New York

Sea Kayaking in Manhattan

The city of New York is not somewhere which immediately springs to mind when you are considering your next kayak trip, and it is probably fair to say that it wouldn’t be your first choice, but how many of us have ended up there on business or on a family holiday? If the hustle of Times Square gets too much or you are shopped out, there can be no more relaxing means of escape then getting out on the Hudson and viewing the Manhattan skyline from a totally different perspective.

There are a couple of commercial operations and one voluntary run group who operate along the Hudson River. I was fortunate enough this summer to spend some time with the New York Kayak Co, which is located on pier 40. Owned by Randall Henrikson, he has an enthusiastic and competent team who run skills sessions, as well as trips in the area, including the highly impressive Statue of Liberty paddle. What better way to spend an afternoon than hitching a ride on the on the last of the ebb current down to the Statue, circumnavigating Liberty Island, whilst ensuring that you remain the required distance away from the shore? There is a line of buoys, which you must stay on the outside of. Homeland Security are swift to respond if you stray too close. If time allows, there is the possibility of an ice cream on the New Jersey shore before hopefully catching the current back up the river. It should be remembered that all the while the ever-changing Manhattan skyline will be backdrop in one direction whilst in the others it will be the equally familiar sites of Ellis Island and the Verazzano Bridge to name just two.

It is vitally important to be aware of just how busy the waterway can be with both commercial and pleasure traffic and that they can generate quite confused waters, particularly when combined with the clapotis off the wall which surrounds the island. There is also the potential hazard of pinning as the current flows through some of the piers and there are some other exclusion zones, for example you are not allowed within 25 yards (about 22 metres for those people who work in metric) of the air intakes of the Holland Tunnel. This could result in a 5 year prison sentence! You might want to take some advice from the locals before you rush out onto such hazardous waters.

Even if you are unable to circumnavigate the Statue of Liberty, there are shorter paddling options available. An evening paddle as the sun sets over New Jersey may not sound that romantic but it is a pretty special experience, and as the buildings light up at dusk a whole new world is revealed. A short paddle towards the southern tip of Manhattan followed by a pint and some food in The Ear Inn is pretty memorable and exposes a New York experience, which those people who spend their time around Times Square fail to appreciate.

If the opportunity arises, there are paddling opportunities in some of the other Boroughs. On a couple of occasions we were able to paddle out from a beach in Brooklyn, cross the channel which links Jamaica Bay with the open sea and paddle around the peninsula of land which is known as Breezy Point, in the Borough of Queens. It was hard to believe at times that we were in one of the largest urban areas in the world. The diversity of the bird life, the beautiful sands and the ocean surf combined to create an atmosphere, which was more reminiscent of the Outer Hebrides than of New York. It was only when we paddled back around the point and saw the Manhattan skyline rising behind Coney Island that I realised how close we were to heart of the city.

Kevin Mansell