Another LIC Community Boathouse (LICCB) paddling season is about to begin. At last, the water temperature is rising above 60 degrees and we’re preparing to get back on the water. Please read on to learn of some upcoming opportunities to be part of it. Save some of those dates now!

Volunteers (YOU) are who make it all happen. You’re all invited, experienced volunteers and newcomers as well, to attend either or both Volunteer Orientation events on May 19th and May 25th. We’ll review our Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for signing in, gearing up, readying boats and if the weather allows, take our first easy paddling trips on the East River. Each Volunteer Orientation event runs from 11AM to 5PM at the 46-01 5th Street Boathouse in LIC 11101. Please register for either or both events by using the “Request-a-Trip” button at LICboathouse.org

June 1st, Hallets Cove Season Opener, the first of 15 scheduled dates for our most popular event where we serve the greatest number of the public for free. Volunteers help people of all ages and skill levels, even beginners, to try out paddling around on the sheltered waters of Hallets Cove. Most Hallets dates will begin and/or end with a 2-mile paddle on the East River to or from the cove, an excellent way to graduate from beginner to novice. Other dates in June are the 16th, 22nd (Summer Solstice evening) and the 29th. Helping out at Hallets Cove is the best way to secure spots on the many exciting volunteer trips that will be offered throughout the summer!

June 8th, Harlem River Festival, LICCB provides walk-up, free community paddling on the upper Harlem River as part of this wonderful event.

June 15th, The Gowanus Challenge, an exciting paddle race and fundraiser with LICCB’s sibling boathouses.http://www.gowanuscanal.org/race/index.html

June 22nd, Stuyvesant Cove, LICCB brings free, walk-up paddling to the Manhattan’s east side. An excellent day for all volunteers to help out.

This Thursday evening, BLUE DRINKS on the Hudson at W 26th St hosted by NYC Water Trail Association. May 16th, 6pm-9pm, don’t miss it! http://www.nycwatertrail.org/

Our friends, the Sebago Canoe Club have their Open House this Saturday May 18th, 10am to 4pm. All are welcome!

http://www.sebagocanoeclub.org/

We want to make this the Boathouse you want it to be, we’re all just volunteers who love the water. Please spare a moment to take a super short survey for feedback so we can have an awesome season! http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/ZL5KLFT

Here’s to paddling with y’all soon and often!

John McGarvey, 2013 Chairperson

Long Island City Community Boathouse www.LICboathouse.org john@licboathouse.org

The Gowanus Dredgers Canoe Club is a 501c3 non-profit corporation that fosters waterfront access and is the “parent” organization to Long Island City Community Boathouse, Red Hook Boaters, Kayak Staten Island, and the Riverbank Pool Program.

A successful spinoff was achieved in Brooklyn Bridge Park, where recreational boating is offered to the public by the Brooklyn Bridge Park Boaters.

The GDCC continues to add relevant content to the debate about best use of the so-called “Sixth Borough.”  It’s an important conversation that YOU deserve to be part of!  Participate.  Come and meet other awesome artists, artisans and partisans, activists of all stripes, and your friends and neighbors.

We are grateful for the support of the Dredgers in fulfilling our mission at LICCB.  We hope to see you Saturday!  It’ll be a blast.  Here’s the Facebook invite, check it out.  Be sure to click the link and buy your tickets today!

GOWANUS DREDGERS BACCHANAL

JOIN US on Saturday, SEPT. 29th, at LAVENDER LAKE, one of our neighborhood’s most buzzed-about restaurants, TO CELEBRATE A YEAR OF SUCCESSES.

Great Food, Live Music, Children’s Activities, and of course…
Canoe Rides!

Lots of other neighborhood attractions, including yoga class at Socrates, and the ever popular Farmers Market.  Get your stretch on, your veggies in, and some paddling too!

We’re hosting the walk up paddling from 1-4pm, with the last signup at 3:30pm.  If you missed the morning trip to the Cove, come for the afternoon trip back.  Show up around 3:30pm and let us know you are available to take a boat back to our home near Anable Basin.  The trip is about 1.9 miles, it’s easy and suitable for beginners.  You’ll sign a waiver and must be 18 or over to ride on the river.

We always appreciate your contribution of time and energy to serve residents and visitors with community sponsored paddling.

As usual, no charge for the enjoyment of our equipment and guidance, yet we welcome your donations.  You keep us afloat!

Thanks for all you do.

The next date for the program will be Saturday September 22.

We apologize for the inconvenience.

