July 27th 2016
Manhattan, NY
I got back on the water at 11am this morning. Early starts here are tough because I’m not camping next to the kayak, but rather staying an hour or so north as I push through the City. This means that I miss most of the Ebb Tide and the Hudson runs at 2 knots when in a Flood Tide. People are surprised that I make any progress in a 2 knot Flood Tide, but I do and riding the boat wakes help.
I still had reservations, but I’m trying to stop planning so much here and just let things happen as they may. Unless I’m up and on the water at 5am or unless I want to paddle after 7pm and there is no way to catch the Ebb tide so I I just have to do what I can do. I also can’t control the boat traffic and there is no day better than another. Commercial Traffic on the river runs all day every day. 9 to 5 does not exist on the river as I learned well north where the Hudson was just a stones throw wide.
I stopped in the office to thank the woman who let me keep Lex-T-Sea here overnight and then I hit the water. It was hot and I was catching the last bit of the Ebb tide so I took full advantage of it and paddled fast. I was flying past the New York City landscape. By noon, I had passed the Empire State Building and was closing in on Lower Manhattan aka The Financial District. I paddled past the USS Intrepid and decided to paddle up closer, but before I could get to the Sub floating in the water in front of me, I saw the signs warning boaters to keep back 100 yards. I was well within that so I quickly turned around at left.
My research had told me the best way to the Statue of Liberty is via the New Jersey side and the best place to cross the Hudson was up where I could see the Lackawanna Clock tower. I checked the traffic and began to paddle and I paddled hard. Boat traffic here is fast and they appear out of nowhere. Sure enough, I was half way across when I saw a tug make an appearance to my south. He was closing in on me fast and I could now see he was at least two barges wide. Think back to Sully Sullenberger, the pilot who landed that broken jet on the Hudson. Not only did he do a great job, he avoided all this traffic and I’m not sure how the surf was that day, but today they were rolling in about 4’ or enough to have made things go very bad very quickly. Yes, that was what I was thinking about as this tug was bearing down on me. Well if Sully could land here, I could paddle here. I
With the last of the ebb pushing me south, I fell off my heading due west and picked a south west course. I figured the ebb would give me the speed I needed to shoot across the tugs path so rather than fight it, I used it to my advantage. I took a sigh of relief when I cleared his path and we passed Port to Port. Now on the New Jersey side, I had a magnificent view of the Manhattan Skyline and you’ll see in the pictures below, I couldn’t help but snap away.
While the Verrrazano was within sight all day, it was around 1pm when I first saw the beautiful lady in the harbor. I’ve dreamed about kayaking around the Statue of Liberty for over two years and there she was. Today would be the day another dream is fulfilled. The funny thing is that when I first had the crazy idea of kayaking around Lady Liberty, I was going to launch from Liberty Island State Park, paddle around and then go back. I had reached out to numerous kayak clubs to see if I could join them or if they wanted to join me. Those that actually had a scheduled paddle to there refused to let me go because I wasn’t in the right kayak. You can’t do that paddle in a Sit on Top kayak, I was told more than once. I guess they were right; I couldn’t do that. I could do a whole lot more than that and today it was about to be proven.
I tucked into a little inlet called the Morris Canal Basin in Jersey City and found a perfect little park to pull over and have lunch. I was right behind the Colgate Clock. I was surprised to see a Light Rail running the streets here as I thought they were only used out on the West Coast. It made the familiar Ding Ding sound every time it came around the corner and it made me smile. The waterfront park was full of people walking around, walking their dogs or on lunch breaks. Many stopped to view the kayak, but no one asked any questions. I tried to make some small talk, but the people here are busy and not use to talking to strange kaykers who drift up on shore.
After lunch, it was time to fulfill that dream. I pushed out into the Hudson and into High Tide. My plan was to get to the Statue of Liberty and then head to shore at Liberty Island State Park. This would mean that Arlene would have to drive across the expensive George Washing Bridge and then south to get me and that I would I’d have to pull the kayak out. Those were two things I didn’t want to happen just yet, but that was the plan.
I paddled slowly toward Ellis Island carefully observing the ferry traffic and behavior. What I saw was a bit crazy. These ferries and sight seeing boats would run full speed within feet of each other. They’d slam through each other’s wakes. I guess here, boats are not responsible for their own wake, which they are in every other part of the world, or so I believe. This was going to get interesting. I checked all my equipments and off I went. I tried to stay close to the Restricted Area buoys falsely believing that the Sightseeing boats would stay further away. Yeah, I was wrong there. The sightseeing boats have their own rules. I guess since only they are allowed on Ellis Island or Liberty Island, they feel they own the navigable water rights too. I paddled past Ellis Island without much issue other than having to dodge around them as they backed out and pulled in. They didn’t seem to accommodating to any other boats around them. They had a job to do and planned on doing it at any cost. (more on that later)
I was approaching The State of Liberty trying to stay out of the path of the sightseeing boats and out of the security area. I was avoiding one Sightseeing boat off my port side when another cut to my Starboard side and on the inside of the Security Buoy. I got to test my skill at handling both wakes meeting with me in the middle. I passed the test I guess because I rode them out and didn’t swamp. I paddled on past the buoy ahead and took another holding position, which required a bit of paddling to stay put in this current. I was waiting on one sightseeing boat to depart and two to arrive. Their channel buoys were well off my bow so when it was clear I turned to Starboard and began my approach across the front of Lady Liberty. As happened before, they were less concerned with channel markers and buoys and the next thing I know, I’ve got two of them speeding past me on my Port side. Suddenly, I’m being hit with six foot rollers coming up on my stern. Here I was, worried about landing in six foot surf on Sandy Hook and now I was battling them just feet from a No Questions Asked, Keep Out or we’ll throw you in jail security zone. If I go over here, I’m going to be in that zone in seconds and it will take a few minutes for me to reenter and get out.
