Custom Chart: Morris Canal

Here’s the latest intel on Morris Canal: A few months ago, Matt and I decided to create a custom map of the entrance to Liberty Landing Marina. Using the ‘Record Sonar’ Function on the Simrad Chart Plotter, we spent about 45 minutes running a north-south grid at clutch speed, followed by a few east-west passes for additional data points. The water level was three feet down from high tide.

After uploading the collected data, a contour map of the surveyed area was generated. Using Photoshop, I overlaid some additional satellite imagery plus elements from a NOAA raster chart to build the final image:

Looking at the composite, the edge of the channel is now clearly indicated by a 10-foot depth contour line, and a 20-foot deep hole is visible just north of C-dock — most likely created by the prop wash from the Little Lady when she docks at Warren Street.

Check back for part two of this project, as we plan to survey D-dock to the West End, merging all data for one complete chart.

MAYDAY: Tug boat sinks off Atlantic Beach, NY

Thick fog engulfed the Verrazano Bridge as we left New York Harbor heading east for a job off Atlantic Beach. Running solely by instruments, we navigated to East Rockaway inlet in about an hour, when a Mayday broadcast came across the VHF radio at 16:20:

“MAYDAY. This is the ‘Sea Lion’. We’re sinking. Men in the Water.
Water in the wheelhouse. This is our last transmission. We’re going down.”

The broadcast was promptly followed by the US Coast Guard relaying the Mayday and a position of N43.32.xxx, W073.46.177.

I wrote down the numbers and plotted the coordinates. Surprisingly the location showed close to Lake Champlain in upstate New York, about 180 miles to the north, making it unlikely that I was able to hear the actual radio transmission from the ‘Sea Lion’ so clearly. I deemed the given coordinates as improbable and started working the on-board navigation system pulling up a list of close-by ships. Most commercial vessels are outfitted with an AIS transceiver as part of an automated tracking and collision-avoidance system, and chances were that she was still transmitting.

There she was! SEA LION — right on top of that list with a position only about two nautical miles to the south. Putting down the throttle, we made it to the scene in just a few minutes, running 30+ knots in 6-foot seas and less than 200 feet visibility.

The Sandy Hook Pilots also responded, dispatching one of their smaller vessels that was stationed at the entrance to Ambrose Channel. [Read our New Jersey Monthlystory on the Sandy Hook Pilots here].

The Pilot boat was able to pick three crewmembers out of the water, before being prop-fouled by a rope and unable to reach the sinking tug.
There were all sorts of lines, plastic, oil, wood, and other detritus floating everywhere around us.

We spotted a fourth crewmember clinging to the bow of the sinking vessel. He appeared injured and probably had less than a minute before the boat completely went under. I maneuvered closer from the upwind side and nosed my boat against the hull of the tug. Only about three feet of the ships bow were still showing above the waterline.

He attempted to leap towards us just as the last pockets of air escaped from the tug, erupting like a whale’s blowhole as she sank to the bottom in a boil. We were able to quickly pull him out of the cold water. The Coast Guard and NYPD had vessels en route to the scene, so we transferred the victim to the Pilot boat where the injuries could be better assessed and he be kept warm until medics arrived. Unfortunately the helicopters were unavailable to air-lift the victims because of the dense fog.

When we docked at the Atlantic Beach Fire Rescue station, TV crews had set-up Satellite Trucks, and cameras were rolling. You can watch and read some of our interviews here: ABC News, NBC News, CBS News, Newsday, Daily News, News 12,WROC-TV, Professional Mariner, Working Harbor, SC&I, Soundings Magazine and Fox News. Special thanks to Asst. Chief Scott Lipschitz and his team for the hospitality on shore.

I was really glad that everyone was safe and accounted for — unlike the New Years Eve emergency we responded to, where a car plunged into Morris Canal and sadly the driver was unable to escape.

The Marine Society of the City of New York later presented us with the ‘Lifesaving Award‘, and the U.S. Coast Guard with a commendation.

