Feb-May 2014 News & Events

An Actor’s Boating Passion

Acting is a calling for many people. They enjoy the emotions that they are able to invoke on the stage or screen while entertaining people. Actor Jens Rasmussen brings that same calling and passion to boating.

Rasmussen, who has played over 200 roles in his acting career on the stage and in film, helped start the North Brooklyn Boat Club (NBBC) in 2010. “I have always loved the water,” he says. “Growing up, I spent countless days swimming at my local YMCA. Then as a teen, I was introduced to windsurfing, which absolutely blew my mind. After that, I started crewing competitively for scow captains in inland lakes regattas.”

It wasn’t until he moved to New York from Milwaukee, however,that Rasmussen began to feel the entirety of the boating bug. “I was still interested in boating when I moved to NYC in 1996,” he recalls. “I first sought out and volunteered with Floating the Apple, which builds and uses Whitehall gigs. Unfortunately, I only learned of the East River Kayak Club, in my own neighborhood of Greenpoint, as they were winding down their operations in the late 90s.”

That left him unable to scratch his boating itch for a while, until something caught his eye. “A few years ago, when I learned of the Greenpoint Boathouse proposal that was being submitted to the DEC’s Newtown Creek Environmental Benefit Projects for Environmental Benefit Project funds,I naturally wanted to help make that a reality,” he explains.“I emailed Dewey Thompson (a Greenpoint filmmaker and NBBC harbormaster), who was the driving force behind the proposal and started getting involved from there.”

It wasn’t all smooth sailing, as a potential site for their boathouse fell through. “We had originally proposed and planned to be moving into the Greenpoint Manufacturing and Design Center, a Civil War-era rope factory,” says Rasmussen, “but we were not able to procure a lease agreement that would have been sustainable, or honored the significant amount of community funds that our project would have brought to the Greenpoint Manufacturing and Design Center’s infrastructure.”

The set back spurred the actor and his club members to look for other options. This led them to Tony Argento, the owner of Broadway Stages,a film and production company.He’d given the club a 20-foot-wide strip of land for use as an interim site while the club found a permanent location.  They were initially hesitant to ask for help in securing a permanent location, thinking that they would be pushing the bounds of his generosity since he had been letting them use the site for free.  “He didn’t even hesitate,” Rasmussen says. “He immediately started putting things in motion, and this is before he knew we would be bringing the EBP funds to the table.”

NBBC is still developing architectural plans for the site, but hopes to be fully moved into the permanent site, which is near the Pulaski Bridge, in two years.The club has about 250 members, each paying $40.00 yearly. NBBC has two main types of activities, canoeing and kayaking, though there are opportunities for other pursuits such as paddle carving, boat restoration, rowing, survival skills, and open-fire cooking. Rasmussen says that there’s generally some boating by members all year round, though only the most advanced paddlers go out when there’s cold weather.  “We have fewer activities in the winter, but we never stop. Anytime you see folks at the yard, feel free to stop in and visit,” he says.

Besides dropping by, new members are encouraged to get involved via social media, the club’s website (www.northbrooklynboatclub.org), exposure in media outlets, and at an annual public meeting. At the NBBC meeting this past November, Rasmussen didn’t pitch the club as being a club. “I said that I don’t view us as a boat club; we’re story tellers. We go out on the water and write stories with our paddles, collect them in our boats, bring them back to land, and share them,” he elaborates. “These are stories about the adrenaline rush of strong currents and healthy bodies, stories about city infrastructure and our water quality, and stories about the surprising return of wildlife to the New York City estuary.”

Rasmussen feels very strongly about the club’s role within the boating world. “As stewards of these waterways, it’s our duty and pleasure to share these stories with people who have not yet had the chance to experience the NYC archipelago up close,” the actor articulates.

That’s no act.

Original piece by Michael Griffin for Boating Time Long Island

This entry was posted in News, Press on May 1, 2014 by admin.

Exploring the archipelago of New York City by canoe and kayak

To Jens Rasmussen, a very spe­cial part of New York City lies part­way between Green­point, Brook­lyn and mid­town Man­hat­tan. You can some­times find him there, in the East River, bob­bing in a kayak and tak­ing in the spec­tac­u­lar view with other mem­bers of the North Brook­lyn Boat Club who have pad­dled out from Greenpoint.

“Those tidal forces that push through the East River are awe­some. To expe­ri­ence the river in such close prox­im­ity and jux­ta­posed with Manhattan’s sky­scrap­ers is pro­found. It really rocks people’s worlds.”

Rasmussen points out that NYC is an arch­i­pel­ago and the water is the largest open space in the city. He believes access to it is a birthright for all New Yorkers.

