Spring is here: first kayakers on the North River

at the GW Bridge  (click to enlarge images)

Clearing winter storm

A familiar sight this month.  January saw 54" of snow fall in Central Park.  We just got another 18".  The temperature is 37F - so we'll soon have huge lakes at every corner in mid-Manhattan. (click on images to expand)

The Palisades after the storm

beleaguered nun

First day of ice on the Hudson

makes me remember summer

the Back River from our living room - Friendship

the North (Hudson) River from our living room - New York

Rite of winter: buoy tending by the Katherine Walker, USCG

The Katherine Walker

As I came down the block I saw the Coast Guard buoy tender Katherine Walker - WLM 552 - pulling up the Hudson River 2 channel marker - a flashing  3 meter tower.  I ran upstairs , grabbed my camera, and watched them lowering a small nun - an ice buoy - in anticipation of the coming freeze.  The location: the North River - just off West 181 Street above the George Washington Bridge. (click on images to enlarge)

lowering the winter buoy - lighted tower on deck

pushing away using bow and stern thrusters

North River 2 - a Buzzards Bay 14

Just cause I don't have any pictures of my boat North River 2  on the site.  And because there should be a place to put pictures of other examples of the design (like this), described in L. Francis Herreshoff's Sensible Cruising Designs.  The basic description is HERE.

Images: 1 and 2 - GWC; #3 - unknown - not my boat - another BB 14

After the storm

Better Days are Coming

Winter comes to the North River

January 9, 2010 was the first day of ice.  Here's the slide show - Hudson River Ice 2010

Snow Day on the North River

 A late winter storm is blowing through, with 5 inches of snow on the first pass.  Mid-day highs in low 20's and wind 20 NNW.

The river is ice-free and the highways clear.  Light fuel barges seek shelter in the North River anchorage in the lee of the Palisades.  The Little Red Lighthouse  stands watch under the GW Bridge at Ft. Washington Point.

Just to the left of the tower and above the roadway you can make out the seawall and docks of North Hudson Yacht Club (where I used to keep North River 1 and 2) and Von Dohln's marina next door.  Nautical havens saved by stubbornness (Von Dohln) and developer's distress (N. Hudson Y.C. - the guys sold the 100 y.o. club's land for $250k each, and now run it like a private boatyard, waiting for the shovel that Reaganomics promised but did not deliver before the bubble burst).

Breaking ice up river

Meanwhile, back on the Hudson river, up north there's plenty of ice.

Here are 12 Bridge's shots, taken from the tug Cornell on icebreaking and other duties.

The Winter so far

The world order seems about right today, the last of January.  It's 26F in Friendship, 21 at our place overlooking the North River, 4 in Anchorage, and 23 in Beijing.   There have been a lot of below zero readings in Friendship - none in New York - and 40's in Anchorage.

There was ice in the river this morning at 8 but it's gone now as the rising tide brings sea water north.  But we've had ice most of the time - except for the sloppy thaw a couple of days ago, which Bill Cunningham records in his On The Street audio photo essay with his Boston accent and chahming eccentricity.

He ridicules the men who wear dress shoes knowing they are going to confront the ponds at every corner when a day of rain melts the snow and the drains clog with ice.  I did that.  I put on my best winter suit and wanted my shoes to match.  I couldn't find those Totes rubbers.  I was just getting a bit tired of winter and didn't want to wear boots in the overheated law school all day.  Besides they didn't match my suit and were stained anyway with fuel I'd spilled.

Finally the unlikely event of a water landing was the biggest maritime happening on the North River- as Sully Sullenberger brought an Airbus down off the ferry terminal just below the Intrepid and the pilots of New York Waterway promptly rescued the passengers who lined up on the wings (some of them knee deep in the brine)  like Londoners in a dark moment rather than New Yorkers pressing to get on the cross-town bus in the rain.

Herreshoff regatta at Oyster Bay

On a misty Saturday morning,  June 28, Dave Seroy and I voyaged on North River 2 from City Island, Bronx to Center Island, Oyster Bay, for a day of racing Herreshoff designs at the Seawanhaka Corinthian Yacht Club.    We couldn't match the 16' LWL  Fish class boats, so I was disappointed that the Buzzards Bay 14 didn't come out.  Probably just as well - we got whipped by a bristol condition gaff rigged wood H  12 1/2 sailed by a guy with a Labrador Retreiver for crew.

The Fish Class boats are heirs of the original wood boats designed 90 years ago for the SCYC by the great one - Nathaniel G. Herreshoff.  Called the Seawanhaka Class each boat was named after a different fish.  That yielded the name Fish Class.  But the SCYC boats still carry SC on their sails.

A special thanks is due to Woody Glenn and SCYC for gracious hospitality.

Photos of North River 2 under sail are Copyright 2008 by Wayne Marciano.  Permission for fair use granted only with credit to photographer and display of copyright notice.

North River 2

Desgner: L. Francis Herreshoff

Builder: The Boat School, Eastport, ME (1985)

Model: Buzzards Bay 14

Mahogany plank, oak frame

LWL 14'

LOA 17'

Beam 5' 10"

Draft 2' 6"

Ballast 750 lb. lead

Mast: 21'

Sail area: 145 sf