And this was the sonar signature of the ‘Sea Lion’ resting at the bottom of the sea in about 50 feet of water:

Polar Vortex: An Icy New York Harbor

After four consecutive days of temperatures topping out in the low 20’s (-6C), ice started forming quickly in many areas of New York Harbor.
The outgoing tides swept ice floes downriver, making navigating the Hudson and East River a bit of a challenge:

NYE: Car Plunges into Canal

Our New Year’s Eve was one of extremes.

At midnight, we rang in 2014 watching the Statue of Liberty fireworks from the bridge of the 210-foot yacht, Hornblower Infinity (we’d been asked to assist with docking).

A few hours later, we were cutting across the Hudson in our RHIB returning to Liberty Landing when we heard the Coast Guard call: vehicle submerged in the Morris Canal. Our marina.

Bjoern put down the throttle. My mind raced: What could we do if we’re first on scene? Would we be able to break a window? Jump in and pull someone out?

What if we saw a face and hands banging at the glass as the car filled up and went under?

Since Bjoern’s a trained emergency responder I knew he’d figure out the logistics. But when we arrived on scene about three minutes later, there was no car — not even bubbles. Yet there were plenty of eyewitnesses and Jersey City police officers standing on a nearby dock, pointing to a spot on the water where they saw the car go down.

An eyewitness said she thought she saw three people sinking in the maroon Altima.

We searched the surface with flashlights for any signs of disturbance, and to allow potential escapees to know which way was up. We did that for about five minutes before the Jersey City Fire Boat arrived from the other end of the marina. They seemed to have no divers on board and started feeling around for the submerged car with boat hooks.

Bjoern thought that was inadequate and put out a call on the radio for anyone with divers in the area to get to Morris Canal. We were relieved to see the NYPD Harbor Unit and Scuba Team arrive moments later.

Since our RHIB enabled the quickest access to the site, two divers jumped aboard and we ferried them to the spot.

The air temperature was 24 degrees Fahrenheit, the water about 49 degrees, but this elite team of responders jumped right in. You could hear the shivering in their voices over the diver-to-surface radio. They “mowed the lawn” searching for the car, keeping a strategic back-and-forth pattern in less than an arm’s length of visibility.

With no luck on the first round of passes and running low on air, two relief divers were sent in. They held the same pattern and finally located the car, which had drifted with the current about thirty feet away from where it plunged into the canal.

One diver surfaced with a jacket. The other came up with a victim, and swam him to the dock. Even though it had been more than an hour, the NYPD was optimistically treating it as a search and rescue operation. Several factors were in the victim’s favor: he was young, the water was cold. People had been revived in less forgiving circumstances.

As EMS attended to the victim, two more divers splashed. The eyewitnesses said there were three people in the car; only one was accounted for. They scoured every inch for the others, but found no one.

To be certain, the officers interviewed the eyewitnesses on the dock once more, who now said it was possible only one person was involved in the accident after all.

NYPD decided the raising of the vehicle should be conducted in daylight, when the Army Corps of Engineers could get to the scene. They thanked us for use of our boat, and we thanked them for their impressive service.

We got back to our slip at about 6:15 am, and drove home as the sun was rising. News reports told us that our victim didn’t make it. He was only 22.

I’m still processing the contrasts of that night: how it’s possible, in one moment, to feel that you’re exactly where you’re meant to be – and then in just a few short hours, you’re reminded that sometimes you will be just minutes too late.

On Assignment with the Sandy Hook Pilots

Over the summer, we spent a day at sea with the Sandy Hook Pilots on assignment for New Jersey Monthly. We watched them scale the Jacob’s ladders of giant oil tankers and container ships to steer these behemoths safely into port.

We’d ride with the launch back and forth between ships, picking up pilots and dropping them off. It was a gorgeous day, and could easily make you think the pilot’s life is for you. But change the setting to a freezing winter day with seas kicked up ahead of a nor’easter, and you start having second thoughts. The transfer from the launch to the ladder of a 1,000-foot container ship turns from a fun leap into one of life-or-death: it has to be timed precisely, lest you fall in the drink or get squeezed between two vessels.