New York­ers often expect water­ways around the city to be dirty, and thus unap­peal­ing for activ­i­ties like kayak­ing, but over the past sev­eral decades water qual­ity has dra­mat­i­cally improved. As a result, boat clubs have been pop­ping up in the five bor­oughs and more and more New York­ers are begin­ning to take advan­tage of what the water has to offer.

The North Brook­lyn Boat Club hails from New­town Creek, a hub of indus­try through the 19th and 20th cen­turies and once home to dozens of refiner­ies for oil and chem­i­cals. The EPA des­ig­nated New­town Creek a Super­fund site in 2010, and a years-long process of reme­di­a­tion is underway.

Rasmussen, who is com­mu­ni­ca­tions direc­tor of the boat club, and his fel­low mem­bers are now also work­ing to reclaim the his­tor­i­cally pol­luted inlet for recre­ation. These pio­neers formed the North Brook­lyn Boat Club (NBBC) in 2012 to pro­mote access to clean, safe water­ways, increase par­tic­i­pa­tion, and get peo­ple to care about the waterfront.

Today, indus­tri­al­iza­tion may have left the area, but there are still other sources of pol­lu­tion to worry about, from street lit­ter to com­bined sewage overflows.

The club’s new “Don’t Put Your Butt in the Creek” pro­gram seeks to build dis­tinc­tive cig­a­rette dis­pos­als on street cor­ners and to pro­vide infor­ma­tion on the impact of street lit­ter on water qual­ity.  When heavy rains fall, garbage on the streets of Green­point is washed down into New­town Creek, con­tribut­ing to the pol­lu­tion of the waterway.

Fur­ther exac­er­bat­ing the prob­lem, New York’s waste water sys­tem car­ries sewage and storm water in the same pipes. Runoff from heavy rains can tem­porar­ily over­whelm the intake capac­ity of the city’s treat­ment plants, caus­ing untreated sewage and storm water to be diverted and released directly into sur­round­ing water­ways. This type of event is called a com­bined sewage over­flow (CSO) dis­charge. The New­town Creek Alliance’s Weather in the Water­shed pro­gram sends out tweets and texts to inform NBBC and res­i­dents through­out the area about CSOs so that they can stay safe and still enjoy their time out on the water.

The club is inter­ested not only in mon­i­tor­ing the health of the waters but in look­ing for ways to improve it.  Their EDshed Pro­gram, cur­rently in devel­op­ment, will be an onsite edu­ca­tional cen­ter for researchers to study the ecol­ogy of the creek, includ­ing wet­lands restora­tion, fil­ter feed­ers and plankton.

Despite the prob­lems of pol­lu­tion, Rasmussen points out, “New York City’s water­ways are cleaner than they’ve been in our life­time thanks to the Clean Water Act.” He acknowl­edges con­cerns from peo­ple about health and safety, but advises that with the proper pre­cau­tions it is safe.

Most of the mem­bers of the club reside in Green­point, Brook­lyn, but they have had peo­ple join from all around the city. They also attract a broader mem­ber­ship through pub­lic pad­dles and even by catch­ing peo­ple walk­ing by over the Pulaski Bridge.

There are many oppor­tu­ni­ties through­out the five bor­oughs to start ven­tur­ing out onto the city’s waters. The New York City Water Trail Asso­ci­a­tion web­site lists over 26 dif­fer­ent com­mu­nity orga­ni­za­tions in the New York metro area that are pro­vid­ing oppor­tu­ni­ties for peo­ple to join in the fun.   

Sum­mer is almost here. It’s time to go out and claim your birthright, New Yorkers!

See original piece by Jocelyn Dupre for City Atlas

This entry was posted in Press on May 1, 2014 by admin.

Greenpoint’s Newtown Creek Boathouse Is Still in the Works

Curbed: Greenpoint’s Newtown Creek Boathouse Is Still in the Works

Since 2011, a handful of passionate Brooklyn residents have dreamed of a boathouse and environmental education center in Greenpoint. Their dream is far from dead, but it has certainly taken on a different form. Last night, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) hosted a public meeting in Long Island City where various organizations gave updates on projects around the Newtown Creek. There, North Brooklyn Boat Club (NBBC) members delivered a blow-by-blow of how plans have evolved—in a somewhat circuitous way—to their current status.

