[Paddlewise] Statue of Liberty Water Temp?

Hello List,

I was just about to shoot off an email to Ralph Diaz asking for his opinion
on the water temps we're likely to encounter on Saturday's paddle to the
Statue of Liberty when I decided to walk over and pick up my mail (snail
mail, that is).

What do I find, but the latest (July) issue of Canoe & Kayak magazine.
Thumbing through it on my walk back, I find, on page 28, an article edited
(written??) by Ralph himself on how to find the tides and water temp
throughout the US at:

	www.nws.fsu.edu/buoys

Scary, right?  Anyway, I click on the web site and the closest I can come
to the Statue is the Ambrose Light reporting a surface water temp at about
56 F.  Cold!

I live on the south shore of Long Island with shallow bays.  I paddled off
of Patchogue on 5/7/00 and measured the water at almost 70 F.  I find that
hard to believe myself, but there were lots of swimmers to back it up.

So I'm asking input from anyone who might have some insight to the actual
values of water temperature we might encounter at the Statue on Saturday to
comment.  I'm ready to "hang up" the wet suit if it seems prudient.

Bill Leonhardt
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