That’s why Pilot personalities are the perfect blend of adventurous and competent. These guys have the responsibility of ensuring that billions of dollars’ worth of global trade arrives to final destinations in the ports of New York and New Jersey.

Check out the full Sandy Hook Pilots article and photo essay in the December issue ofNew Jersey Monthly — now on newsstands — or read it here at this link.

Annie

NYPD cars, news trucks, and choppers converged on Liberty State Park this week to track down an escapee. But this was no ordinary escaped convict. This was an escaped orphan.

Yes, a very famous orphan: Annie.

Will Smith and Jay-Z (who clearly has a fondness for the movie’s score) are producinga modern-day version of the famous musical.

It’s not clear what scene they’re filming in the park, but actors Dorian Missick andTracie Thoms appear to be driving little orphan Quvenzhane Wallis somewhere. Check out the rig set up on the roof of the old station wagon. It allows someone to drive the vehicle while lighting and camera gear, mounted to the hood and windshield, capture the action.

The crew had two choppers — A Bell 429 to actually appear in the movie, and an AStar 350 operated by Wings Air Helicopters. The latter was outfitted with aPictorvision gyro-stabilized camera system to shoot everything happening on the ground.

Maybe we’ll see some of our boats in the background when the movie comes out next year — on Christmas Day 2014.

“Action!” on the East River

As part of a UK film production, the crew of New York Media Boat spent all night working both boats on the East River. “ROLL SOUND, ROLL PICTURE” .. “ROLLING” .. “ACTION!”

While Aperture served as a camera platform hosting Cinematographer Till Neumann and team,  Searider is the on-screen boat. In the picture below, Till films the action from the bow, with a RED camera. In this scene, the two actors had just stolen the boat and are joyriding in front of the Manhattan skyline.

The goal of the evening was to shoot three scenes for the trailer of  An Evening with Donald Kempinski, written and directed by Timothy Murray of Little Fella Films. It’s a Staten Island Ferry captain’s tale of acceptance and reconciliation. “CUT! TAKE IT FROM THE TOP” calls Tim over the radio and we reposition the boats for Scene 13, Take 2.

Power Players on the Hudson

Lots happening on the Hudson during this incredible extended summer — including stunning, contrasting examples of power.

On a recent photo excursion, we spotted the tail section of a submarine, possibly on its way to the NAVY shipyard in Groton, Connecticut. Will it be a ballistic missile sub, or an attack sub? Check out this piece from Undersea Warfare on how they put one of these together.

A little less intimidating — but no less exciting — was a visit from the BayCycle Project. Founder Judah Schiller straps two pontoons to his bike, which powers a propeller and pushes him across the water. In late September, he became the first person to bike across the San Francisco Bay, and last week, the first to pedal across the Hudson — without the help of a bridge, of course.

Nearly all U.S. submarines are nuclear powered. Schiller runs on elbow (knee?) grease. Quite the contrast of high-tech versus low-tech power.

Henrik Lundqvist: King and Captain

A few years back, New York Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqvist starred in an episode of MSG’s The Game 365, giving host Fran Healy a tour of his native Sweden. Much of the second half of the interview was filmed on a yacht, cruising the waters outside of Gothenburg. Lundqvist said he didn’t own a boat there, but like any good Scandinavian, he had a deep love for the fjords and had accumulated plenty of sea time on friends’ vessels.

So, then, what better follow-up than some seafaring on the Hudson River? On Tuesday, Healy and Lundqvist boarded the 43-foot Beneteau Gemini at 79th Street Boat Basin to continue their conversation for another episode of the show. New York Media Boat hosted two MSG cameramen charged with getting wide shots of Healy and Lundqvist soaking up the sun and salt. (Since our RIB Aperture wasn’t available that day, we owe many thanks to Halcyon Sailing for loaning out Protector.)

One of the best-dressed and most seen athletes in New York, Lundqvist fit right in on a luxury yacht. His white button-down (top button unbuttoned, of course) tucked into his dark denim jeans with the help of a massive belt buckle emblazoned with the letter H. A dive watch and his classic stubbled face made it even easier to blend in as a sailor.