The boathouse project began as a $3 million project at the Greenpoint Manufacturing and Design Center at 1155-1205 Manhattan Avenue. Negotiations commenced, but in the end an agreement could not be reached to situate the NBBC which would operate the boathouse, at that site. Nonprofit City Parks Foundation, which, to put things as simply as possible, is actually responsible for getting the boathouse built, paid one architect until the project’s lack of progress rendered that firm unavailable. Then funds were spent hiring a second architect. Madonna Architects received $3,000, and Ed Weinstein Architects received $36,444.13.

President of the North Brooklyn Boat Club Dewey Thompson made it clear at last night’s meeting that, despite the delay in its planned HQ, the boat club is already an active organization with over 250 members and a mailing list that reaches over 1,000. In addition to boating, it hosts events related to nautical crafts and composting, and even have days when the public is invited to paddle. (The next one is May 3.) They also do guided tours of the Newtown Creek in association with the Newtown Creek Alliance. The NBBC’s Jens Rasmussen said the club received a $20,000 grant three years ago to purchase boats and safety equipment. But, he added, the rest of its financial needs have been met by donations, dues, fundraisers such as Halloween and solstice parties, and by picking through trash.

The club is currently operating out of a temporary location at 51 Ash Street. That site is owned by Broadway Stages, and negotiations are now underway to build the boathouse at that location instead of the Manhattan Avenue one. There are renderings, but due to ongoing negotiations, Thompson said the NBBC cannot share them at this time.

Several outlets have made allegations about unsavory spending and other agendas related to the slow-moving project; Thompson sought to refute them. First of all, none of that initial $3 million earmarked for the original boathouse has ever been received by the NBBC, nor will it ever be. That $3 million was for the City Parks Foundation to actually build the boathouse; meanwhile, a revised budget for the 51 Ash Street site has not yet been released.

When it comes to Queens Crap’s report that “one of the boathouse regulars got a $20,000 grant to paint a mural,” Thompson replied that he knows of no such mural. According to QC, the mural is supposedly part of another project that the boat club is working on in Maspeth, Queens. As for New York Shitty’s assertion that boathouse funds are being used for a “transient hotel,” Thompson said that landlord Broadway Stages is working on its own separate commercial plans for the site, but hasn’t announced what their function (or functions) will be.

A few of the several dozen in attendance said they felt out of the loop about the boathouse construction’s progress. The NBBC and the City Parks Foundation, who already have regular newsletters, said they would consider sending out more updates on the boathouse project, even if those updates would be communicating that there is nothing new to communicate. Stay tuned.

See original piece by Evan Bindelglass for Curbed

—Evan Bindelglass is a local freelance journalist, photographer, cinephile, and foodie. You can e-mail him, follow him on Twitter @evabin, or check out his personal blog.

This entry was posted in News, Press on May 1, 2014 by admin.

What is Really Going on with the North Brooklyn Boathouse?

So a lot is going on with the Newtown Creek Environmental Benefit Project. Or nothing is going on with it. It really depends on who you ask.

Wednesday night (4/23), a progress meeting on the project was held in Long Island City. Michelle Moore from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) kicked things off, and almost immediately voices were raised questioning funding and lack of progress. Even Joseph Lentol, the New York State Assemblyman that represents Greenpoint, expressed his disappointment at the lack of progress with the project so far.

Stating that the funding awarded should be dealt out to “heal the wounds” of the neighborhood, he accused the DEC of “sitting on money.” A total of $10 million was awarded for the Newtown Creek Environmental Benefit project with $7 million going to the City Parks Foundation and $3 million awarded to the Hudson River Fund. After Lentol left to attend to other matters in Williamsburg, both departments made their cases.

A representative from the Hudson River Foundation addressed the crowd first, explaining the grant cycles and process,“We have to do it right and we only get one chance to do it. We want to get the money out quickly, but we also want it to be right.”

Lisa Garrison, Program Director at the foundation explained that the grant process began in 2011. One of their main goals was to educate the public about the creek and get people involved. They gave a number of small grants to different organizations that got people out on the water in Queens and Brooklyn. Teaming up with the Newtown Creek Alliance, Newtown Creek Armada, GWAPP, and others, they organized water taxi rides, horticultural classes with students at PS 31, the training of 300 “citizen pruners” to maintain new trees, art installations to encourage people to visit the nature walk, and more.

City Parks explained that their responsibility isn’t to select projects, but to implement them after they’ve been selected. Alison Tocci, the president of CPF, updated the crowd on the progress. She explained that 88 percent of the funds awarded are currently unspent. So far, CPF has put money towards the construction of the boathouse, wetland frames, the Dutch Kills park basin, and administrative fees.

