmer/Pineapple slushie - so good! We hung out and chatted, waiting for the tide to turn, and then launched and headed back on decidedly friendlier seas - if a tad boring compared to earlier.

Circumnavigation

About five years ago, a couple of experienced paddlers took me and another woman along on a circumnavigation of Manhattan. She and I were both relatively new, reliable but inexperienced paddlers. We'd been across the Hudson, and up and down it, but not much else. It was a novel experience, and one that really set in my mind how much I love about this sport: a sense of physical achievement, an adventure, an novel horizons. I've done other long trips since, but until now, no circumnavigations.

Circs (as I will call them, to lighten the load on my typing fingers) are sometimes scoffed about; familiarity breeds contempt. If you've never done it, it's an achievement; if you've done it more than a couple of times, it can seem kind of boring, and kind of pointless, unless you punch it up with variety: clockwise, instead of the easier counter-clockwise; at night; in winter; different stopping points.

I wanted a straightforward circumnavigation, partly to prepare for new members of one of my clubs. I spent a couple of weeks planning it, and eventually had four takers, plust myself, all experienced paddlers. We set out, and I finally got to see parts of the river I had not seen in a while.

Note: it took me nearly a week to finish this up. We completed the circ on June16.

Planning
The key to any circumnavigation is Hell Gate. This is the point where the East River flows in from Long Island Sound through a narrow channel (Hell Gate), hits Manhattan, and splits, flowing north into the Harlem and south into the lower East River. At flood tide, the opposite is true: water flows up the East River, and south on the Harlem, back though Hell Gate. The current at Hell Gate switches very quickly, and is very strong even at its weakest, and so it behooves those who would cross it to do so at slack.

Another concern is timing the rounding of Battery. This is the lower point of Manhattan, which also has quite a bit of ferry traffic. As the tide comes in from the harbor, it starts up the East River before the Hudson, meaning it's possible on a counter-clockwise circ to ride current down to Battery, loop around it, and catch current heading north.

Finally, for this particular club, starting in Inwood - the far north of Manhattan - that meant we had o paddle about twelve miles just to get to Battery. An delays would throw off the schedule.

Altogether, I worked out that we would want to leave Inwood at max ebb, which was about 0900. We'd move past Battery around 1130-1200, take a short break in DUMBO, then paddle up for a longer break at Hallet's Cove, waiting for Hell Gate to chill out before crossing and heading home along the Harlem.

The only change we made was that we cut short or layover at Hallet's by an hour, partly because people were rested and partly because we were worried about the weather. It was overcast all day, and by 1500, the wind was blowing more steadily.

A barge in the Hudson.

The Manhattan skyline, from about 96th street.

--

We flew down the Hudson. There was a steady breeze from the south that made it feel like work, but at a stop it was clear we were still moving south at a good clip. When the wind picked up, we got some nice waves to play in.

We took a short layover at Pier 96 to get our group together - some of our group were real greyhounds, and too far out ahead. It's a good thing too - as we crossed ferry terminals, we came to a spot in midtown where four ferries were converging on us at once. We threaded that needle, and made it on down, past familiar sights: Pier 66, Chelsea Piers, Pier 57, and finally, Pier 40, where we worked out our Battery plan.

Crossing Battery was very straightforward. We took a peek around Pier A to see where the Statue Cruises were. After a minute or so it was clear they were still disembarking people, and so would be a while. Traffic was clear on our right. The Staten Island ferry had just departed, and Governor's Island ferry, while in transit, was clearly going to have landed on Manhattan by the time we got to it. We were able to clear each of these major terminals in one straight shot.

As we came around Battery, the next big thing was crossing over to the DUMBO area (Down Under Manhattan Bridge Overpass). As we paddled past a heliport, there was quite a lot wave activity, big, gentle, swells, that started to carry us towards shore - which was not good since that meant piers. We made it out of the chop, and then up to South Street Seaport, where we waited a bit for traffic to clear before crossing.

Crossing was a bit more work than I had expected. The current was flooding north strongly, and so it became a ferry crossing. Also, the river bends a bit, so we had to ferry more, to ensure we hit the far shore before the river turned. We stopped under the Manhattan Bridge, where a couple of people got out to use facilities, and we decided the details of our next stage.

World Trade, Woolworth Building, Brooklyn Bridge.

We paddled up the East River for a bit, passed by barges and pleasure boats periodically, but otherwise unmolested. We passed the Dominio Sugar sign, a couple of ferry terminals, then Long Island City, and the Pepsi Cola sign, before heading alongside Roosevelt Island towards Hallet's Cove, by Hell Gate.

There, we had a lengthy layover. While we watched the LIC Boathouse program run off the beach there, we took in a sculpture garden and had lunch. One of our team called his girlfriend and made a run at the nearby Costco.

Chandelier in Tree, Socrates Sculpture Garden.

The view from Hallet's Cove.

Our merry band: DN, AB, Cowgirl, AA, IB.

After rest and replenishment, we were a little restless and so crossed Hellgate sooner than planned. This was OK; the current was still flooding north into the upper East River, but not extremely so. We made a ferry crossing, landing at Mill Rock before paddling north a bit against the current in the Harlem.

Once there, we progressed steadily into familiar territory.

The Washington, Hamilton, and High Bridges in the distance.

We took a short break at Sharp boathouse, before heading on around the bend and out into Hudson. Once there, we were greeted by significant wind blowing against a slack-ish current. This was fun, but presented a little work on the way back. If I have to deal with wind, head-on is not a bad way to go.

Kayak Cowgirl, after a trip.

By the end, we all felt good, as if we could go for more, but knew our journey had come to an end. We washed boats, talked about the trip, talked about other trips, and relaxed. Afterwards, I finished off the day with a big medium rare burger and friends and pints at Le Cheile, a neighborhood pub.

It was a good trip, very fast, with a strong group of paddlers. I'd like to try it with less experienced paddlers, if only to see what is challenging. Hopefully we'll have some takers by the end of the summer. A minimal skill level is required, but mostly pre-emptively. It's preparation.

This was the first circumnavigation that I planned and led. I was happy with the results and feel like I've met another milestone in my kayaking career.