Tag Archives: DNAinfo

DNAinfo: Brooklyn Boat Club Kicks Off Season with Kayaks, Canoes and Oysters

“The Greenpoint-based North Brooklyn Boat Club launches its spring season this month with an expanded lineup of vessels and environmental work, from water quality testing to the creation of oyster habitats, its leaders said. The club, which will feature rides at least twice a week starting in May, has expanded this year to include two canoe instructors and additional boats, founding member Jens Rasmussen explained. “A big thing is not just getting people on the water, but also teaching skills to the highest levels,” Rasmussen said. “Canoe instruction is available to any club members for free.”

The group — based currently at a space on Ash Street by Newtown Creek — will also start building habitats for filter feeders like oysters and clams, he noted. “Clams and oysters are natural organisms already present in the estuary, and they’re natural water cleaners. We’ve started documenting where they’re living, and we want to encourage more to grow,” Rasmussen said. “We’re seeing more and more dolphins and seals because the water is getting cleaner, and we want to help that.”
This spring members will also have the chance to help restore wooden vessels, and to continue the water quality testing the club began last year with the New York City Water Trail Association, he said.”

DNAinfo: Brooklyn Boat Club Kicks Off Season with Kayaks, Canoes and Oysters (April 2, 2013)

Best Places to Go Boating on New York’s Waterways

“Getting people on the water is not just about recreation — it is about connecting our own lives to this historically active, and often mistreated, estuary that surrounds us,” said Will Elkins, a volunteer for the city’s newest group, the North Brooklyn Boat Club, which will be leading canoe trips in August even though its boathouse has yet to be built.”

DNAinfo: Best Places to Go Boating on New York’s Waterways (August 3, 2012)

DNAinfo: North Brooklyn Boat Club Adds Floating Dock for Easier Water Access

“The paddles are poised for boaters to glide more easily onto Newtown Creek with the North Brooklyn Boat Club.
The club launched a floating dock this weekend in its interim space on Ash Street by the Pulaski Bridge, so the group’s 20 kayaks, canoes and rowboats can more swiftly slide onto the waves. … Anyone can join the group — which typically has three weekly rides on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays — by signing up online and paying $30 to the club and $30 to the American Canoe Association, he said. The 70-person club, which is working to expand membership, began its rides from the Ash Street slice of land earlier this summer. The group keeps updated ride times on its website (from two-hour trips to 14-mile journeys) and will likely continue boating into October, Rasmussen said.”

DNAinfo – North Brooklyn Boat Club Adds Floating Dock for Easier Water Access (July 24, 2012)

DNAinfo: Kayak Tours Put New Yorkers on the East River

“With the United Nations on one side, Long Island City high-rises on the other and Lower Manhattan’s bridges directly ahead, there is no vista quite like the one of the skyline from the East River at sunset. But this view of the Manhattan and Brooklyn bridges isn’t from the deck of a Circle Line cruise. Instead, it can be seen from a kayak gliding down the waterway.

Throughout summer and until the middle of October, kayakers, from the experienced to novices, can enjoy those views during free paddling trips organized by the Long Island City Community Boathouse. The boathouse is among more than a dozen similar groups in the city, including the North Brooklyn Boathouse in Greenpoint and Williamsburg, the Sebago Canoe Club which takes participants to Jamaica Bay, the Gowanus Dredgers which runs programs on the shorelines of Gowanus Canal, Red Hook and DUMBO, and the Downtown Boathouse with three locations in Manhattan.”

DNAinfo – Kayak Tours Put New Yorkers on the East River (July 6, 2012)