By Vladimir Brezina
This week’s photo challenge from The Daily Post is One Shot, Two Ways, and from Ailsa at Where’s My Backpack? it is Architecture.
New York City overwhelms with its architecture, old and new, at ground level and high above. The photographer has to choose whether to capture the details of the architectural landscape or to portray the soaring verticals…
Another “One Shot, Two Ways” post was here.
By Vladimir Brezina
This week’s Photo Challenge is One Shot, Two Ways. “For this challenge, capture two images — a horizontal and a vertical version — of the same scene or subject.”
At last year’s Great North River Tugboat Race & Competition—
The biggest and the smallest
Lincoln Sea throws an enormous bow wave as she overtakes the competition
Three Forty Three welcomes the finishers
The tugs line up at the pier afterwards
Meagan Ann wins the line toss!
The landscape format just doesn’t do it… It takes a portrait shot to show just how enormous Lincoln Sea is!
And the tugs are getting ready again for this year’s rematch. If you are anywhere near New York Harbor on Sunday, September 1, don’t miss the 21st annual running of the Great North River Tugboat Race & Competition!
Posted in New York City, Photography
Tagged New York Harbor, One Shot Two Ways, Photography, postaweek, postaweek2013, Ships, Tugboat, Tugboat Race, Weekly Photo Challenge
By Vladimir Brezina
It’s our routine. Weekends, we paddle. And when the tidal currents say go south, we go south. And, unless we can think of something more ambitious, that means Sandy Hook.
But each trip is different. The sea and the sky have a different look and feel each time. We see different ships in the harbor. I can’t resist taking photos to capture it all. Here are a few from yesterday’s trip.
(click on any photo to start slideshow)
Posted in Kayaking, New York City
Tagged New York Harbor, Photography, Sandy Hook, Sea Kayaking
By Vladimir Brezina
This week’s Photo Challenge is Foreshadow.
Signs from the heavens. Looks like Coney Island is doomed
as is Manhattan
but Brooklyn will be spared.
But no, or at least not this time. All this foreshadows merely a spectacular thunderstorm
that passes, with the city still there.
Posted in Kayaking, Nature, New York City, Photography
Tagged Foreshadow, Kayaking, New York Harbor, Photography, postaweek, postaweek2013, Storm, Weekly Photo Challenge
By Vladimir Brezina
We are constantly racking our brains trying to come up with new things for people who visit us in NYC to do.
Empire State Building? They’ve been there. Statue of Liberty? They’ve done that.
But how about… a round-Manhattan paddle!
Here are some photos from last Saturday’s Manhattan circumnavigation on which we took our friend R.
And I think she got all the excitement, as well as the unexpected quiet beauty, that she could have wished for.
(click on any photo to start slideshow)
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Posted in Kayaking, New York City
Tagged Manhattan, New York Harbor, Photography, Sea Kayaking
By Johna Till Johnson
Photos by Vladimir Brezina
Yesterday was a perfect summer’s day.
Well, if your definition of “perfect” includes placid weather, blue skies, and hot sunshine. Mine does—if I’m on the water and can cool off with a roll or two. Vlad is not so happy in the heat—and prefers more exciting “conditions”. As you’ll see, we both got our preferences…
We decided to go for a long trip—“long” being anything more than 30 nautical miles—not something we’ve done much of lately. The currents dictated it would be to Sandy Hook and back, returning after dark—again, a pleasant change of pace.
And the conditions were calm—a light breeze from the south, which would be in our faces on the way down, cooling us down, then helping us along on the return.
Well, not “helping”, exactly. As you’ll hear…
By Johna Till Johnson
Photos by Vladimir Brezina
Even though I’ve now passed the BCU three-star exam, I’ve decided to spend this summer working on boat-maneuvering skills. Truth is, while I’m pretty strong at some aspects—like group management, comfort in wind and waves, and basic navigation—I could use some improvement in boat-handling.
So a few days ago, I was practicing sculling for support in the Pier40 embayment.
Sculling for support entails putting the boat on edge, leaning out over the water, and staying upright by slowly sweeping the paddle blade back and forth parallel to the side of the boat.
My friend Adam is fantastic at it—he can lean out almost horizontal to the water. Me, not so much. But I’m learning.
Sculling for support: lean and sweep
Part of the challenge is that to do it correctly, you really need to send the boat off-balance. As one of my coaches put it succinctly, “If you want to know whether you’re doing it right, stop sculling. If you capsize, you were doing it right.”
