I mentioned this swim last week when the question of NYC water quality came up on PaddleWise. I think water quality is kayak related and so I want to post a brief report. A group called Swim The Apple arranged a "swim-in" today in New York Harbor at the south end of Governor's Island from an old tubboat, the Bertha. About 40 were aboard and some 30 people of us swam for about 45 minutes around the time of slack. It was the beginning of the ebb but the island provided a bit of a screen. Still the current was running strong enough to push us toward the boat. We had two chase boats, a professional diver as lifeguard and several strong swimmers in the water. A NY Times photographer covering the event jumped in and seemed to be thoroughly enjoying herself swimming around with her waterproof camera. The police also had a launch along side us and the Coast Guard too. And there were a fire truck and several patrol cars on the seawall of the island. The Coastguardsmen were startled when they saw the group jumping in, undoubtedly believing we would dissolve on contact. No one did. Ages of the group: from about 5 to 75. So much for the urban myth about the NY water quality being ghastly. Around us, OpSail and the Naval Review were gearing up for the 4th. In one direction we could see the skyline of Manhattan and in the other the long grey line of war ships moored in the harbor including the Aircraft carrier, JFK. As we were finishing off the parade of smaller tall ships was coming down the East River and Buttermilk Channel (the bigger tall ships will parade tomorrow up the Hudson River). If you want to see what Swim The Apple is trying to accomplish visit http://www.workingwaterfront.org and click on the link for Swim The Apple. It was a real kick to be swimming in NY Harbor, something I would not have dared do just a dozen years ago when I started kayaking. Water quality has improved that much especially in that spot off the island which gets both strong ebbs and floods cleaning out the water several times of day. My wife and I enjoyed it thoroughly and wish to publicly compliment Mark Heath of Swim The Apple and Adam Brown of the Working Waterfront for arranging the event. It was well organized and very safety conscious. More such swim events will follow no doubt. 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 - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.4.0 : Thu Aug 21 2025 - 16:33:15 PDT