By Vladimir Brezina
Ah, the familiar first signs of Fall: the first crisp days and chilly nights, trees beginning to turn color here and there, migrating geese honking overhead…
And, of course, the Tugboat Race.
Every year on Labor Day Sunday, the Working Harbor Committee brings together, in the Hudson River off Midtown Manhattan, a collection of New York Harbor tugs—those that can spare a rare half-day off work—to engage in
various feats of tugboat strength: a race, nose-to-nose pushing contests, a line-throwing competition, and, for the kids as well as hyper-competitive tugboat captains, a spinach-eating contest.
We’ve attended the last three years, and written quite a bit about the occasion (in 2012, 2013, and 2014). So let’s go straight to the photos of this year’s event, the 23rd Annual Great North River Tugboat Race & Competition!
(Click on any photo to start slideshow)
1. Tugboat parade
Tugs begin arriving from downriver
Tug trio: Patricia, Mister T, and James William
The tugs await the beginning of the parade
Red Hook
Susan Miller…
… sweeps past
Buchanan 12
Catherine C. Miller
Robert E. McAllister passes the Intrepid…
… with a full complement of McAllisters
Thomas D. Witte…
… sweeps past
The Empire State Building behind
James William
Mister T
Patricia
Eric R. Thornton
Robert E. McAllister comes round again…
… with cheering crew
Hayward…
… weaves back and forth
Two Manhattans observe the parade
Make way for a working tug!!
2. The race
The race begins upriver
Going all out
The pack
Robert E. McAllister surges ahead
Patricia is going strong too
Piling up the white water
Now off the Midtown piers
Patricia again
Thomas D. Witte and Mister T neck-and-neck
Buchanan 1
Fireboat John J. Harvey marks the finish line
The race is over
The McAllisters can be happy—Robert E. McAllister is the overall winner
3. Nose-to-nose pushing contests
The tugs mill about after the race
The McAllisters are having a picnic
Robert E. McAllister on the prowl
Matching T-shirts
Red Hook pursues Thomas D. Witte
The Millers about to join battle
Thomas D. Witte turns and engages Red Hook
Nose-to-nose
The Millers are still at it
All-out effort
The Intrepid behind
Twisting…
… and turning
White water
Catherine C. Miller breaks off…
…and heads out into the river in search of fresh opponents
James William vs. Red Hook
Susan Miller joins in
The view from the spectator boat
Sizing each other up
Gridlock on the water
Buchanan 12 vs. Robert E. McAllister
Everybody joins in
James William vs. Catherine C. Miller
Smoke and white water
John J. Harvey…
… joins the festivities
Mist in the sunshine
4. Line-throwing competition
Thomas D. Witte and Sarah Ann awaiting their turn
Joined by Buchanan 1
Impatient Robert E. McAllister
Red and black
Hayward
Buchanan 12 and Mister T
Catherine C. Miller ready to go in for the throw… if only those pesky kayakers would get out of the way
On Buchanan 12, the designated thrower gets ready
The throw!
Buchanan 12 backs off
Mister T comes in…
… and has a go
It’s not so easy!
Members of the public practise on the pier
5. The tugboats docked
Tugboat color 1
Tugboat color 2
Tugboat color 3
Tugboat color 4
Tugboat color 5
Tugboat color 6
Tugboat color 7
Tugboat color 8
6. Spinach-eating contest!
The kids are well behaved
But the adults are out to WIN!
And we have a winner!
… or maybe two or three: winning this contest is a matter of split-second timing
And that’s all until next year!
More photos are here.
_______________________________________________________
The official results of the 2015 Tugboat Race & Competition are here.
Other photographers have also posted great photos of the event:
- Mitch Waxman, via the Working Harbor Committee: here.
- John Skelson and Phyllis Featherstone, via the Working Harbor Committee: here and here.
- Tugster: here and here.
- Frogma: here.
Every year on Labor Day Sunday, the Working Harbor Committee brings together, in the Hudson River off Midtown Manhattan, a collection of New York Harbor tugs—those that can spare a rare half-day off work—to engage in
various feats of tugboat strength: a race, nose-to-nose pushing contests, a line-throwing competition, and, for the kids as well as hyper-competitive tugboat captains, a spinach-eating contest.
Vladimir Brezina (RIP) 
Johna Till Johnson
Wind Against Current 
Great fun photos :-)
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:-)
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a spinach eating contest? haha. i must tell my father about this. he’s retired now, but was a tugboat captain for 35 years.
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Popeye the Sailor Man, you know, complete with theme music during the spinach-eating contest :-)
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Such a marvelous gallery of photos. I really like the guy throwing the rope. Excellent timing on this shot :D
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Well, one way to ensure excellent timing is to set the camera to take a burst of shots in quick succession and select the best one… I didn’t do that in this case but will do so in the future if I remember :-)
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I wish I had been there! Great photos. I think the rope throwing one is genius! And the fireboats spraying – wow!
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Thanks—glad you like them! And there’s always next year :-)
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awesome captures! what a fun day! :)
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It sure was! :-)
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Such great photos! This looks like so much fun.
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It was a lot of fun, most of all (presumably) for the tugboat crews! Thanks!! :-)
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Beautiful photos Vlad! It was an awesome day and I’m so glad (mostly) everything went off without a hitch! It was extra challenging without our Capt Doswell at the helm – I hope we did him proud. Thanks for joining us for the fun, and see you next year for the 24th annual Tugboat Race!! (every Labor Day Sunday)
PS: Shellie Troy Anderson: Our Spinach-Eating Contest is open to anyone who dares! We have both kids and adult divisions, and you might want to tell your Dad that this years adult div. winner downed that spinach in 8 seconds. EIGHT!!
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Thanks, Mai, and thank you and everyone else involved for your hard work in making it happen!
Yes, eight seconds is almost unbelievable—but it was a pretty fierce competition :-)
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Fabulous pictures of what looks like a really fun event! Maybe it’s just the way you present it, but I don’t remember New York being nearly so much fun when I lived there :-)
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There’s always something fun going on in NYC. The trick is to find it… :-)
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