The New York-New Jersey Harbor & Estuary Program is multi-agency effort, administered by the EPA, whose aim is to protect and improve the quality of our estuary for all of its inhabitants. It has a small budget and limited influence, but most of the major ‘players’–the Port Authority, the Army Corps of Engineers, the DEC and New Jersey DEP–are a part of it, and thus it has the potential to be a useful forum for discussions about estuary-related policy and decision-making. The HEP Citizens Advisory Committee is intended as a conduit for non-profits, neighborhood groups, and individuals who would like to have a voice in those discussions. So if you’re interested in where we’re at estuary-wise, or if you have a particular issue you’d like to raise, please consider joining this call tomorrow, or coming to our meeting on October 24 (details TBA).

More on HEP and the CAC at the HEP website: www.harborestuary.org

Thanks,

Rob Buchanan
New York co-chair, HEP CAC

More:

Hi Everyone, Just a reminder that we have a conference call scheduled for tomorrow, Wednesday August 29, from 10 to 11:30 AM, which all current and prospective members are invited to join. Here’s a tentative schedule: 10-10:30: Michelle and Rob offer a roundup of HEP news and developments, including the plans for a HEP 2.0 and the new, expanded geographical area, and seek input on what ‘the citizenry’ would like to say at the HEP Management Committee meeting on September 12. Here is the preliminary agenda for that meeting: - Agenda review and approval of minutes from June meeting (Nyman - 10 min) - Abandoned boats and shoreline debris (30 min - Nyman/Shadel/others) - No Discharge Zone (states) - CAC report out (15 min – Buchanan and Doran-McBean) - Presentations from the Harbor School (15 min – Fisher) - Coordination with other regional initiatives - Hudson River Estuary Program (15 min – Dunwell) - Raritan River Initiative (15 min – Shaw) - Announcement of new Small Grant Project Selections (10 min – Munoz)   10:30-11: Michelle and Rob listen while CAC members outline specific estuary-related projects, concerns, etc. This is a chance for groups and individuals to share local news and issues with the wider group–in bullet-point form, please, since we’ll be pressed for time! 11–11:30: discussion of the agenda and any special presentations for our October 24 meeting in New York City (10 AM-1 PM, location to be determined). To join the conference call, please dial:Toll free number: 866-299-3188 Conference code: 2126373791# For more information, please email the committee co-chairs: Michelle Doran-McBean (New Jersey):futurecityinc@gmail.com or Rob Buchanan (New York): avironvoile@gmail.com We hope to hear from you Wednesday!

We have a situation on our hands here.  As some of you are aware, there has been considerable attention paid to harbor wide water quality this season.  The NYC Water Trail Association has spearheaded an effort to compile data on water quality, particularly at boat launch sites.  Find out more about this project here:  www.nycwatertrail.org.

The data coming back on Hallets Cove water quality has been surprising.  It has shown that bacteria counts have been consistently high, regardless of conventional measures used by the DEP (Dep’t of Environmental Protection) to determine likelihood of such levels.

Typically, the DEP has based its predictions of water safety on rainfall and its effect on CSO (Combined Sewage Outflow.)  It is coming to light that Hallets Cove water is showing high levels of bacteria count; levels are consistent with the presence of more sewage than can readily be explained.

Water quality testing has been performed on a weekly basis this season.  Week after week, the levels of certain bacteria associated with sewage have been higher than could reasonably be expected.

Why is Hallets Cove so dirty?  What is going on?  We are trying to find out.  And we are looking at what we might be able to do about finding out.

We are considering how to approach this situation.  On the one hand, we enjoy providing an enjoyable community service.  The public walk up paddling program has produced tremendous value for the neighborhood and beyond!  It’s such a cool and wonderful thing, a real win-win-win.

On the other hand, we are doing a disservice to ourselves and everyone else if we fail to take action to find out what is creating a hazardous condition in a public place; a place which is enjoying wider recreational use all the time by individuals who are probably not aware of the potential hazards.

Note that boating is not swimming, and as such we are in a bit of a frontier with these water quality readings and with our responsibility to decide about kayak activity.  Water quality warnings are typically concerned with beach areas where people are in prolonged contact with the water, and water is likely to enter mucous membranes (eyes, nose, mouth).

CALL TO ACTION:  Contact the DEP to demand an investigation of the source of pollution in Hallets Cove.  Help keep community sponsored kayaking alive here.  Below please find a draft of a communication we encourage you to send with your name to the Commissioner of DEP.  (Copy and paste, print, send in the mail.)