The shoot took about two hours, but few of the details from the interview made their way across the water.When the boats finally docked, everyone had a few minutes of downtime and conversations started.

The Swede was surprised to hear another Scandinavian name when he was introduced to Bjoern. He said he knew Flensburg, the northern German town on a fjord of the Baltic Sea where Bjoern grew up. The conversation was quick but we managed to snap a photo before Lundqvist was ushered off to the next event.

The episode is set to air at the beginning of the regular season in October.

Around Long Island Regatta

NEW YORK, July 25th — New York Media Boat is at the start of the 2013 Around Long Island Regatta. Strong wind and rough seas make for exiting conditions as 74 boats sail across the line passing the committee boat just north of Ambrose Light.

The non-spinaker boats start first, followed by the ones with kites, then the double handed group, multihulls, and finally the IRC fleet — all heading east on this first offshore leg towards Montauk Point.

You can follow some of the boats via the Kattack tracking system and check out a selection of photos on our ALIR page. Full-resolution images are available for purchase, inquire with sail number.

Aground off Weehawken

We were talking logistics with the Solar Impulseteam at Surf City late Friday night when Bjoern received a Facebook message from friends at Liberty Landing Marina: “Ran aground. Can you tow a sailboat?”

We apologized to Jean and his cameraman and wished them luck with their 24-hour job ahead. (Solar Impulse took off from Washington D.C. at 5 am to complete the final leg of its record-breaking, solar-powered flight across the U.S.. which began in May in San Francisco. They were allowed a 2 am time slot to land at JFK airport – some 21 hours later. You can catch their NYC flyby between 9:30 and 11 pm tonight, and the entire voyage is being webcast live on the Google homepage.)

The sailboat had run aground in a deceptively shallow spot off of Weehawken – an area thatLiberty Landing Dockmaster Michelle Purinton knew well. She’d freed many boats in that area during her tenure as an instructor at Offshore Sailing School. Even though it was 11 pm, Michelle hopped aboard NY Media Boat to lend a hand and technical expertise – as did Pier 25 Dockmaster George Bennett.

Within 20 minutes, our crew arrived on the scene, just as the NYPD and FDNY boats were pulling up.  The ungrounding plan had been formed en route: hook our tow line to the sailboat’s main halyard so we could heel it over, freeing its keel from the Hudson muck and allowing the vessel to push forward.

The boat was stuck in about three feet of water and the outgoing tide was quickly streaming downriver, so the FDNY boat transferred our tow line across the shallows. They also took the sailboat’s bowline to give some extra forward momentum. The NYPD’s intense searchlight lit up the scene, making the whole procedure vastly easier.

Once the tow line was raised to the top of the boat’s 63-foot mast and her passengers were all perched on her port side, Bjoern put NY Media Boat in reverse and pulled the vessel into a steep heel.

You can see the outcome in the quick video below:

Safran Takes Solo Transat Record

As the sun came over Cape Lizard in England this morning, Marc Guillemot brought the IMOCA60 Safran across the finish line 8 days, 5 hours, and 20 minutes after leaving Ambrose Light in New York — usurping the record Alex Thomson set with Hugo Boss last summer.

It was an intense race across the north Atlantic between Guillemot and Zbigniew “Gutek” Gutkowski’s Energa for the title — for Gutkowski, there’s always next summer.

Energa, Safran Match-Race for Record

Two of the top IMOCA60 racers will battle it out in the North Atlantic in an attempt to seize the transatlantic monohull single-handed world record.

Zbigniew “Gutek” Gutkowski and Marc Guillemot will push Energa and Safran, respectively, to break Alex Thomson’s 8-day, 22-hour, 8-minute sprint from New York to Cape Lizard, set last summer in preparation for the 2012 Vendee Globe.

This afternoon, Gutkowski and Guillemot set out for the starting line at Ambrose Light in four-foot seas and about 15 knots of wind. Both sailors are banking on a low pressure system promising at least 20 knots of wind, with gusts up to 32.

Estimated start time is about 3 a.m. — until then, perhaps a scrimmage IMOCA60 Match Race at Ambrose.

