By Vladimir Brezina
It’s heartwarming to see how much the Coast Guard loves and cherishes its birds! It spares no effort to erect, along every waterway, ingenious structures calculated to be ideal for gulls, cormorants, even ospreys to rest on and, now that it’s spring, to build their nests and raise their young, safe from predators and from human intrusion… well, except for some kayakers ;-)
Posted in Nature
Tagged Animals, Birds, Coast Guard, Cormorants, Gulls, Hudson River, Navigational Aids, New York Harbor, Ospreys
By Vladimir Brezina
A week ago, on the last Sunday of November, the weather promised to be clear and mild—perfect for a late-fall paddle. We looked up the current predictions. In the morning, the current was flooding north. So we paddled north—from Pier 40 up the Hudson River along the West Side of Manhattan, under the George Washington Bridge and along the Palisades up to Tonetti Gardens, then returning with the ebb current in the afternoon…
It was a peaceful paddle. There were no exciting conditions, no incidents to report. But it was a beautiful day for a few photos…
Posted in Kayaking, New York City
Tagged Hudson River, Italian Gardens, Kayaking, Manhattan, New York City, Palisades
By Vladimir Brezina
In New York City, the leaves are only just starting to turn. But farther north along the Hudson the fall colors must be well advanced.
For a number of years I used to go by train with my folding kayak to see the fall colors in the stretch of the Hudson just south of Albany, near Catskill and the town of Hudson. In Ramshorn Creek, a little winding creek off the Hudson just south of Catskill, I saw, about this time in October one year, the best fall colors ever—a vivid profusion of yellows, oranges, reds, purples, reflected in the green-brown waters of the creek against a crystalline fall blue sky.
It doesn’t look like I’ll have time to go up there this year. So here are some photos from that memorable trip. Even though photos can’t do the real experience of such colors justice, they do give some idea…
By Johna Till Johnson
Photos by Vladimir Brezina
Autumn is a time of melancholy, of dreams and mists. It’s also a time of intense beauty—and a reminder that everything in life is transient.
That’s particularly true when it comes to catching the leaves turning along the Hudson: Bare hints of color one day, blazing the next, and then fading—all in the space of a week or two.
For New York City kayakers with day jobs, the challenge is that the currents are right for a weekend trip up the Hudson only once every two weeks—which means there are only two October weekends to catch this ephemeral color.
The first weekend with a daytime flood current was October 15-16. Either weekend day would have worked, but since I’d just gotten back from an intense week of traveling, Sunday was the better fit. Plus, Saturday’s winds were pretty severe—predicted and ultimately proving to be over 20 knots. So we agreed to go Sunday.
By then, the winds had calmed somewhat. Vlad and I set off on a crystalline, perfect, early-autumn day.
Posted in Kayaking, New York City
Tagged Alpine, Binghamton Ferryboat, Fall, Fall Foliage Colors, Hudson River, Kayaking, Manhattan, New York City, Palisades
By Johna Till Johnson
Note: None of the four of us remembered to bring cameras, so you’ll have to do with a few similar photos from other trips—and your imagination!
This story begins like all good stories: “It was a dark and stormy night…”
Well, no. Actually, it was a dark and stormy morning. Except it didn’t start out that way, but we knew it was headed in that direction. And it got there with a vengeance.
By Vladimir Brezina
Summer was very great (:-)). But now, according to the National Weather Service,
“[a] taste of fall is in the forecast! A strong cold front will cross the Tri-State area Thursday ushering in a Canadian airmass. Temperatures will only be in the 70s Thursday with a chance of a few showers or even a thunderstorm. Then, the much cooler air arrives by Thursday night. Temperatures will fall to near 50 degrees. High temperatures on Friday will only be in the mid to upper 60s. Dewpoints will also fall into the 30s during the day Friday making it feel like autumn.”
In New York City, the trees remain green, with no sign of fall color yet. But the city is an urban heat island, with temperatures elevated often by ten degrees or more. Outside the city, no doubt, leaves are already starting to turn. It’s time to plan fall foliage trips—by kayak, naturally!
