July 26th 2016
79th St. Boat Basin, Manhattan, NY
After a day off of the water, I returned to Riverdale Yacht Club this morning to re-launch Lex-T-Sea. I’ll admit that I had reservations about today. While I was officially in New York City here at Riverdale, it still wasn’t Manhattan.
Before heading to Riverdale, Arlene took me to see an old friend from my Real Estate Broker days in Westchester. We stopped off at Leah Caro’s real estate office in Bronxville for a brief visit. We had a nice, but short visit before I had to get going, but it’s good to see friends along this journey.
Upon arriving at the Riverdale Yacht Club, I got to watch the young kids here launching their little sailboats for sailing school. It was truly adorable to watch these young Captains take command of their vessels out on the Hudson. I was fielding questions from all the kids as they launched and I enjoyed answering all of them. When I finally launched, they were all shouting from their little sailboats – Good Bye! Any reservations I had had, were gone – replaced by their enthusiasm.
After an hour on the water I reached the Innwood Canoe and Kayak Club and I knew that I had made the right call two days before. This was an hour away in good weather and a gentle breeze. The other night it would have been a lot longer. I paddled on past with my sights set on the George Washington Bridge growing large by the second in front of me.
The George Washington Bridge has always stood out as one of my favorite. I can’t explain why, but perhaps because it was what I would see before seeing the 79th St Boat Basin when I use to commute to Manhattan for work. Perhaps it was seeing it lit up at night. Whatever it was, it was now right in front of me and I paddled from the Canadian / US Border to here. This was a big milestone for me and I passed under as I found the tide and wind and celebrated my personal milestone. Now I set my sights on Harlem where I planned to take a lunch break at the Harlem Pier Kayak Launch.
I was thinking to myself; how different Manhattan looks from the water All around me traffic flew by, but their noise was barely audible. From here I could see green trees, children playing in parks and people on the river front park that runs almost the entire length of Manhattan’s West Side. This was a Manhattan I did not know and I loved it.
I paddled up to the Harlem Piers only to find that the kayak dock was in a bit of disrepair. It was sticking vertically out of the water and the ramp was up in the air. I’d not be getting out here. The rocky shore didn’t allow for a safe place to land so I had no choice but to paddle onto the 79th St. Boat Basin that was still a distance away. I couldn’t stop paddling as I was fighting a flood tide and the current here was strong, as strong as paddling up fast moving river. If I were to stop paddling, I’d be swept backward in no time and trying regain forward momentum was a challenge.
Up ahead I saw a beauty of a sailboat. From my vantage point, all I could tell was that she was long on the water and pretty. I thought I was at the outer mooring for the 79th St Boat Basin. I saw someone on deck as I paddled on by and shouted out to the gentlemen. He offered me some water so I paddled up, but the current was too strong to remain on his Post side so he told me to go around to the stern. I went to the stern, threw him my Bow Line and he secured Lex-T-Sea to his swim ladder and invited me aboard. With his dinghy on my Port Side and the tide keeping my kayak and the dinghy side by side, I climbed out of my kayak and into his dinghy and aboard SV Calypso, a Tayana 580S. She’s 58 feet of beauty on the water.
Dan and Sarah purchased SV Calypso about a year ago from Florida and have been living aboard ever since. They are originally from Eugene, Oregon and that makes them the second sailors I’ve come across in the Hudson from the Left Coast. The others were from Seattle Washington and I met those folks in Waterford, NY. Dan and Sarah plan to sail SV Calypso around the world and she is a boat that is up for the task.
I enjoyed my break from the water aboard the sailboat and then bid my new friends Good Bye. Re-entering the kayak, I was amazed at how fast the current was running against me, but once I got my momentum going, I was making progress again. I learned from Dan that he was on the hook and I still had a bit of ground to cover before reaching the 79th St Boat Basin. I paddled away. Paddled past some other boats and into the Mooring field for the Basin.
The 79th St Boat Basin has a special place in my heart. It was here that I first saw these magnificent sailboats swinging on their moorings as I commuted to Manhattan for work and their images stuck in my head. I began to buy and then subscribe to magazine that focused on people living aboard these beautiful vessels and before I knew it, I wanted a taste of this lifestyle. One where every port can be your neighborhood, where you are constantly moving, bound only by the breeze and the draft of your boat. No, I wasn’t looking to be one of those sailors who only sail in a certain location, but the one who casts off their bow and stern line and stow it away for it will be weeks or months before they are used again. Yes, it was right here where I fell in love with sailing and yet, I had never actually been here.
I paddled into the protected docks, past a giant yacht, past a recreational tugboat registered out of Vermont and pulled up to the dinghy docks buzzing with boaters coming to and from their boats. I checked in at the Dockmaster’s Office to see if it was OK if I stayed here for about an hour. It was still early, or so I thought and I figured I’d rest and then catch the Ebb tide to head further down river. The gentlemen there told me that it’s reserved for people on a mooring or at the slips. The woman there looked at him and said; it’s a kayak. He looked back at me and told me to go enjoy the city and he’d buzz me back in when I was ready to return.
I headed up to the café and told Arlene of my plans. She informed me it was already 4pm and it would take at least an hour to get here. She asked if I was sure I wanted to continue. Looking around at the restaurant and the location I was at, I thought, maybe not. I was certain that the famed 79th St Boat Basin would not allow me to dock here for the night, but I decided to find out. I made the inquiry and the woman who let me stay before told me it wouldn’t be a problem. Lex-T-Sea could stay on the dinghy dock overnight and the best part – no charge. Yes, even here in Manhattan, here at the 79th St Boat Basin, I received a warm welcome.
I contacted Arlene and made plans for her to meet me here and have dinner here before going home. Meanwhile, Leah, seeing that I was at the Boat Basin said she’d like to come down with her son so he could meet me. I made plans for them to join Arlene and I for dinner. That is where I got to meet Joe; a nice young man, just 11 years old and already developing a love of the water. Joe and I talked about my expedition, my gear and boating. I told him I’d take him down onto the restricted docks after dinner, but I’m not sure who was more excited, he or Leah. I think it was Leah.
Hanging out at the 79th St Boat Basin this evening was a joy and I am so glad Arlene convinced me to stay put. Leah ended up treating Arlene and I to dinner, which was a nice unexpected surprise. And to think; this day began with reservations and ended like this.
Day 25 Done
Enjoy the pictures
