2023 Season In Review Newsletter
Land Ho!
Our Summer Season is starting to wind down. The cabin at Lake Sebago will close in mid-October. And when the water temperature at the Battery is 60 degrees or lower, regular paddling will be over.
But NBCB offers winter kayaking! Winter is a slower and quieter season, but those who are willing to brave the cold temperatures will be rewarded with an amazing experience. To join a trip, you need to be an Intermediate kayaker, attend our winter paddling workshop (date tbd), wear a dry suit (available to borrow from NBCB), and have paid a winter membership supplement. More details on our website.
This will be the final newsletter of the season, but we'll continue to send emails about summer and fall paddles, and off-season classes or events. As always, keep an eye on our social media accounts and the website for any news.
Meanwhile, read on for a selection of news and upcoming events.
News
Skills, skills, and more skills. There was lots of learning and sharpening of skills during August. We held a kayak trip assistant training, there was a series of canoe trips focused on skills and drills, and Javier taught a Greenland rolling class. We also had the final two events in our Safety & Marine Knowledge series: Nautical Rules of the Road and Trip Planning (thank you Monica, for an impactful series of events).
Public Paddles. There were two! We broke out the sit-on-top kayaks and held a Kayak Public Paddle. A week later, we followed it up with our regularly programmed Canoe Public Paddle using our trusty 29' Langley canoes. Thank you to Michael and everyone who volunteered over the season.
Art & Science Series. The NBCB Art & Science Series run by Monica and Mary continued, featuring watercolors and jellyfish. We really appreciate them bringing this extra dimension to our programming.
Super moon, super paddle. The canoe trip to Mill Basin to observe and celebrate the Super Moon was one of our most popular trips of the season.
Opera on the creek. The on-water opera, Newtown Odyssey, was a huge success and a beautiful experience, especially viewed from canoes. Rain forced the performance indoors on the second night, but the venue was packed none-the-less. Big thank you to our volunteers who managed all the boat logistics, and artist Marie Lorenz for including NBCB in the project.
Boathouse Construction. Construction continues on our new boathouse, but we expect it will be 2025 before we move in. We intend to continue launching our Public Paddles, canoe and kayak trips, from our container at Manhattan Avenue Street End Park (next to 1205 Manhattan Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11222), and are actively pursuing additional, alternate locations. We'll keep you updated.
Updates from NBCB Committees
NBCB is a volunteer-run non-profit with a Board of Directors. But our committees are the engines that keep the boathouse running. If you'd like to contact or join a committee, follow the links on the NBCB website footer. We're especially looking for help with community outreach.
Canoe Committee. The Canoe Committee convenes at the beginning of each season to discuss our goals, review safety protocols, and establish objectives for canoe programming and public paddles. Composed of canoe trip leaders and assistants, this season the canoe committee successfully organized 25 (and counting) canoe trips, supported a series of free public paddles for the North Brooklyn community, and conducted a series on canoe skills.
In the upcoming season, we aim to continue to cultivate greater engagement within our paddling community and establish a clear pathway for our paddlers to transition into assistant roles and eventually become trip leaders.
We believe that training stronger paddlers translates into a more engaged community, an increased number of future trip leaders—with the additional programming that provides—along with more enjoyment and advocacy for the protection and public access to the waterways of NY Harbor.
We are always open to additional engagement, participation, and ideas, so please don't hesitate to reach out to us!
Kayak Committee. The Kayak Committee includes our kayak trip leaders and official paddlers. They meet at the start of the season to discuss and vote on kayaking rules, procedures, and programming.
This year was our first season officially back in business since Covid and losing street access to our kayak container at Ash Street. With a goal to get more new paddlers onto the water, our trip leaders and assistants worked tirelessly to deliver 25 beginner trips, introducing more than 150 new paddlers to our waterways. And the season isn’t over!
In 2024, we hope to expand our pool of trip leaders, trip assistants, and deckhands. Email us if you are interested, we will provide training. Or let us know if you'd like to help our admin team. We're looking for an individual(s) to help organize kayak events and training.
Communications Committee. The Communications Committee keeps you up to date on NBCB news and events. This season we launched a new website, new emails, beefed up our social media, and delivered this new monthly newsletter.
We hope to grow our team in 2024 and expand our coverage to give you more committee updates. If you'd like to take photos for us, do graphic design, SEO, contribute to our website and or social media accounts, or help write our newsletter let us know.
Finance & Development Committee. This committee focuses on advancing the organization's financial goals, researching new revenue streams, fundraising, membership structure, and cost analysis.
This season we've worked on redrawing our budgets and short-term revenue generating activities to better adapt to the "exile" operating conditions. We've achieved that by cutting some unnecessary costs and bolstering our membership by partnering with the other committees such as communications, cabin, kayak, and canoes. We've also started working on new branding material (swag coming soon!), planned the season opening party, and started drawing a medium and long-term fundraising strategy to prepare the organization for the opening of the new building and the higher operating costs that will result.
As a very successful 2023 season wraps up, we're very excited about continuing this work in preparation for 2024. If you have a passion for fundraising and financial planning or just want to help, please email finance-committee@nbcboathouse.org.
Cabin Committee. The Cabin Committee is responsible for maintaining our Lake Sebago cabin, managing bookings for members, ensuring we comply with ACA club requirements (including volunteer work, running events, and supporting camp committees) and coordinating with NBCB canoe and kayak trip-leaders to run on-water events and training for our members. The committee is less a committee and more a coordination of cabin volunteers and members who stayed at Sebago during the last few seasons. Anyone who is interested can send us an email.
We are having a strong 2023 season. Our revenue from accommodation is up three-fold, and in August we reached our required 30 hours of volunteering two months earlier than usual!
We ran a successful L2 kayak training course for members in July (thanks Javier), and are running a L2 canoe skills this weekend (thanks Amy, Thiago & Alan). We also held a successful canoe trip that was open to all ACA members in late August. Our goal for next season is to increase programming and offer monthly on-water events and training. We also have ideas to build outdoor furniture and will continue to make the cabin a cozy base for our members and the community.
A big shout out to everyone who helped make this happen, especially the many new visitors to the cabin who contributed valuable volunteer hours and to the successful operation of the wider boating community at Sebago.
Upcoming Events:
Saturday September 30th will be our last Free Public Paddle of 2023!
You know the drill. And if you don't, it's your last chance to find out!
Come out between 12-3:30pm (last trip runs until 4pm), and take a 20 to 30 minute free canoe ride in our huge, 29' Langley canoe. No equipment or experience necessary.
Launching from MASE Park, we're serving canoe tours with views of Manhattan, free snacks, and a chance to meet other members of the community eager to gather on the shores of Newtown Creek.
We are also looking for volunteers! If you’re interested please see our calendar for details.
Public Paddles are the heart of NBCB, a chance to promote safe, human-powered boating, and sustainability of our public waters. It's our way to show the community the waterways belong to all of us.
Bushwick Inlet Oyster Monitoring
Part of NBCB’s mission is educating residents on the ecology of the waterways in Greenpoint and Williamsburg, Brooklyn.
On Oct 7th, at 10am, NBCB is collaborating with Friends of Bushwick Inlet Park, and Billion Oyster Project, in their next oyster survey at Bushwick Inlet.
The event involves canoeing down to the inlet and helping volunteers measure and weigh oysters to track their growth.
This event is confirmed, but registration is still TBD. We're waiting to find out how many NBCB members/volunteers are needed. Please keep an eye on the calendar listing closer to the date.
