By Vladimir Brezina
We love to kayak around NYC at night!
(For one thing, we paddle faster at night…)
A contribution to this week’s Photo Challenge, Nighttime.
Copyright
Wind Against Current by Vladimir Brezina and Johna Till Johnson is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.Authors
Vladimir Brezina (RIP)
... kayaked the waters around New York for more than 15 years in his red Feathercraft folding kayak. He was originally from (the former) Czechoslovakia and lived in the U.K. and California before settling down in New York. He was a neuroscientist at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City. He died in 2016.Johna Till Johnson
... is a kayaker and technology researcher at Nemertes Research. She's an erstwhile engineer, particle physicist, and science fiction writer. She was born in California and has lived in Italy, Norway, Hawaii, and a few other places. She currently resides in New York City.Recent Comments
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Wind Against Current 
The ship with the pink/purple lights–some cruise liner in port? It looks huge!
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No, that’s just a run-of-the-mill private yacht ;-)
Seriously, that’s what it is—although it’s one of the bigger ones we have in the harbor. Cruise ships are much bigger still.
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Run of the mill private **yawns**, yeah….
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They visit NYC pretty often, and are quite a sight to see (especially from a kayak)…
The Eclipse, for instance, which we saw a few times in the last year :-)
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Stunning pictures! And a unique perspective, as if they were taken from the ocean itself.
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Well, we are just a foot or two above the water :-)
Thanks, Marilyn!!
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Nice – thanks for sharing
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You are most welcome—thanks! :-)
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very very kewl V :) Very Kewl :) … maybe ill get there sumday but if not well ur shotz are way kewl close as one can get :) .kewl stuff as alwayz :) Q
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Thanks! But do come on over and see it all for yourself! :-)
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Lovely pictures! I live in NYC too, and jog where you are kayaking almost everyday. This summer we sailed in NY harbor too, my first sailing lesson. I think the free kayaking is still going on? Perfect activity and place for night photos!
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So you were one of those sailboats we are always tangling with? ;-)
Some of the free kayaking may still be going on for a week or two, depending on the location, but it will all probably shut down very soon. But there’s always next summer!
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Awesome! I’ve linked your post to my entry….we are New Yorkers and how different our pictures are….you get beautiful shots from the waters around the city!
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You have some great shots too, Shaanthz! Two different points of view… :-)
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Wow, such courage to go out in that busy harbor in a kayak at night. The photos are really awesome!!
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It’s not that busy after midnight… ;-)
Thanks!!
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I definitely need to do this before it gets too cold!
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The water will be warm for a little while longer, even if the air is not…
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Nice photos Vlad. Thanks for the infusion! Ha! Time for a night time sequence of ALL the bridges?
George
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Well, I posted the daylight sequence here. A nighttime sequence? Could be done, but probably wouldn’t be as interesting. Most of the bridges are rather poorly lot…
Thanks, George!!
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Nice, must be hard to do a night shot on a kayak! I can barely keep my hand steady on dry land at night.
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Well, it’s hard with a little point-and-shoot: the exposure times are just too long. So it’s hard to get crisp pictures. But actually crisp pictures taken out in the harbor would not be that interesting in most cases—just a bunch of points of light on a dark background. Blurry impressionistic pictures, like those in this post, are often more evocative of the actual experience :-)
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Well done with the shots. Must be interesting kayaking at night along the river. Have you ever done a video like Vanerpaddel?
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Haven’t done videos although I think I am moving in that direction… the problem is that most paddling videos are pretty boring unless well edited, and that takes a lot of time and effort…
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Agree, I’ve heard of movies taking only 5 weeks to shoot but four months to edit before being released. Good luck with it if you every do try.
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Thanks! :-)
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so cool – and love the “paddle faster” too :) <3
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And that has the added advantage of being true! :-)
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Wonderful entry 💞
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Thank you!!
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Love seeing the blue hour shift into the black and gold hour :-)
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The magic hour… I think that’s our favorite time out on the water :-)
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:-)
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Reblogged this on needumbrella and commented:
wonderful !!
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Thank you!!
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These are great Vladimir but it would definitely scare the crap out of me doing the river at night! Can the other boats see you? Have you had any close calls???
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HI Tina,
Vlad is never scared, but we have had the occasional close call.
Not that long ago we were crossing the Kill Van Kull at night, and somehow managed to miss a gigantic (poorly lit) container ship headed our way. Fortunately we were crossing at a very narrow part, and we just paddled like heck until we were safely out of the way. But that’s why we carry radios… and wear lights… and try our best to see in the dark!
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Awesome night colours!
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Thanks!!
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I always enjoy your photos – and of course the adventures which go along with them! Have a great week.
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You too—thanks!!
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Wow! Vladimir those night time shots are fantastic… :-)
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Thanks!!
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Wow that is a lot of pink/purple lights on that ship!
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In NYC, it’s not enough just to be big—you have to make an impression every way you can :-)
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As a kayaker I am used to the low traffic waters of Lake Superior and can’t imagine what it must be like to dodge the boat traffic you must encounter. I assume you have had some close calls?
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Actually not as many as you might think. Yes, boat traffic can be extremely dense at times, and it becomes a two-dimensional ballet to weave through the traffic. It really helps to know the harbor intimately, to recognize the types of boats and ship and even the individual boats and ships, to know where they are going, how fast they are going, where they dock… Then it becomes relatively easy.
One thing, though, you do need to be mentally alert all the time. People get into trouble in groups, when they start chatting and lose track of what’s going on around them.
At night, the problem is a bit different. Traffic is usually less dense, but you need to be able to spot the lights of a ship against the many fixed lights in the harbor. That can be tricky, and if we’ve had close calls, it’s been when we’ve not been able to do that until a bit later than we would have liked. :-)
It’s also important to be able to paddle fast to get out of trouble if necessary…
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If I’m ever traveling east with my kayak, I’ll have to give it a try. Sounds intriguing.
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Go for it! But best go with someone local (like us :-) ). Busy harbors are definitely places where local knowledge makes all the difference…
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Gorgeous pictures…
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Thank you!!
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Dat purple ship! Cool lightings and nice pictures Vladimir!
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Thanks!!
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I love it when your posts appear in my reader, they are always wonderful.
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So glad you like them—thank you so much, Jo!! :-)
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I’ve kayaked the Hudson a lot near palisades state park, but never in The city. Looks like a blast!
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Come on down!!
Once you get south of the George Washington Bridge, however, it’s advisable to have a firm destination in mind (as well as to know how the currents will affect your trip), as they are few and far between…
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Beautiful photography. Some brave shots. I am interested in one of your GWB photos to accompany my blog post. https://windagainstcurrent.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/imgp0145-cropped.jpg
Kindly supply the preferred credit line. Thanks!
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Sorry, didn’t see your comment until just now.
Feel free to use it! Preferred credit line is Vladimir Brezina / Wind Against Current.
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Thank you! Will do if used next time. The editor went with another shot for The Jumper And Me And The GWB.
BTW, I kayaked for the first time this summer on the quiet Charles River in Cambridge. What a great new perspective but I can’t ever imagine doing it on the challenging Hudson!
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