To do it right, you want to be out over the water…
It’s kind of an interesting maneuver, because it’s strictly intentional. Unlike bracing, turning, or rolling, you don’t do it as a reaction to a particular incentive, like being about to capsize, needing to change direction, or having actually capsized.
You have to make the choice to scull for support.
And when do you choose to scull for support?
On our recent Manhattan circumnavigation, I found myself wondering exactly that. We had just passed the Battery and were in the lower East River, where the shift in currents, combined with the wakes of ferry boats and other commercial vessels was making the water exceptionally choppy, as usual.
“Hmm…” I thought to myself. “When would I actually use sculling for support?”
Obviously, the purpose of the stroke is to stay upright while stationary in treacherous water. But when might that particular scenario arise? As a sea kayaker, I’m usually focused on moving forward.
And that goes double in treacherous water. Momentum equals maneuverability—my natural response to instability is to paddle the boat faster so I can get maximum maneuverability.
When would I possibly want to simply remain upright in place?
Just then, Vlad called called out, “Hold up! Let’s wait until the ferry docks!”
And there I was, attempting to remain stationary in three-foot waves.
The lightbulb went off. When, indeed?
I immediately started in with my newly-practiced skill, and stayed comfortably upright while the ferry did its thing.
Holding for ferries…
… in three-foot chop
Funny: All these years I knew in the abstract what sculling for support was for. But it took until that day to recognize when to use it!
Posted in Kayaking, New York City
Tagged Kayak Technique, New York Harbor, Photography, Sculling, Sea Kayaking
By Vladimir Brezina
This week’s Photo Challenge is Nostalgic.
Kayaking through New York City’s waterways and becoming aware of the maritime traditions of the harbor, it’s hard not to become nostalgic about its bygone days, reflected in the numerous wrecks of ships, some of them over a hundred years old, that lie here and there in the harbor.
A case in point is the Binghamton, a 1905 steam ferryboat—the last of many—that has reached her last resting place, as it now clearly is, on the New Jersey side of the Hudson at Edgewater.
The Binghamton operated as a cross-Hudson ferry, making a mile-long trip back and forth between Hoboken and Manhattan, continuously from 1905 to 1967, when the last ferries were forced out of business (until their recent renaissance) by competition from the Hudson tunnels and the George Washington Bridge.
Binghamton was then converted into a floating restaurant. The restaurant closed in 2007, and since then Binghamton has awaited a new use.
From Wikipedia:
The Binghamton is significant as possibly the last surviving steam ferry still afloat built to serve New York Harbor, the birthplace of commercial steam navigation, the birthplace of the double-ended steam ferry, and an area whose development was profoundly shaped by the introduction of vessels of this kind.
Indeed, The US Department of the Interior added Binghamton to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.
Bill Lee has written a loving, detailed essay on her history, and Tugster has posted a series of photos (here, here, and here) that give a good idea of her interior as it was until quite recently.
Bill Lee’s essay ends when Binghamton‘s future still looked promising. Unfortunately, in 2011 Hurricane Irene greatly accelerated her progressive deterioration, and last year Hurricane Sandy finished the job. Binghamton no longer floats, but is resting on the bottom.
Every time we paddle past, we see greater decay. Now an entire side of the boat is down, giving us dramatic views into the inlaid wood and stained glass of the interior—all ruined now. Water sloshes back and forth through the interior spaces with each passing wave.
A reminder of the transience of beauty…
By Vladimir Brezina
Last night, with martinis in hand, we went up on the roof of our building to watch NYC’s Independence Day fireworks.
Conditions were not ideal for photography. From our building on the Upper East Side, it is several miles to where the fireworks were fired off in the Hudson River. At the last minute, we were chased away by the building staff from the part of the roof that offered the best view. Where we ended up, among a crowd of our neighbors, the tripod had to be so precariously balanced on a narrow ledge that it became a bipod. Directly in front was a pipe obstructing the view. The remote control failed to work…
Still—
(click on any photo to start slideshow)
Posted in New York City
Tagged Fireworks, Fourth of July, Independence Day, Manhattan, New York City, Photography
By Vladimir Brezina
A Manhattan circumnavigation is the classic trip of New York City kayaking. No two Manhattan circumnavigations are the same. After having done a couple of hundred of them, probably, I can safely say that. And last Saturday’s was one of the best. It had it all—perfect summer weather, a variety of marine traffic to liven things up, a few exciting waves, a secret cove with ripe mulberries, and as a finale, a spectacular sunset…
Here are the photos. (Click on any photo to start a slideshow.)
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These and other photos from the trip are here.
Posted in Kayaking, New York City
Tagged Manhattan, New York City, New York Harbor, Sea Kayaking
... 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 