That’s when the crowd chimed in. People had a lot of questions on how money is being spent in regards to the boathouse, and why the public wasn’t being updated on the progress. Basically, the original site of the boathouse, the Greenpoint Manufacturing and Design Center (GMDC) was eventually deemed unsuitable for the project. This was after lots of back and forth about the lease, all of which was done without notifying the public. The NBBC was advised not to tell the public about lease dealings, although the Boat Club’s almost 250 members were occasionally given updates. Since the $3 million was only allotted to the building of the boathouse, none of it has been spent. The new site is actually projected to bring the project under budget, which will allow the CPF to give that money to other projects.

It was decided the GMDC was an unsuitable location for a number of reasons, chief among them that they didn’t want to hold any kind of educational programs there (which was one of the main goals of the boathouse project from the start). Since choosing a location needs to fit the criteria of education, proximity to the creek, and boating programs, the lease fell through. The new location at Broadway Stages fits all the criteria originally outlined in the project scope, but that lease is also not finalized.

Now, should the public have been informed of all this? That remains up for debate and at the end of the meeting, the issue of who would be informing the public of what and when leases would be finalized remained up in the air. The CPF seemed open to the task of sending newsletter updates to people interested in the specific projects, but they remained adamant that keeping the public informed about leasing agreements, or the lack thereof in this case, isn’t the way to do business and frankly, isn’t always interesting.

So while it seems the meeting cleared up a lot of confusion about the dealings of the boathouse, I came away wondering if all the money – the small amount that has actually been allotted, anyway – was really being put to the best use. While all of the staff, volunteers, and members of these organizations are clearly very passionate about the future of Newtown Creek, having multiple small organizations with the similar missions of “promoting access and education to the creek” seems like a redundancy. On the other hand, as one audience member stated in regards to the boathouse, “membership has been growing even through all of these lease failures.” The residents of Queens and Brooklyn are clearly passionate about Newtown Creek and having safe, healthy access to it. Hopefully everyone can agree on the best way to do that soon (and we’ll keep you posted on progress).

See original piece on North Brooklyn Boathouse by Susan Torres from Greenpointers

This entry was posted in Press on May 1, 2014 by admin.

Brooklyn Boat Builders Bash!

The Brooklyn Boat Builders Bash on May 10th (noon-6pm)!  A celebration of local boat building, community boathouses, and our borough’s proud nautical heritage.

Building 92 at Brooklyn Navy Yard in conjunction with the Village Community Boathouse has put together an amazing day for everyone who loves boats, water, or wood.

Come for a day of family fun and learning through: tours, demos, boat displays, workshops and more. Explore exhibits (free admission!) and learn about the rich history of America’s premier naval shipyard.

North Brooklyn Boat Club will be demonstrating restoration techniques being used on a 1930 Old Town Guide Special wood-canvas canoe: stripping, steam bending, Sanding, Clinching. ALSO – Paddle Carving demonstrations and hands-on participation. Knot Tying, and Camp Cooking.  FREE | ALL DAY

Other presenters at the Brooklyn Boat Builders Bash will include:

Village Community Boathouse. Join students from Benjamin Banneker Academy to paint and sand their newly-made Whitehall rowboat. This boat will call Prospect Park Lake home this summer, where families can take free boat rides. See their craftsmanship and learn more about the historical significance of this vessel. FREE | ALL DAY

Newtown Creek Armada. Learn more about the past, present and future of Newtown Creek at this interactive portal station and remote-controlled boat display. FREE | ALL DAY

Turnstile Tours. Visit the country’s oldest continuously operating Dry Dock! This brief adventure into the Yard includes a hands-on demonstration of how a dry dock works—fun and informative for the whole family.  RESERVE YOUR SPOT | 12pm & 12:30pm

Brooklyn Boat Works. Come see their Optimist Pram sailboat built by middle school students. Make paper-scale models of the boat to take home! FREE | 12:30 – 2:30

Construction Kids. Get hands-on with small-craft boats. FREE | 2:30 – 4:30

Mare Liberium, Paper boats & SeaChange 2014 – a collaboration w/ 350.org. FREE | ALL DAY

AND MORE!

Enjoy lunch at our on-site café, Ted & Honey, all day: Kids receive a FREE cookie when they share a boat-related fact when they order AND Happy Hour all day! T&H mixologists will be mixing up $4 specialty cocktails featuring Perry’s Tot—Navy Strength Gin

GET DIRECTIONS TO BLDG 92 HERE.

This entry was posted in Uncategorized on April 23, 2014 by admin.

