In today's Sunday NY Times there is a short piece in The City section on page 7 about the wake problem created by the ferries. Those of you who have paddled out of the Downtown Boathouse no doubt recognize the large NO WAKE sign seen in the accompanying foto; it is right at the end of the pier. Several things struck me about the info in the article: 1. The New York Waterways ferries have 1,100 river crossing a day!!! For those not familiar with the scene. The Hudson River is about a half mile wide and the area that the ferries crisscross involves just a four mile stretch of the river. That's a helluva lot of traffic to contend with alone without counting pleasure boats, ocean liners, oil barges, lunch and dinner cruise ships, etc. that also run down through that corridor. 2. The ferries are the worse churners of the water. Their wake has to be experienced. It is hard to believe that such relatively small boats can throw up such a massive wake. Their constant crisscrossing of the river at that thousand plus rate of crossings makes for a tricky environment and to the point of the article in the Times, my number 3 below. 3. The ferries are damaging the piers, which are already in fragile condition thanks to our friendly shipworms. A ferries' spokesperson quoted in the article says the ferries stay in mid river except for their immediate approach to the ferry slips. But that is simply not true. All you have to do is sit on Pier 25 or 26 to see just how close they come. I have often seen them much closer in than the 150 feet that one of those concerned about the ferries is quoted as saying. I would say from my educated guess and fairly experienced eye that they come in as close as four or five kayak lengths. So certainly under 100 feet. I have several times been caught by them along the seawall given a choice of whether I should stay close to the bulkhead and get slammed by their massive wake and the reflective waves off the bulkhead or paddle out river from them to avoid getting caught in such a washing machine. ralph diaz -- ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Ralph Diaz . . . Folding Kayaker newsletter PO Box 0754, New York, NY 10024 Tel: 212-724-5069; E-mail: rdiaz_at_ix.netcom.com "Where's your sea kayak?"----"It's in the bag." ----------------------------------------------------------------------- *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.gasp-seakayak.net/paddlewise/ ***************************************************************************
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