NYC Water Trail Map Online!
04-21-2008

Our thanks to the many of you who came to our booth at EarthFest, ( http://www.earthdayny.org/earthday.html ) the Earth Day Celebration at Grand Central Station!

We quickly ran out of hard copies of the NYC Water Trail map, but please find a link to an interactive version of it here:

http://www.nycgovparks.org/sub_things_to_do/facilities/kayak/

We hope you come paddle with us, or with one of the other great community boathouses in neighborhoods throughout the city, Hoboken, and Yonkers!

Salty regards,

The Crew

Long Island Kayak Circumnavigation for Alzheimer's Disease Care
01-25-2008

This word comes from Erik Baard, founder of the boathouse:

Ahoy'all!

I'm happy to announce that I will be circumnavigating Long Island from August 13 through August 27 to raise funds for Alzheimer's Disease care and family education with a special emphasis on multilingual outreach to lower-income and immigrant communities. The goal, in partnership with the Long Island Alzheimer's Foundation, is to aid families in keeping their loved ones at home for as long as possible, rather than being forced into premature hospitalization by economic circumstances.

We are emphasizing multilingual outreach to especially meet the needs of Queens residents of limited means, who might not otherwise know of the support their families can get in providing care at home.

I plan to launch from, and return to, the Flushing World’s Fair Marina. Please see the bottom for a rough sketch of the float plan. You might be able to help prepare this effort for success, or share in it underway.

I am dedicating this voyage to Gillian Fairfield, my childhood landlady in Flushing and a Cuban immigrant, who passed away in May. Her birthday was August 27, and so this gesture is my farewell gift to her. If you’re curious about this woman’s remarkable kindness, which motivates me to attempt something that clearly stretches my abilities (I will be training and practicing this spring and summer), I will gladly share my “New York story” about her in private correspondence. Or suffice it so say she and her husband spent more on my mother, brother, and I than they ever took in rent, and provided incalculable love during that time of struggle.

My boat will be a Looksha 17, generously on loan or at discount from regional Necky/Old Town/Ocean Kayak distributor Gary Hall. Against the traditional kayaker aversion to naming boats, it will be christened, for Mrs. Fairfield, the “Gil” or “Gillie.” Her husband will choose, since her used both pet names for her.

Some of you might be aware that there were a few Memory Paddles organized by the LIAF in recent years, a tradition started by a Brooklyn kayaker, culminating with Olympic paddler participation. In recent years the foundation has instead opted to host sailing regatta day events. The kayak trips were becoming too costly and too demanding of foundation staff hours, as they provided ground support.

I’m reviving the Long Island kayak circumnavigation by foregoing a motorboat escort and going solo without a ground crew, though friends will be welcomed to join for some legs of the trip. Furthermore, the LIC Community Boathouse and Gowanus Dredgers Canoe Club are arranging for insurance through the American Canoe Association. I will camp out and crash with friends (some new ones?) and family – if a hotel is offering a $250 room for the night, I would rather exchange that for a $100 donation to Alzheimer’s Disease care.

I’m already grateful for the help I’ve received from paddlers with whom I have communicated privately. My thanks especially to Ted Gruber for helping map out GPS coordinates and distances between ports of call along the 292-mile voyage. Naturally, I also used the Eldridge Tide and Pilot book donated by Randy of the New York Kayak Company. We’ve budgeted 11 days of paddling, with three days for storms and wind interference.

If you know of people or companies who might donate or loan basic gear, like a GPS, or might provide shelter at points on Long Island, please drop me a note. I would also very greatly appreciate wisdom from paddlers on the South Shore and East End.

And of course, help organizing events at ports of call, to raise funds for the Long Island Alzheimer’s Foundation’s multilingual outreach for care education, and to generate awareness of needs and resources related to this disease, are essential.

Here’s a rough and tentative float plan by paddle day (again, with three spare days available):

Day 1 Worlds Fair Marina to Atlantic Beach Bridge, 39.4 mi.
Media stops at Gantry Plaza, Brooklyn Bridge, Far Rockaway)

Day 2 Atlantic Beach Bridge to Cedar Beach, 30.9 mi.
Day 3 Cedar Beach to Smith Point, 27.7 mi.
(Camping with LIC Community Boathouse)

Day 4 Smith Point Park to Shinnecock Inlet, 20.7 mi.
(Visit with Shinnecock Nation canoe carving partners)

Day 5 Shinnecock Inlet to Hither Hills, 28.8 mi.
Day 6 Hither Hills to Montauk Harbor, 16.0 mi.
Day 7 Montauk Harbor to Orient Point, 18.5 mi.
Day 8 Orient State Park (bay side) to Mattituck Inlet, 25.7 mi.
(Lenape sunrise ceremony for departed, 40th birthday)

Day 9 Mattituck Inlet to Port Jefferson Harbor, 31.2 mi.
(Crash with grandma.)
Day 10 Port Jefferson to Bayville, 30.5 mi.
(Crash with mom.)

