Tomorrow's Sunday NY Times Travel section has an article about sightseeing in lower Manhattan. It is quite good albeit I am not certain about stopping at a restaurant that runs $140 for two for dinner!! Lots of local flavor and looking at the area mainly for its emerging waterfront parks, something that we have managed to do by recapturing the city's edges from rot and disuse left after the major maritime commerce departed for nearby Newark Bay and its containerized shipping facilities not possible in Manhattan. The paddle angle? The article mentions the Downtown Boathouse free kayaking program and even marks our location on a touring map that accompanies the article. Today was the season's opener for the free public kayaking program. Last year we put 8,900 people, mainly newcomers, on the water in kayaks in the protected large area of the embayment we front on. It is the size of about 4 football fields. I can't imagine, with the continuing coverage of the place, what we will wind up having this year!! The program now appears in the hand-out guides foreign visitors get when flying in to our airports. I did my small part with an article in Canoe & Kayak, due out in a few weeks, about paddling in Manhattan with the DTBH featured as a place to go. So the place is going to be really jumping this season. But I hope that does not put you off. There is lots of water and places to kayak to from the DTBH. The launch ramp is wide and the kayak dock huge. There are free lockers, etc. (Also a donation box but you don't have to put in a dime if you don't want to.) If you come you might get a kick out of the scene of yuppies and dowagers, kids with boomboxes and nattily dressed gents and scantily dressed runners and skaters who drop by to try out the free kayaking. It's kind of like the bar scene in Star Wars, full of characters and ordinary folk all enjoying the water or being just next to it. Plus there are some well established good paddlers including a small contingent of the Greenland persuasion to compare gear and tales with. And of course folding kayakers including me. Do plan to visit us. Let me know when you are coming and maybe we can have a beer nearby etc. No, it won't cost 10 bucks a glass!!! :-) Bon voyage, gute Reise, buen viaje, boa viagem 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 - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************Received on Sat May 12 2001 - 16:18:13 PDT
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