Some of the best fall colors can be seen along the banks of the Hudson north of the city. I haven’t been up the river since our May paddle from Albany to New York City, but here, in a collection of photos from past years, is what I imagine is, or soon will be, happening…
Tagged Autumn Leaves, Fall Foliage Colors, Hudson River, Kayaking, Photography, Vines
By Vladimir Brezina
These tropical storms have certainly stirred things up! Hurricane Irene came through ten days ago and deluged the entire region, and a couple of days ago Tropical Storm Lee repeated the performance. This morning, looking out of the window on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, we saw a strange sight in Hell Gate…
By Vladimir Brezina
Now that Johna and I are back from our New England kayaking trip (photos here, writeup still to come), it’s back to my regular old paddling routine in New York Harbor.
Here’s an account of one of my standard trips, written up a long time ago for the September/October 2003 issue of ANorAK, the Journal of the Association of North Atlantic Kayakers (a journal now defunct). Rereading this account, I see that things haven’t changed much over the past decade. There’s mention of sewage, for instance…
In essence, the trip is a 50-nautical-mile circumnavigation of Manhattan with a side excursion into Long Island Sound, looping around City and Hart Islands. I developed this trip for those days when the timing of the tidal currents is such that the East River starts flooding in the early morning, just as I am launching from Pier 40 in lower Manhattan. Following the flood current up the East River soon gets me to Hell Gate, where I am faced with the choice of paddling against the current then coming down the Harlem River, or continuing with the current through Hell Gate into the Upper East River and out into Long Island Sound. Being lazy, of course I choose the second option, returning to Hell Gate to resume the Manhattan circumnavigation only when the current has turned so that it will push me up the Harlem River. (As a bonus, I get to paddle through Hell Gate both ways at the peak of the current, sometimes boiling along at five or six knots, which can be interesting…)
Posted in Kayaking, New York City
Tagged East River, Harlem River, Hell Gate, Hudson River, Kayaking, Long Island Sound, Manhattan, New York City, New York Harbor
By Vladimir Brezina
I love lighthouses! There are quite a few in New York Harbor and the surrounding waterways. And over the years that I’ve spent kayaking in the area, I’ve collected photos of many of them. See if you can identify the lighthouses in the following photos! All are within the borders of New York City or just beyond.
Correct answers will receive contributions toward the purchase of your very own lighthouse! Many lighthouses around the country are now available from the government at very reasonable terms. In New York Harbor itself, West Bank Light and Old Orchard Shoal Light are unfortunately already gone, sold for $195,000 and $95,000 respectively—it will be interesting to see what the purchasers do with them. But Romer Shoal Light and Great Beds Light may still be available…
Update (August 12, 2011): Answers provided.
Posted in Kayaking, New York City
Tagged Hudson River, Kayaking, Lighthouse, Long Island Sound, New York City, New York Harbor
By Johna Till Johnson
Photos by Vladimir Brezina
“Why is camping fun?”
I’ve been asked that many times through the years. Even active, tough, and healthy people, folks who glory in the feel of a strenuous workout, often wonder about it. Hard physical activity is a joy when it’s followed by a hot shower, a good meal (preferably cooked and delivered by someone else), and a clean, soft, safe bed. But where’s the fun in ending a hard day’s workout by erecting a tent, attempting to cook dinner, bathing (if at all) in unheated water, and attempting to sleep on rocky ground? (Let’s not even talk about stinging and biting insects, itching poison oak and ivy, and the smallish-but-real risk of being attacked by a wild animal—or person.)
Why is camping fun?
It’s hardly a rhetorical question when you’re standing drenched to the skin, watching raindrops bore holes into the curry you’re desperately trying to heat over a flickering camping stove. Your muscles ache, but you can’t sit because the picnic table and ground are sodden. Darkness is all around you, lit only by the stove and the weak ripple of LEDs from the camp lamp through the rain. Behind you, the tent is battered by rain: Rivulets are pooling on the top and running down the sides, and you’re pretty sure the inside is damp as well. And the plummeting raindrops are cooling the curry as fast as you’re trying to heat it.
Tagged Albany, Hudson River, Kayak Camping, Kayak Expeditions, Kayaking, New York City, Rain
... 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 