Address letters to:

Carter Strickland, Commissioner
Department of Environmental Protection

59-17 Junction Boulevard, 13th Floor
Flushing, NY 11373

Or, send an electronic message by going to this site:   http://www.nyc.gov/html/mail/html/maildep.html

Dear Commissioner Strickland,

I am a New York City resident who would like to participate in the community sponsored kayaking program at Hallets Cove, operated by the Long Island City Community Boathouse in conjunction with Socrates Sculpture Park.  This year the kayaking program has been cancelled several times due to water quality concerns.

As you may know, a grass roots Citizens Water Quality Testing Program was initiated this year by the New York City Water Trail Association (www.nycwatertrail.org) and volunteers from boathouses around the harbor.

On ten (10) of the fourteen (14) days this year for which samples have been collected at Hallets Cove, the Most Probable Number (MPN) of Enterococcus colonies per 100 ml has been in the range considered “unacceptable for swimming” or “unacceptable for swimming if levels persist” according to EPA enterococcus standards for swimming.  Further, high levels that have been measured DO NOT CORRELATE with rainfall or CSO discharges.  Ref:  https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AhvspccU_-qrdFd5LXNkQS1JWTd5MlEyNDdjUDVsMWc#gid=0

This would seem to indicate that there is another source of enterococcus pollution in Hallets Cove.

I request the Department of Environmental Protection investigate the source of this pollution and implement a remedy; or if the source is a private entity, require that entity to implement a remedy, at the earliest possible time.

The health and safety of the people who use the public beach at Hallets Cove depend on the water being free of pollutants.  I urge the DEP to take action to clean up Hallets Cove.

Sincerely,

(your name here)

Thank you for all you do.

LIC Community Boathouse has a full day of waterborne fun planned for this Sunday, August 19th and it appears that the weather will be perfect for it.

A morning, afternoon and an evening paddle have just been posted on the calendar and all are now available for request at LICboathouse.org.

The morning trip is a Circumnavigation of Roosevelt Island, 4 miles with tidal assist all the way around.

The other two trips are both one way, a noon trip to Manhattan, and a sunset paddle back to LIC from Manhattan.

These two trips are designed to facilitate an afternoon walk-up program at Stuyvesant Cove at the end of East 23rd Street & the East River. This will be a historic first. To date, there has been no legal access in Manhattan to the East River for paddlers. LIC Boathouse and NYC Water Trail Association have been trying for months to obtain a permit for this program and just this morning the permit was finally approved, hence the short notice.

We’re now recruiting volunteers to make the event happen. The event will be very much like our usual program at Hallets Cove. You can help with waivers, life jackets, boat loading or on water, providing perimeter security or taking beginners for rides.

Interested volunteers, please sign up for either or both of the one way trips, or meet us in Manhattan and show your support. There’s plenty to do, even if you’d rather not paddle.

Stuyvesant Cove is at the East River, just east of 23rd St. & Avenue C. You can get there easily by East River Ferry (10 minute walk from the E 34th St dock) or subway to either 14th St/1st Ave. or 23rd St/Lexington Ave stations.

Please join us Sunday for all or any part of the day!

Ted Gruber, Event Organizer

Health and safety of our guests and volunteers is top priority.  With increased awareness of potential risks posed by poor water quality, we aim to be extra conscientious about activities undertaken by LICCB.  We regret any inconvenience.

Please pass the word to friends and associates who may have been planning to participate.

How does this affect our “Here to Hellgate and Back Again” paddle?  The trip is still on.  However, it is up to each individual to decide whether to participate or not.  There are currently no federal standards relating bacterial counts in the water to restrictions on ‘secondary contact’ or for ‘boating.’  The decision to launch or not is up to you.  There will be no penalty, no embarrassment for those who choose to not paddle.

For those who do choose to go out on the water, we will meet at the Boathouse at 10 AM (or earlier) as planned.  We advise precaution against capsizing and paddle splash.  Your feet and seat are likely to get wet in our Ocean Kayaks. Our itinerary is modified slightly:  we will paddle briefly into Hellgate, then into the Harlem River, where we expect to rendezvous with a large fleet of kayakers making a circumnavigation of Manhattan. Then we will proceed back to our boathouse.  We ask all to participate in hauling our boats out and hosing them off and putting equipment away.  This goes quickly when everyone pitches in.  We expect to be all done before 2:30pm.

Those who are signed up for the Coney Island event tonight will have received email instructions for that outing.  As of this writing, the event is to go on as scheduled.