we launched at 8 or so from east river crew’s davit at 96th street and took about half an hour to get up to the little grassy patch near the willis avenue bridge that’s the best waterfront park in the city. because it isn’t a park and there are no railings and the plants that grow are just whatever’s growing there. as we arrived harry bubbins dove off a bollard and surfaced talking about all the fish he’d seen. the old rotting dock was a perfect mooring for the whitehall. arcadua in the bronx--all that’s missing is a scrap-lumber picnic table.
erik’s very precise schedule said the flotilla would arrive at 8:45 but an hour later they hadn’t, so we headed south before the harlem ebb (which runs north) got too bad. (still haven’t heard what happened to those guys). at hell gate we went way east along the edge of ward’s island before cutting south but still had a good pull to get across as the ebb was really starting to run. a few minutes at halletts cove beach--i’m worried about the elm tree there, it looks like it’s losing it--and then shoved just as the flotilla came around the point.
we sped down the east river, dodging jet skis and seaplanes, and arrived at valentino pier, red hook at 12:45. i had to be at brooklyn bridge beach (manhattan side) at one, so i hopped on my bike (chained there the night before) and made a mad dash north under the promenade. got there 17 minutes later, got my swim cap and ankle chip, and started in the third wave, middle of the pack. the water was amazingly warm and a beautiful bottle green, clear enough to see the churning legs and arms of my fellow strait-crossers even at a distance. i stayed a bit south of the bridge, checking it out every time i breathed on the left. the organizers had judged the tide perfectly so the flood only kicked in after we’d rounded the buoy just off the brooklyn shore, and bore us swiftly into dumbo cove. the whole thing took me a little under 22 minutes. i kind of wished it had lasted a little longer.
a few minutes later the whitehall went by northbound. a BIG thanks to my crewmates and to mary nell hawk and east river crew for indulging my swimlust--i hope you had a great ride home!
4 boro ramble and 2 boro swim
mary nell at the 96th street davit
lapstrake and the wineglass transom
rafting up with carter’s yacht
the harlem: totally swimmable!
cutting through the mugwort
harry’s world
no landscape architects please, it’s perfect as is
a bronx cheer!
just made for a gig
southbound on the harlem
battle stations: into hell gate
in the back eddy, about to turn south
approaching halletts
a coxswain’s job is to weigh down the stern
waiting for erik, again
ram puts his back into it
profiles in gigdom
snapple factory: the world’s weirdest mural
the bike leg: racing back to brooklyn bridge
how fast was i going? guy on a toy bike passed me
yes! let’s use those beaches!
the lineup
changing room: nearby mexican restaurant
getting those annoying caps on
at the finish line
made it!
everybody’s famous
the 62nd-place champ