Next City: Surfers, Sailors & Other Waterborne Urbanites on Sandy’s Legacy

Hurricane Sandy took her for a little spin

For millions of New Yorkers, the evening of October 29, 2012, was their first real, transformative encounter with the city’s vast waterfront. Certainly, before the night Hurricane Sandy’s storm surge overwhelmed river banks and dunes and protective systems, almost everyone who lives in or visits New York had crossed a bridge or been to the beach or enjoyed a peaceful moment where water and the built environment meet. But it wasn’t until October 29 that the city’s 520 miles of coastline were truly laid bare for all to see, and for hundreds of thousands to suffer.

For some New Yorkers, however, that night was a long time coming. The kayakers, surfers, fishermen and sailors that spend their days on the water surrounding the city are well aware of its awesome power. Now, a year and a half into recovery, this group of aquatic urbanites has some very particular thoughts on what happened and what should be done next.

Jens Rasmussen, a founding member of the North Brooklyn Boat Club, is an actor by trade and an adventurer and environmental advocate when time permits. He’s been leading kayak and canoe trips on the East River and Newtown Creek since 2010. “When Sandy hit,” he says, “the club could have lost everything. We keep our equipment in shipping containers at the water’s edge, and if a member hadn’t chained the container nearest to the water to an anchor onshore, that container and all the ones behind it would have floated away in the storm surge.” “A boat we’re restoring did float away,” he continues. “The next day a team paddled out from our base in Greenpoint [in Brooklyn] to search for it and found it on some riprap in the Bronx.”

Rasmussen and the North Brooklyn Boat Club believe that wetland restoration, an idea being explored by the city, is one of the most sensible and effective strategies for protecting New York moving forward. “We know wetlands restoration is superior at storm-surge attenuation. It can absorb and dissipate very large amounts of water,” he says. “We also think it’s a good quality of life and natural beauty feature that can be added to abandoned parts of our waterfront.” Land behind the existing pockets of wetlands, he says, faired far better than the land behind bulkheads and unprotected banks.

Cody Daniels, a 42-year-old surfer who travels to Rockaway Beach in Queens whenever the waves look good, says the surf community was devastated by Sandy. “Over the years, I’ve seen big storms and huge erosion,” he says, “but Sandy just crushed Rockaway. It was third world for months afterwards.” Surfers didn’t go back in the water for a long time. “We didn’t know what kind of chemicals or waste or chunks of trash or spears of rebar might be out there. And you don’t really want to surf when all these families are trying to piece their lives back together. There were a lot of cleanup efforts and some guys volunteered to help rebuild and provide aid.” “I think a lot of people see the Rockaways as more vulnerable now,” he continues. “I know some homeowners want a seawall, but some others think that the waves and the ocean and what’s happening are part of what living on the beach is about. I tend to agree with them, you know, like, you have to accept that risk.”

Lech Zawadzki, an electrician who fishes in the East River says he wasn’t surprised by the storm, but the city’s response bothered him. “Rivers flood sometimes.” he says. “The mayor and the officials should know this and know how to get power back on and fix things quickly.” His own apartment didn’t have power for two weeks. “If it wasn’t for friends, my family would have been homeless. We did not know what to do and no one told us.” The gasoline shortages were a problem too. “I spent days in line for gas when I should have been working to get power back in people’s houses,” he says. “Next time, the city needs to focus on getting the basics back quickly and telling people what to expect.”

Despite their different experiences and outlook, each of these men familiar with the rivers and oceans around New York said something about how Sandy reminded city dwellers that they’re all water people. This, they all agreed, was a good thing. “Awareness and stewardship are inextricably linked,” says Rasmussen. “It’s a central belief of the Boat Club that recreating on blue open spaces in the city, by paddling, we, New Yorkers, all people, learn to value the water and to see how our choices and policies effect the health of the water and the city.”

Next City: Surfers, Sailors and Other Waterborne Urbanites on Sandy’s Legacy, by Graham T. Beck

This entry was posted in Press and tagged Hurricane Sandy, Peapod, Press, stewardship, Wetlands Restoration on April 23, 2014 by admin.

Newtown Creek Dredging

If you’ve been by the Creek in recent days, you may have noticed some extra activity.

photo courtesy of Newtown Creek Alliance

Newtown Creek is being dredged to make way for the sludge barge which will service the Newtown Creek Wastewater Treatment facility from its new dock on Whale Creek.

The DEP is taking safety concerns seriously and asks that any noise or odor complaints be reported to 311.

See their press release, for more information.

While the Newtown Creek dredging will impact Boathouse programming, due to safety issues created by heavy ship traffic during this operation, we support this important work. First, we recognize Newtown Creek as the birthplace of the industrial revolution in North America, and are thrilled that it continues to be a working water-way that supports local jobs and industry. Second, as an organization with an environmental mission, we recognize shipping is the most carbon-efficient form of transportation. Improvements to shipping infrastructure supports more shipping. More shipping mean less trucking. Less trucking means less CO2 in our atmosphere. Less CO2 means less warming. Less warming means less sea level rise.