UPDATE: Safran crossed the start line at 19:19 ET, Energa moments later at 19:31 ET.

Slavic Sailor Wants to Knock Out Record

When Polish sailor Zbigniew Gutkowski introduces himself, your hand vanishes into a massive palm that could engulf a football better than most quarterbacks.

“Gutek,” he says, and for a moment you think perhaps one of the Klitschko brothers has commandeered a 60-foot sailboat. Gutkowski is more boxer than sailor, with a wide frame that towers several inches beyond six feet. Stuffed into big red gloves, those hands could pack quite the punch.

But they’re usually busy with ropes or navigation software, at the helm or fixing yet another repair. They’ve been primed by years of sailing on the rough waters of the Baltic Sea. Blustery Polish winters were no barrier to getting out on the ocean; nor were the scarce resources of communism. “You didn’t have the best gear,” he says, remembering how cold his hands would get after a wintry day at sea. “Then when you go inside, they burn.”

Still, those hands are as agile and precise as a surgeon’s. On one leg of the 2011 Velux Five Oceans Race, Gutkowski’s wind generator sliced a gash in his forehead. “Blood everywhere,” he says, showing me a picture of the wound on his iPad. When I ask about medical attention, he makes a whirling motion over his forehead: “I sew it up.”

Now Gutkowski is trying his hand at the solo transatlantic monohull record – currently held by Alex Thomson — with his IMOCA Open 60 Energa. And he’s attempting it with one of Thomson’s former boats: Energa was re-fashioned from the ‘black and white’ Hugo Boss.

Gutkowski is from Gdansk, one of the most important shipbuilding centers in Poland during its heyday, providing vessels for Eastern Europe and some Soviet countries. The city is famous for its role in the Polish uprising: In the 1980s, Lech Walesa led tens of thousands of shipyard workers in strikes that are credited with ultimately leading to the fall of communism in the country.

When Gutkowski was growing up, membership in the local sailing club was reserved for shipyard workers, so he could only press his nose up to the glass — until his geography teacher, who was a member of the club, brought Gutkowski and some other students there for geography club trips.

Gutkowski was 10 at the time and took to the sport instantly. His talent was eventually recognized by a member of the sailing club and he was plucked to train with local competitive teams. By age 14, he was sailing with the Polish national team.

“Finally,” he says, “we have good equipment for sailing.”

But sailing the Baltic was still a challenge. Gutkowski recalls spring days spent waiting for large ships to cut a path through icebergs so he could sail.

“It is difficult and tough area to learn,” he says. “But it’s really good. If you can sail there, after that you can sail everywhere” – even in long offshore ocean races: which he started to do in 2000 in The Race, a non-stop round-the-world aboard the catamaran Warta-Polpharma.

His next step was a 2004 round-the-world speed record on an Open60, then a single-handed try in the 2005 Nokia Oops Cup aboard the ORMA 60 Bonduelle. After one other offshore event in 2007, Gutkowski set his sights on the Velux Five Oceans.

The prep time paid off because he took second place in that race in 2011 with the IMOCA60 Operon. He fought hard in the multi-leg race, suffering not only the forehead gash, but also two cracked ribs. A doctor in Brazil, where he stopped to recuperate for a mere 10 days, told him he was lucky to not have punctured a lung.

After the Velux, Gutkowski and his entourage, which includes the sailor Maciej “Swistak” Marczewski, convinced Energa — an energy company headquartered in Gdansk with a bent for alternative power — to sponsor a new IMOCA60. This time Gutkowski purchased an old boat off Alex Thomson, the ‘black and white’ Hugo Boss made famous by Thomson’s tailored-suit-soaking keel dive.

Gutkowski’s next plan: The 2012 Vendee Globe.

But like many others, Energa dropped out of the race after only 11 days. The trouble: autopilot malfunction.

