By Johna Till Johnson
Photos by Vladimir Brezina
Last year, on the spur of the moment, we attended our first-ever Great North River Tugboat Race & Competition (see the writeup, “We’re Off to the (Tugboat) Races!”).
We were stunned, blown away, and delighted by the experience.
So it’s only natural that this year, we were conflicted. On the one hand, we were eager to go again; on the other hand, how could it possibly live up to the previous time?
Let’s just say… it did.
Posted in New York City, Science and Technology
Tagged Boats, New York City, New York Harbor, Photography, Race, Ships, Tugboat, Tugboat Race
By Johna Till Johnson
Photos by Vladimir Brezina
A couple of weekends ago, we set out to visit our friends and fellow kayakers Alex and Jean, who are also fellow bloggers at 2 Geeks @ 3 Knots (check out their lovely blog!). They live in New Rochelle, just outside New York City, and just off Long Island Sound.
Heading out to the Sound on a summer weekend is pretty typical for New Yorkers.
What’s a little less typical is getting there by kayak.
But hey—we’d been there quite a few times before and knew the route pretty well. And this time we’d have the luxury of spending the night with our friends—so we’d have the chance to explore more than we usually can on an out-and-back trip. We’d been eagerly anticipating this trip for several weeks.
Posted in Kayaking, New York City
Tagged City Island, East River, Harlem River, Horseshoe Harbor, Long Island Sound, Manhattan, New York City, New York Harbor, Sea Kayaking
By Vladimir Brezina
… Labor Day, and (practically speaking) the beginning of Fall!
Here are a few celebratory photos taken at yesterday’s Great North River Tugboat Race & Competition. Lots more photos to come. (Last year’s are here.)
Posted in New York City, Science and Technology
Tagged Boats, Hudson River, New York Harbor, Photography, Ships, Tugboat, Tugboat Race
By Vladimir Brezina
On Sunday a week ago, August 18th, I found myself once more in my kayak accompanying a long-distance swimmer through New York Harbor.
It was the day of this year’s Ederle Swim, a 17.5 -mile open-water swim from Manhattan to Sandy Hook, New Jersey, organized by NYC Swim. This year’s swim was in fact the centennial swim, since the first successful swim over that course, after a number of failed attempts, occurred a hundred years ago almost to the day, on August 28th, 1913.
My swimmer this year was Barbara Held, from San Diego, California. Having completed her Triple Crown of Open Water Swimming—the Manhattan Island Marathon Swim, the Catalina Channel, and the English Channel—Barbara was looking for new challenges!
Posted in Kayaking, New York City, Sports
Tagged Ederle Swim, Kayaking, Long-Distance Swim, Manhattan, New York Harbor, NYC Swim, Open-Water Swim, Sandy Hook
By Johna Till Johnson
Every now and then something comes along that’s just a sheer delight from start to finish.
Yesterday, it was this video of the 2013 City of Water Day’s First Annual Cardboard Kayak Race. It features practically all of my favorite things: kayaking, engineering, competition (the thrill of victory and the cold splash of defeat), creativity, ingenuity, and whimsy. All on a beautiful summer’s day in New York!
The event was hosted by the Metropolitan Water Alliance, a not-for-profit that, in its own words, “works to transform the New York and New Jersey Harbor and Waterways to make them cleaner and more accessible, a vibrant place to play, learn and work with great parks, great jobs and great transportation for all.”
The Cardboard Kayak Race is exactly what it sounds like: Teams of competitors are each given identical materials from which they construct, and then race, cardboard kayaks. Starting materials include:
The video is long (though well worth watching—it will leave you laughing with joy!). But if you’re pressed for time, here are some highlights:
It’s all wonderful fun, and well worth the watch!
By Vladimir Brezina
Ailsa’s travel-themed photo challenge this week is Play.
From the 2013 Coney Island Mermaid Parade.
Posted in New York City, Photography
Tagged Brooklyn, Coney Island, Marching Band, Mermaid Parade, Music, New York City, Photography, Play, postaweek, postaweek2013, Travel, Weekly Photo Challenge
By Vladimir Brezina
This week’s Photo Challenge is Carefree.
In New York City, carefree is still pretty intense.
From this years Coney Island Mermaid Parade.
Another Carefree post is here.
Posted in New York City, Photography
Tagged Brooklyn, Carefree, Coney Island, Dance, Mermaid Parade, New York City, Photography, postaweek, postaweek2013, Weekly Photo Challenge
By Vladimir Brezina
Ailsa’s travel-themed photo challenge this week is Big.
I seem to recall that there was already a “Big” photo challenge last year… and my response was the obvious one :-)
So here’s another type of big object that we regularly encounter kayaking in New York Harbor—
For more on this subject see At the Bottom of the Food Chain.
Posted in Kayaking, New York City, Photography
Tagged Barges, Big, Kayaking, New York Harbor, Photography, postaweek, postaweek2013, Travel, Weekly Photo Challenge
By Vladimir Brezina
Last weekend, the currents took us on another of our favorite paddles—from Pier 40 in Manhattan round the Battery, up the East River, through Hell Gate, and round Throgs Neck into Long Island Sound.
Rounding Throgs Neck is like entering another world. The towers of Manhattan are still visible—all this is still within the borders of New York City!—but they are tiny in the distance. The broad blue Sound opens up. Shoals of white sailboats cruise past. Rocks are crowded with cormorants. We paddle past lighthouses and round islands—City Island, Hart Island, Pea Island…
Here are a few photos (click on any photo to start slideshow).
More photos are here.
Posted in Kayaking, New York City
Tagged East River, Long Island Sound, New York City, New York Harbor, Photography, Sea Kayaking
By Vladimir Brezina
Ailsa’s travel-themed photo challenge this week is Architecture.
Manhattan, of course, is full of dramatic architecture. But it’s sometimes hard to grasp it all from the inside. You need to stand a bit apart—or even better, sit in a kayak!
Here is some of Manhattan’s architecture that we saw on our paddle just this last weekend (full set of photos is here):
Posted in Architecture, Kayaking, New York City, Photography
Tagged Architecture, Manhattan, New York City, Photography, postaweek, postaweek2013, Travel, Weekly Photo Challenge
... 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.
... 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.
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Wind Against Current 