[Paddlewise] nyc parks dept kayak/canoe launch permits

New York City's Department of Parks and Recreation has a handful of
official kayak/canoe launch sites around the city, i.e. spots that you
can legally put in or take out without hassle.

As part of the program, the Parks Dept. also issues kayak/canoe launch
permits that are good for the season, which runs from April to
November.  While you don't absolutely need a permit to use the spots, as
no one is really monitoring much, it is worthwhile getting one for
several reasons:

--It does form a census of sorts of the number of paddlers in the city. 
The more we get ourselves counted, the more overall clout we may have.

--If by chance some officer or official were to challenge your effort to
launch or land, you would have something to show them that indicates you
have permission to do so (be polite, of course :-)).

The permit is the biggest bargain in the city other than the Downtown
Boathouse, which is free.  A Parks Dept permit costs all of $2!  When
you go get one, you will note that tennis permits run $50 for example. 
The permits are available at any borough Parks Dept office.  The main
office is in Manhattan's Central Park at the Arsenal Building at 5th Ave
and 64th Street in the basement (hours are from 10 am to 4 pm).  The
address for the the borough ones are in your local phone book.  There
has been a way of writing in for one but I don't know if that is still
functioning.

The launch sites have gone through a lot of changes, basically a
downward spiral in terms of number.  I and several others were
instrumental in expanding the system back in the late 1980s.  We got it
up to 11 or so launch sites at one point (3 Manhattan, 2 Staten Island,
1 Queens, 3 The Bronx, 2 Brooklyn).  However a variety of forces killed
off several of them.  (Staten Island: one was close to an anchorage and
the Pilots Assoc complained; the other at Conference House was nixed on
a ruse.  Brooklyn: one which had a floating dock and ramp was burned to
the ground by vandals; the other never got sufficiently marked). 
Manhattan has 3 officially on the Hudson but only two really are
functional: Dyckman St (200th St, northern Man.) and the 79th Street
Boat Basin, "A" dock (the third is just north of the North River Park
complex but pretty impossible to launch from).  The Bronx's three have
two that don't really work but the one at Orchard Beach (NW corner of
the parking lot) is quite good.  Then there is the one in Queens in
Bayside at the marina.  I have not been there in years and so I don't
know what its status is.

If we could ever get the number of kayak/canoe permit holders up to some
critical mass, we might be able to start reversing the trend and
re-establish launch sites in other parts of the city.

I urge you to get a permit.

If you have any questions email or write.

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/
***************************************************************************