Now Energa’s objective is to reclaim a record from her former owner. Gutkowski is hoping to smash Thomson’s 8-day, 22-hour, 8-minute record, which was set in the summer of 2012 as preparation for the Vendee Globe; albeit with a newer incarnation of Hugo Boss.
In purple, green, yellow, and orange, Energa leaves hardly a trace of the monochrome Hugo Boss, except for her reverse navigation station. And Thomson surely didn’t dine on the vacuum-sealed, dried Slavic specialties onboard: beef stroganoff, pork loin in dill sauce.

Gutkowski may encounter other traces of the Baltic Sea on his journey to Cape Lizard: icebergs are still in season in north Atlantic, and it’s unlikely he’ll have a cargo ship to clear them from his path. Fog and whales are two other tough opponents. But that’s no matter for Gutkowski. He’ll fend them off with a combination punch.

Largest Solar Boat samples Gulf Stream

NEW YORK, June 18, 2013 — I got to sail a portion of the Gulf Stream aboard VO70 ‘Maserati’ from Charleston, SC to New York last winter. We took advantage of it’s 5 mile per hour northward flow and mild temperatures. Entering the stream, foulies and boots were quickly exchanged for t-shirts and flip flops.

The Gulf Stream gyres in the North Atlantic, transporting warm nutrient rich water from the tropics along the East Coast of the U.S. towards Europe. Eventually the water cools, becomes denser, sinks and starts flowing south as part of the North Atlantic Deep Water before resurfacing off Florida.

Some speculate that without the warm influence of the Gulf Stream North America and Europe would look more like Alaska – snowy tundras and vast ice fields.

Scientist from the University of Geneva are now taking a closer look at this 60 mile wide current that extends as far as 4000ft deep.

Climatologist Martin Beniston leads the DEEPWATER EXPEDITION joining the crew of the swiss catamaran ‘MS Turanor Planet Solar’ — the largest solar powered ship in the world — on her voyage from Miami to Bergen, Norway with stops in New York, Boston, St-John’s and Reykjavik.

Beniston deems the 82ft long vessel a suitable platform for scientific sampling. No gasoline or diesel are used for propulsion and voyages are made with zero CO2 emission, eliminating potential factors of data pollution. He and his team are studying the chemical and physical composition of water masses and aerosols.

New York Media Boat spoke with Deepwater Expedition team member Dr. Bastiaan Ibelings, a professor in microbial ecology at the University of Geneva who explains the importance of phytoplankton for our oceans and climate.

The 82 foot long ‘MS Turanor PlanetSolar’ is part of a Swiss initiative to demonstrate how innovative technology can harvest renewable energy and allow clean travel. 5,500 square feet of photovoltaic cells supply power for the twin 60kW electric motors moving her averaging 5 knots.

Five World Records have been established by ‘MS Turanro PlanetSolar’ including ‘first earth circumnavigation by solar-powered boat’ and ‘fastest transatlantic crossing completely under solar power’ in 26 days. Note: French sailer Francis Joyon crossed the North Atlantic in just over 5 days powered by wind earlier this week.

Be sure to stop by the boat currently docked at North Cove Marina before she leaves on Thursday for Boston.

UPDATE 6/20/13 — PHOTO GALLERY: ‘MS Turanor PlanetSolar’ departs NY, sailing past Lower Manhattan, The Statue of Liberty, and the Brooklyn Bridge

Joyon Breaks Record

NEWSBRIEF June 16, 2013 — Francis Joyon sets new record crossing the North Atlantic in 5 days, 2 hours, 56 minutes and 10 seconds.
He improved Thomas Coville’s 2008 record by over 16 hours.

Joyon staged in New York for about three weeks before he moored IDEC off Sandy Hook, NJ for final preparations and set sail on June 10th, as the sun came over the horizon at 05:00EST.

New York Media Boat successfully recovered IDEC’s mooring system shortly after.
Check out our photos of Francis Joyon and IDEC in New York.

Currently ENERGA and SAFRAN are in the cue, awaiting a weather window to challenge the IMOCA 60 transatlantic record. Stay tuned for updates.

BOOM goes the DYNAMITE!!

At 07:36am building #877 was imploded on Governors Island to clear space for a new public park. We took New York Media Boat right up to the 1000ft USCG security perimeter for front row seats to the show. Besides us and Eric on the ‘Genesis‘, surprisingly few other boats were out to witness the implosion. ‘Adventure Sightseeing’ at it’s best!!