Day 11 Bayville to Worlds Fair Marina, 22.7 mi.

Grand Total, 292.1 miles.

It’s funny that circumstances have lead me to this Long Island circumnavigation on my 40th birthday, considering my 30th birthday was marked by my first Manhattan circumnavigation!

My thanks to many of you for your friendship through these years, and for helping me arrive *almost* ready to achieve this more meaningful passage.

:)

Erik

IF YOU WISH RECEIVE BOATHOUSE ANNOUNCEMENTS BY EMAIL, PLEASE VISIT THIS LINK: http://licboathouse.org/mailman/listinfo/announce_licboathouse.org

--
Erik Baard

www.licboathouse.org
www.naturecalendar.com

Make a Year End Contribution to the Boathouse!
12-27-2007

Dear East River Friend,

Before the last tide of 2007 ebbs away, please consider making a tax-deductible end of year donation to the LIC Community Boathouse through its 501(c)3 fiscal conduit and ally, the Gowanus Dredgers Canoe Club. The Dredgers take absolutely no service fee out of donations, and as you know, the all-volunteer LIC Community Boathouse has no paid staff and pays no rent, so all of your generosity is directly materialized in the programs we provide. Also, the LIC Community Boathouse and Gowanus Dredgers have never taken government funds (ie your tax dollars) for support.

You can simply contribute through this link ( http://www.nycharities.org/donate/c_donate.asp?CharityCode=1957 -- be sure to mark your donation as for the LIC Community Boathouse) or search for the Gowanus Dredgers at the http://www.NYCharities.org homepage. Checks, noted as for the LIC Community Boathouse, can be mailed to:

Gowanus Dredgers Canoe Club
POB 24403
Brooklyn, NY 11202-4403

We'll be hosting a blow-out party for major funding at the Water Taxi Beach in June, but donations now, however small, enable us to repair kayak seats, buy small items of safety gear, and otherwise keep our infrastructure humming into 2008!

As for 2007, you've helped us put thousands of people on the water since the boathouse's inception, and more this year than ever before! The beach at Hallets Cove is safer and healthier than it has been in years, according to local residents, thanks to our weekly cleanings. The cove has also been designated an official launch by the NYC Department of Parks and Recreation!

The LIC Community Boathouse has also spearheaded creative initiatives, especially the first Five Borough Harbor Ramble, which drew paddlers and rowers from all over the harbor. That event supported the creation of a NYC Water Trail network of launches and boathouses, a vision being made into reality under the leadership of Queens Parks Commissioner Dorothy Lewandowski. That event is now growing into an annual tradition under the care of the Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance.

On the local front, the boathouse continues to push for the establishment of an East River greenway in Queens, in alliance with Councilman Eric Gioia, Transportation Alternatives, Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance, Friends of Gantry Neighborhood Parks, Recycle-a-Bicycle, Partnerships for Parks, New Yorkers for Parks, and others. Toward that end, we continue to build on our lengthy and productive conversations with real estate developers, sharing with them the benefits of truly inclusive community amenities like community boating and biking.

In 2008 we will make the neighborhood reclamation of the Newtown Creek a top priority. We have been a vital part of the Newtown Creek Alliance since its earliest days, and will now focus on securing a permanent launch for ecological canoe tours and, in partnership with other groups, research and monitoring. With the city's recent acquisition of a tract of land on Hunters Point, our goal is to have a boat launch at the end of 2nd Street and a planting of Newtown Pippin apple trees, from saplings committed to us by the estates if Mount Vernon and Monticello. This Founding Fathers Grove will be a wonderful sight! With thousands of new waterfront residents expected, this site will grow into its own boathouse over time.

Another top priority for 2008 is the return of our special weekday programs. Under the leadership of retired NYC fire captain Paul Mallery, we will provide paddling and related programs to neighborhood youth, in partnership with local organizations. We also plan to restore the popular Cinema Paddles, our evening trips from Anable Cove to Hallets Cove, to watch films in Socrates Sculpture Park and at Solar1, across the strait in Stuyvesant Cove.

Our strong and creative efforts have been recognized in New York Times feature stories, the City of Water documentary by the Municipal Arts Society and MWA, and other honors. Won't you add your support to this wonderful renewal of our local waterways?

Warm regards,

The Crew