I kept my cool, knowing how my kayak handles, I rode the waves inland toward Liberty Island State Park. Once I was past the sightseeing boats, the waters calmed down and I took a moment to reassess the destination for the day. With High Tide now rolling in strong, I knew I could use it to get back to Manhattan Island rather quickly, but did I want to go back or pull out here? I called Arlene to see where she was. She had just left Yorktown so she’s about an hour out. I was sure I could make it back to Manhattan in an hour so I checked my maps for some kayak launch sites and found on at Pier 40. I called her back and told her to head to Pier 40 instead of New Jersey.
I had now drifted in the current all the way behind Lady Liberty. No one ever shoots her backside, so I did. I pointed the kayak toward Manhattan and began paddling with the flood tide. I was flying along and getting through the traffic with ease. Before I knew it, I was across the busy harbor and out of the way of sightseeing boats and water taxies, for now anyway. I began paddling up the Manhattan Shoreline trying to stay away from the seawall where the large boat wakes were crashing.
I pulled into the North Cove Yacht Harbor. It’s a rather ritzy little marina with large super yachts, but there was also a sailing school in here. I was going to try my luck at securing a dock for the night when I heard on a loud speaker. NO KAYAKIN IN THE HARBOR. I looked on the docks and found a young man on a bullhorn. I began paddling on up to him when I heard a Beep Beep. I turned around to see a yacht pulling in behind me and coming my way. There wasn’t a whole lot of room here so I paddled to the dock and met the man on the bullhorn. I told him my story and he apologized and said they won’t allow the kayak to stay here. He did say it was a cool thing though and he directed me to Pier 26. I’d still be headed in the right direction for Pier 40 further north so I thanked him and paddled back out. Into the fast moving current and six foot waves as people on shore looked on.
Passing the Seawall, I turned right and dead ahead was one of the ferries backing out of their slip at the World Financial Center Ferry Dock. I began back paddling quickly as I fought the waves pushing me toward the seawall. As soon as he began heading forward, I began paddling up on him, fighting his thrust, the tide and the waves, but I got out of there in a hurry and paddled up along side of the Ferry Dock. As I approached the end of the Northern corner of the Ferry Dock, I found another ferry backing out. I again held my position as I waited for him to back out and spin around. As I was holding, I heard a loud horn far away. I looked to my left and there was an inbound ferry running at full speed. I had nowhere to go. I held my line and waited for the boat in front of me to begin moving forward and like before, as soon as he did, I paddled like hell. This time I was right behind him though and his thrust was pushing my kayak all over, yet I was still heading north. I got out of there just in time to avoid the other inbound ferry and paddled north looking for Pier 26.
I checked out a couple of piers before finding Pier 26, but when I saw it I knew I found the right one. On the floating dock ahead lay dozens of Ocean Kayaks all stacked so nicely together. On the shore, there were racks of Life Jackets and a woman washing the deck. I paddled up and secured Lex-T-Sea to the floating dock. Walking up the gangplank the woman looked at me funny. I was on the wrong side of a locked gate. She unlocked it for me and I told her my story. She directed me inside and it was there I discovered something amazing.
Here, in Downtown Manhattan. Home of some of the most expensive real estate on one of the busiest harbors in the world was a hidden gem. I somehow stumbled upon the Downtown Boathouse. The Downtown Boathouse is staffed by volunteers and serves to promote Public Access to the Water for all – FOR FREE. The kayaks in use here were beautiful. The organization was impeccable and the staff, wonderful.
Though I could not keep my kayak on the dock here, they helped me pull it out on a dolly and put it in their boathouse. A boathouse full of more amazing kayaks. Lex-T-Sea would have a home inside; her first inside storage since we left some 27 days ago. I called Arlene and told her about our new rendezvous point. Outside a line began to form as people arrived to take the kayaks out on the water. I was so impressed with this organization, I offered to come back and speak if they ever needed someone to talk about kayaking. Free Kayaking in Manhattan, who would have thought? I thanked the staff: Kelly, Bea and Anthia for their hospitality and then I met Arlene out on the West Side Highway. I left knowing Lex-T-Sea was in good hands for the night and was so glad I decided to return to Manhattan just an hour before.
A quick note on my trials with the ferries and sightseeing boats today. I decided to do a search to see how many accidents there are between the ferries, sightseeing boats and private boats. I am sure there are some, but nothing popped up right away. I was in a very busy harbor with very difficult current and a lot of wakes from these large boats. This area isn’t for the meek. You need to understand where you are operating and you need to be fully aware of your ability and capacity. The rules of the water here are different and if you understand their rules, you will be fine. When I was in the path of that one boat, I was given plenty of warning. That also means he saw me from way out there while I could barely see him. While they did come very close to me, they were not doing it for fun, but rather because they had a job to do and a path to follow. I’d bet that if I asked them tonight, they would be telling me how they were avoiding a kayaker out there. I did watch them power down while other boats doing the same job had to turn around and such. I was in their house and once I figured out their rules, I was able to easily navigate these busy waters. I’ve got one more day before I’m out of the Harbor and headed toward the Atlantic Ocean for a bit.
Day 26 Done
Enjoy the pictures (sorry there are so many)