In aqua sanita!

This entry was posted in Uncategorized on April 12, 2014 by Jens.

Greenpoint Community Environmental Funds Awarded to NBBC!

We are thrilled to be included in the first round of GCEF funding!  

The NBBC steering committee spent many, many months, carefully developing various proposals. Each was picked, prodded, and weighed against the others, until they were narrowed down to just three, in two areas: Greenstreets and Community Greening & Environmental Education and Stewardship.

The GCEF received 46 “small grant” proposals. These proposals were reviewed by the State, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and the North Brooklyn Development Corporation (who are administers of the fund). You can learn more about the whole process here. We are honored that all three of our projects for this round were selected for funding.

So, without further ado, here is some of what you can look forward to, from the North Brooklyn Boat Club, thanks to NY State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and the  Greenpoint Community Environmental Fund :

1. North Brooklyn Boat Club will receive $24,660 to fund a “Don’t Put Your Butt in the Creek” campaign. The campaign will focus on raising awareness of, and putting an end to, the problem of inappropriately disposed-of cigarette butts fouling Newtown Creek. The campaign will couple the placement of cigarette disposal containers labeled with “Don’t put your butt in the Creek” outside Greenpoint bars and restaurants with community education and publicity about the problem of cigarette butts in the creek.

2. North Brooklyn Boat Club will receive $24,693 (and contribute $25,000 in matching funds) to expand their waterways environmental education program. Last summer, the club organized and led bi-weekly public paddle trips for over 400 non-members as well as leading multiple weekly trips for its 250 members. Funding would add two 12-14 person canoes to its current fleet of 25 small boats. These larger, more stable boats would allow the club’s education program to serve Greenpointers of all ages and boating skills. The funds will also be used to develop an environmental curriculum tailored to the local water ways, including environmental history and landmarks. The results will be a significantly larger community of informed and inspired environmental stewards in Greenpoint.

3. North Brooklyn Boat Club will receive $24,426 (and contribute $3,600 in matching funds) to support ongoing educational programming at the ED Shed. The ED Shed, established in conjunction with LaGuardia Community College, is a hands-on environmental educational and research center with ongoing programs that connect Greenpoint residents to their surrounding waterways. The grant will be used to develop and expand community workshops on marine sciences and aquatic conditions in Newtown Creek and the East River, including water testing, wildlife monitoring, plankton sampling, as well as to create an instructional aquarium that houses local fauna.

These proposals could not have been conceived, or completed without the vision, passion, and dedication of our growing membership and volunteers. If these projects excite you, or spark ideas you’d like to share – we look forward to seeing you at the boatyard.

In aqua sanitas!

This entry was posted in Uncategorized on March 6, 2014 by Jens.

What’s Happening with the Greenpoint Boathouse?

Curious about the status of the Greenpoint Boathouse & Environmental Education Center?

We are pleased to give an update on recent developments!

First, a little background:

1. GWAPP proposed the construction of a boathouse and environmental center on Newtown Creek as an applicant for funds from the Newtown Creek Environmental Benefit Projects (EBP) and, through an extensive community process, was selected as the top priority project.

2. Two years ago, while negotiations were under way with the Greenpoint Manufacturing and Design Center (the originally proposed boathouse home) the North Brooklyn Boat Club (an all-volunteer, non-profit community group dedicated to safe and responsible human-powered boating for the public) was given free access to a strip of land, owned by Broadway Stages, on Ash Street near the Pulaski Bridge. The club’s goal with this generous donation was to develop programming and membership so that when the time came to occupy the boathouse, the club could hit the ground running. This has been hugely successful – with funding from the Hudson River Foundation the club acquired boats and safety gear and began offering public paddles from the site. We now have a strong and well trained group of trip leaders, a vibrant membership, collaborations with a number of scientist and environmental projects, and we throw pretty decent parties, if we do say so ourselves. You can view a short video about this beginning here.

3. Unfortunately, after almost three years, we were unable to come to agreeable terms with the GMDC and began looking for other suitable locations. A number sites and proposals were brought forward and after careful consideration, it was deemed that building on the current location, next to the Pulaski bridge, would be the most desirable, feasible, and sustainable. 

What comes next?

Broadway Stages Boatyard seen from Pulaski Bridge

We hope to finalize the agreement with Broadway Stages and start construction of the first recreational boathouse for Greenpoint and Williamsburg.

