Stand Up Surf Paddlers Navigate Around Manhattan For Autism Awareness - Will Be Passing Roosevelt Island This Afternoon , Give Them A Wave And A Cheer

Image From Sea Paddle NYC

Sometime later this afternoon don't be surprised if you see a bunch of Stand Up Surf Paddlers making their way past Roosevelt Island on the East River heading towards their final destination at the South Street Seaport. What is going on you might ask? Well, today is the 4th Annual Surfer's Environmental Alliance Sea Paddle NYC event in which, according to Gothamist:

... over 150 people will participate in SEAPaddle NYC, an annual fundraiser to fight autism. Participants start on the Hudson River at Pier 40, paddle up past the George Washington Bridge, around Spuyten Duyvill creek, then all the way down the East River to the South Street Seaport. (It sounds fun, but we hope these guys are all caught up on their hepatitis vaccines.) The whole route is 28 miles and takes about five and a half hours. If you want to cheer them on, they're starting at 9:30, so click on the map to guesstimate when they'll be paddling by you.

The route map is here. This is what is says about approaching the East River Hell's Gate and Roosevelt Island:

is located approximately 5 miles from mid way check point. You will pass under the blue bridge attached to Ward’s Island look for CG Aux boats and find the safest route possible.

The water here can be very choppy and confused. There is a small passage around up against the break wall stay RIVER RIGHT or far left closer to Roosevelt Island RIVER LEFT.

Be mindful of the channel and boat traffic.

This previous post reported on the 2007 NYC Surf Paddle event and here's a You Tube Video from the 2008 event.

You Tube Video of 2009 Sea Paddle NYC

UPDATE 2:45 PM - Robstaro Tweets:

Surfboard paddlers passing roosevelt island

Twitpic Image From Robstaro

Click Here for full sized picture.

Sailing the East River Past Hell's Gate and Roosevelt Island

You Tube video of Sailing the East River Past Hell Gate and Roosevelt Island from Island Spirit 35

Are you planning a New York City sailing adventure that includes the East River, Hell Gate and Roosevelt Island? The Trip Sailor blog has some advice from a recent late October trip:

.. Passing through New York City on the East River on a week-day is recommended because most of the traffic will be commercial boats who are experienced with the conditions there. For boats such as ours with a low maximum motoring speed (about 7 knots), there is some debate as to the best time to get to Hell Gate, an infamous section of the passage where 7 knot and shifting currents are not unusual. The most conservative approach is to aim to reach the Gate at the slack of high-tide just before the current starts to ebb out into New York Harbor. This requires motoring for an hour against the current to get to Hell Gate at slack water. We had studied the hallowed "Eldridge Tide and Pilot Book" and read numerous online sailing discussions and settled on a plan that should be a bit more exciting, getting us to Hell Gate an hour after stack water when about a 4 knot current would carry us through. Thus, our Monday morning objective was to get to Throg’s Neck two hours after high tide at The Battery (the southernmost tip of Manhattan Island) which that day was at 7:47 am.

A large barge and two local sailboats passed us on our way to the bridge but otherwise we saw remarkably little boat traffic which allowed us to thoroughly enjoy the ride through the city. It was another beautifully sunny day, although hazy at water level, and we swung through Hell Gate at an impressive 10.6 knots (speed over ground) although we were probably only motoring through the water at 6 knots. As we zoomed past we studied: LaGuardia Airport, the partly dismantled Shea Stadium, (but we couldn’t identify the World’s Fair site beyond), Rikers Island (a huge prison complex), Hell Gate (where the Harlem River joins the East River), Roosevelt Island (a narrow island that divides the East River into an east and west channels for about a mile), the high-rises of the Upper East Side, the United Nations Building, the gleaming pinnacle of the Chrysler Building, the familiar Empire State Building, the lower buildings of mid-town and the East Village, the high-rises of the Financial District (including the hyperactive Wall Street – the NY Stock Exchange gained 900 points that day), The Battery, the Statue of Liberty, and around into the Hudson River on the west side of Manhattan Island. We passed under about 10 bridges including the Queensboro (59th St) Bridge over Roosevelt Island, and the Manhattan and Brooklyn Bridges. By taking the western channel around Roosevelt Island we avoided the only bridge that we would have needed to have opened for us (at 110-130 ft the rest are easily high enough) which is just as well because it would have been interesting trying to hold against the current to wait for a bridge to open. With the buildings gleaming in the sunshine it was an excellent ride and we were very glad to have been encouraged back in Newport to make this passage. In addition to the constant buzz of small commercial and sight-seeing helicopters around the harbor, as we started up the Hudson River a formation of six miliary helicopters flew low past us....

Don't forget to give a friendly wave to any Roosevelt Islander you see walking on the promenade. We'll wave back.

Kayak Marathon Race Around Manhattan

The New York City Marathon is this Sunday, November 4 and takes the runners through all five boroughs. Several weeks ago there was another New York City Marathon, but this one was on water, a 27 mile circumnavigation around Manhattan. A participant in the October 14 Mayor's Cup New York City Kayak Championship, writes in today's NY Times:

As I dug my carbon-fiber paddle into the chaotic dark water, waves crashed over the bow of my yellow surf ski. My upper back winced and my hands throbbed from fighting a honking west wind and whopping wakes from the Staten Island Ferry. Lady Liberty glistened in the distance.

Paddling through the East River's treacherous Hell's Gate near Roosevelt Island:

Hell Gate was nearby and I was petrified. Last year’s swells were reportedly “huge.” Eleanor Roosevelt had said, “Do one thing every day that scares you.” This would surely fill my quota.

The water turned turbulent as I passed Mill Rock, and my heart thumped with anticipation. But it calmed just as quickly. Hell Gate was a dud this year. No complaints here.

Finally,

Cheering people lined railings along Battery Park City. I felt like a fish in a fishbowl. Their encouragement energized me, but I feared tipping if I showed gratitude. What could be deemed the longest mile finally ended as I took my last dozen strokes into the marina, clocking 4:50:18. Now it was I who was cheering.

Dragging my stiff, waterlogged body onto the pier, I felt elated and a little extra love for New York City.

Video is not from the race. It is of the East River currents adjacent to Roosevelt Island.
You Tube link is here.

History of East River Surrounding Roosevelt Island

The April 7, 2007 issue of the Main Street Wire had a fascinating article concerning the history of shipping on the East River particularly the section just north of Roosevelt Island (formerly Blackwell's Island), known as Hell Gate which was:

a death trap for shipping – so shallow that tidal currents ran at high speeds and rocks projecting up from the bottom could destroy any ship not properly piloted. In one of the great engineering projects of the 19th Century, rocks were removed and the bottom of the channel literally blown out.

As to the East River:

It roils, boils, tumbles and falls, races north, then south, and sometimes in both directions at once; yet at slack water Hell Gate at Roosevelt Island is as peaceful as a country pond. Sometimes, when you look at it, you think you are out to sea at Montauk Point, rather than on the banks of an inland waterway. As rough as it is today, it is relatively benign compared to 150 years ago. A few cargo ships, ferries, and barges ply its waters without danger. It looks like a part of the sophisticated cityscape around it, just a little rougher. But 150 years ago, it was much different. New York was a port island, and much of its world traffic entered through Long Island Sound and the East River (which is actually a tidal channel), rather than, as it does today, through Lower New York Bay on its way to the ports of Bayonne, Elizabeth, and Newark.

Image is from Main Street Wire which credits "Scribner’s Monthly of November, 1871, and from the July, 1872, issue of The Manufacturer and Builder, a trade publication."