IDEC & Atlantic Cup in New York

Lots of great boats in New York Harbor this week! Leopard3 (ICAP) visited North Cove Marina for some corporate sailing before heading over to the UK. She’s a 100ft super maxi yacht designed by Farr Yacht Design and powered with Doyle Stratis sails. Two hydraulic cylinders operating the 61 ton canting keel keep her vertical and the VIP guest safe. Talking about Farr boats… check out Halcyon Sailing, NYC — they just launched 4 Farr30’s in the harbor for corporate sailing and racing leagues.

Francis Joyon arrived Sunday on the 97ft maxi-trimaran IDEC 2 to stage for his next trans-atlantic record attempt, which will most likely take place sometime in June. He hopes to break Thomas Coville’s 2008 record of 5d, 19h, 29 min. Check out these photos of IDEC from yesterday’s shoot in New York Harbor!

Tuesday night the Atlantic Cup boats arrived after sailing 642 nm non-stop from Charleston — finishing Leg 1 of the double handed race. New York Media Boat met the lead class 40 boat ‘Bodacious Dream’ (USA 118) crewed by skipper Matt Scharl and owner Dave Rearick as they sailed under the Verrazano Bridge and towards the finish line at North Cove Marina. Check out the photos here!

Check out our short & exclusive video and come to North Cove Marina to meet the skippers.

Kon-Tiki arrives in New York

A few days ago we showed you one of the world’s most decked-out private yachts —the $1.5 billion Eclipse.
Today, on the other side of the spectrum but just a few miles south on the Hudson, floats the world’s most primitive seagoing raft — the Tangaroa.

From a distance, it appears to be Thor Heyerdahl’s Kon-Tiki built by the Norwegian explorer to show that people from South America could have settled Polynesia from the east, contrary to popular belief. They constructed Kon-Tiki from balsa wood and hemp rope — the same materials available before Columbus’ time. Heyerdahl and his crew navigated by the stars and ocean currents, and put down some respectable 4,300 nautical miles before wrecking Kon-Tiki on a reef in theTuamotu Islands after 101 days at sea. Heyerdahl’s 1947 expedition across the Pacific was a huge success: it made him Norway’s most famous person, his book became an international best seller, and their documentary won an Academy Award in 1951.

The raft currently docked at North Cove Marina is a replica and did not sail from Norway to New York, but was delivered by container ship instead. It’s here as a promotional stunt to highlight the newly released 2012 action movie ‘Kon-Tiki,’ nominated for a 2013 ‘Best Foreign Language Film’ Oscar.

Tangaroa however was not built to promote the movie, but rather float the Humbold Current as well. In 2006 a Norwegian team led by Olav Heyerdahl, grandson of Thor Heyerdahl, constructed the replica-raft in an attempt to duplicate the original Kon-Tikivoyage. They too crossed the Pacific, made landfall in the Polynesian Islands, anddocumented their voyage.

If you want to climb aboard Tangaroa, swing by North Cove Marina in Battery Park City. I’m told the raft is open to the public and will be there until April 22nd.

The movie opens in select U.S. theaters on April 26 so check out the trailer, and if you’re ever in Oslo, I highly recommend a visit to the Kon-Tiki Museum at Bygdøy.

Belafonte’s Close Encounter with Humpbacks

Just wanted to share this amazing video from our ‘sister ship’ on the west coast, theBelafonte.

Ole and Sarah were riding back to Santa Barbara after a weekend in the Channel Islands when a humpback whale and her calf surfaced next to the Belafonte, their 17-foot RIB.

The whales were really curious, spouting and splashing right next to the boat. At one point, a huge flipper nearly smacks the outboard right before those characteristic ridges of the humpback underbelly bob out of the water. Note the change in tone of Sarah’s great narration at that point!

Ole said the whales still followed them as they motored off, so they stopped a few more times to let them check out Belafonte. But he and Sarah didn’t hang around too long — not when mama’s fluke was about as wide as the boat was long.