The entire process will continue to be administered and supervised by the City Parks Foundation which requires that any and all EBP funds only be applied to the Boathouse and Environmental Education Center elements of the facility – which will include: boat and safety equipment storage, environmental education center with facilities for students and scientists studying the ecology and history of the waterways, boatbuilding, and nautical crafts workshop, and other community spaces.

In Aqua Sanita!

This entry was posted in Uncategorized on February 1, 2014 by admin.

NBBC Open House & Season Kickoff Celebration

Live Music by: A Maiden Voyage

Everyone’s invited Sunday, May 18th to celebrate the beginning of another great season with the North Brooklyn Boat Club at our Open House & 2014 Season Kickoff Celebration!  We’ll have brunch, live music, a camping cook-off competition, public paddling, nautical crafts, Ed-Shed activities, garden plot sign-up and compost program info!! A great opportunity to renew your membership for 2014 and get active with NBBC! 

Brunch with the Barges!

Boatyard Brunch!  11am – 1pm  Cost: $5
Your choice of Egg-in-a-Hole with bacon or steel-cut oats fancy style with fruit and nuts
We’ll also have coffee, mimosas* and doughnuts! Once brunch ends we will be grilling hot dogs and selling beer*!

Camp Cook-Off!

The Great Camp Cook-off!  1pm – 2pm  If you’ve got that competitive spirit – bring your best, most delicious camping recipes to the Great Camp Cook-Off!

Rules: 
-Pack your ingredients and camp stove as you would for a camping trip.
-Set up and prepare your dish.
-Our judges will taste for all around deliciousness, originality, and ease of preparation.
-Win prizes!
-Share your love of camping and camp cooking with others.
Space is limited so don’t delay!
To sign-up for the camp cook-off competition contact, Lisa Nett, lmnett@gmail.com

Ongoing Throughout the Day: 

Nautical Crafts!

-Public Paddling in canoes to the mouth of Newtown Creek
-Nautical Crafts Demos and Activities
-Environmental Ed-Shed Activities
-Garden Plot Sign-Up
-Compost program info
-Membership sign-up and swag for sale

* No consumption of alcohol before participating in the public paddle.

This entry was posted in Uncategorized on May 11, 2014 by admin.

New York Times: Come On In, Paddlers…

Some people questioned the wisdom of establishing a boat club at a Superfund site. But such is the lure of water, even when sludge seems like a more fitting descriptor, that the North Brooklyn Boat Club emerged out of one of New York’s most-polluted estuaries, Newtown Creek.

Its docks sit just downstream from a sewage treatment plant and a recycling center. Its clubhouse is flanked by salvage yards and warehouses, not far from an area so contaminated by decades of oil spills that the soil resembles black mayonnaise. And, flashing a winking self-awareness, its logo features a rowboat in a stream gushing out of a sewer spout while a tin can and a dead rat drift alongside.

“There’s only so many times you can see a beautiful sunset or a nice little beach,” said Fung Lim, 52, a charter member who takes experienced and novice rowers out each week in a 28-foot skiff he helped build. “It’s more fun to poke around in a commercial waterway.”

Now in its second year, the boat club has more than 190 members paying the annual $40 membership fee, a testament that the best stretch of shoreline is your own. The resolute community of paddlers has embraced not just the opportunity for recreation but also a continuing crusade to clean up Newtown Creek, a commercial waterway that snakes between parts of Brooklyn and Queens.

“Once you realize you’re not going to die or get covered in toxic sludge,” Leif Percifield, 30, of Williamsburg, said after a row from Brooklyn to the Bronx, “it’s pretty relaxing.”

photo by Robert Stolarik

It was not long ago when New Yorkers kept a safe distance from the water, once so fouled by sewage and industrial waste that it was infamous for harboring cholera, typhoid and hepatitis. But in recent years, thanks to concerted rehabilitation efforts by environmental groups and government agencies, residents have taken to the waterways with a pent-up fervor.

They are paddle-boarding in the Hudson River, swimming in the Bronx River, canoeing in the Gowanus Canal. They are yanking up fish from Jamaica Bay, once declared a menace to public health, and having them for dinner. But perhaps the most unlikely site for recreation is Newtown Creek.

John Lipscomb, who has spent more than a decade conducting harbor surveys for Riverkeeper, an advocacy organization that has led the push to clean New York’s waterways, said tremendous progress had been made around New York City. Newtown Creek, Mr. Lipscomb said, is among the worst places left, especially the eastern parts, which do not have circulating waters from the East River to flush out pollutants.

When the North Brooklyn Boat Club first dipped its vessels in Newtown Creek last year, the members knew well the history of industrial waste and neglect that had lasted centuries.

Millions of gallons of petroleum — up to three times as much oil as the 11 million gallons spilled in the 1989 Alaskan disaster — has leaked underground in Greenpoint from refineries and storage sites over the decades. An unknown amount has seeped into the creek’s sediment and mixed with heavy metals, PCBs and other contaminants left behind by the factories that once lined the commercial port.

Even though new environmental standards have ended many of those dumping practices — and Exxon Mobil committed to a more thorough cleanup of its spills — all it takes is a heavy rain to overwhelm the wastewater collection and treatment system and send raw sewage and polluted storm water into the creek.

Every week Willis Elkins, a canoe instructor and flotsam expert, dips a bare hand into the murky edges of the creek for a water sampling program that tests for microbes of enterococcus, a bacteria found in human and animal waste.

“It’s important to be knowledgeable about the waters you’re paddling in,” he said.

Sometimes the water is too dirty. But when the water quality is fair, he takes out groups of paddlers to explore the tributaries, passing the silvery digester eggs atop the largest wastewater treatment plant in the city, to Maspeth Creek in Queens, where they might be surprised to see egrets and cormorants instead of two-headed fish.

Before he sets off, Mr. Elkins carefully reviews safety issues with an occasionally skittish audience. No one has fallen in on his watch, he said. But the club has an outdoor shower, a convenient accouterment for such situations.

Dewey Thompson remembers the days when he and other paddlers would climb through holes in fences and cross parking lots and trash-strewn shores to put boats in the water. That changed in 2011, when an eccentric landowner who appreciated the idea of renegade kayakers in need of a dock cleared the rusting cars and machines from his lot on Ash Street in Greenpoint and offered it for their use.

Volunteers pulled weeds and raked up shards of glass and metal debris from the long narrow lot that opens up under concrete abutments of the Pulaski Bridge. Today, the space is bedded with mulch and has 22 kayaks and 8 canoes, a neighborhood composting center and a woodworking shop. This fall, they will host classes on environmental issues with LaGuardia Community College in an educational space dubbed the “Ed Shed.” There is also a stage constructed on top of a shipping container for its “Rock the Pulaski” benefit concerts.

“This isn’t just a bunch of boat nerds doing knots,” Mr. Thompson said.

Plans are under way to relocate the club to a larger site on Newtown Creek, using a several-million-dollar grant from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation.

The new location is still being negotiated, but within the next two years the boat club plans to have a landing with storage for more than 100 boats, an environmental education center and a library dedicated to the history of the area. There are also discussions to include office space for Riverkeeper and the Newtown Creek Alliance, nonprofit organizations working in the area.

But for many club members, the core attraction remains the chance to leave the city’s street grid to engage with the water. “There are 600 miles of shoreline in New York City and not a lot of access points,” Mr. Elkins said.

So on a recent morning Mr. Lim, a Singapore native with long graying hair pulled into a ponytail, prepared the flat-bottom rowboat for a day out.

The plan was to head up the East River to the South Bronx, or as far as everyone’s arms could carry them.

The river was bustling. An oil tanker heading south hummed past an elegant sailboat. Grumbling ferries shuttled passengers between Manhattan and Brooklyn. Pleasure craft eyed the rowers with a mix of awe and pity.

“Row, row!” some shouted.

The crew passed the decaying timber docks and lush green overgrowth on North Brother Island, where herons and cormorants have replaced the typhoid victims who were once quarantined there. They anchored near Baretto Point Park, where teenage boys somersaulted into the salty water from a rusty bulkhead. The rowers wet their toes and ankles as a gull homing in on a catch plunged in beak first.

When the current turned in their favor, the boat made its long return.

Back on land, the group unloaded and scrubbed the boat, then retreated to the folding chairs and benches circling a crackling fire. As the sun disappeared behind the Manhattan skyline, the Chrysler Building and the Empire State Building twinkled in full view of the dock.

The boaters cooled their blisters on bottles of Brooklyn Lager and traded stories with another set of sunburned paddlers grilling hot dogs.

“I don’t think I’m going to be able to move my arms tomorrow,” one said.

A couple walking above on the Pulaski Bridge paused to make sense of the scene below. A bright blue tugboat chugged by, pushing a barge loaded with recycled plastics out to the East River.

An empty beer can, tossed from the window of a car crossing the bridge, tumbled into the black water below.

See original NY Times article by Emily Rueb with images by Robert Stolarik

This entry was posted in News, Press, Uncategorized, Voyages on May 4, 2014 by admin.