Labor and Liberty Paddle!

Posted on August 25, 2013 by Erik Baard

Liberty, Ellis, and the harbor. National Parks Service.

TENTATIVE

FLOAT PLAN CHANGE: Storm possibility, so we will likely alter our plans to launch from the Hudson River, to avoid a cross-harbor paddle with such uncertainty.)

Our culture has long wrestled with deep philosophical questions about the relationship between labor and liberty, none of which will be answered by this paddle tour. But we hope you end the day with wonderful memories and a greater appreciation for harbor history, estuary tidal forces, and urban planning ideas.

We’d be grateful for donations or a sponsor for this paddle, to support our growing and needed educational and youth programs. Email tours@harborlab.org if you’d like to join us, with the subject line “Labor and Liberty.” Also join our Facebook event for this paddle.

We’ll launch from LIC (Hunters Point South), land at Governors Island for a tidal break, cross the harbor at near slack to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island (respecting security zones), and land at the Porte Liberte canal village in Jersey City for lunch. Then we’ll paddle straight back to LIC, perhaps resting in DUMBO.

What development lessons does Porte Liberte hold, in terms of “dos and don’ts,” for NYC inlets, creeks, and canals?

This is a very demanding paddle and crosses larger vessel traffic and waters with a long, exposed fetch. Please be very mindful of this and take safety instructions, to be sent to participants, to heart.

We use the traditional tidal current benchmark of The Battery for our planning. This is for a holistic view of water movement throughout the harbor.

Tides for New York (The Battery) starting with September 1, 2013.

Day        High      Tide  Height   Sunrise    Moon  Time      % Moon
           /Low      Time    Feet    Sunset                    Visible

Su   1      Low  12:09 AM     0.8   6:23 AM    Rise  2:42 AM      19
     1     High   6:12 AM     4.3   7:28 PM     Set  5:04 PM
     1      Low  12:09 PM     0.9
     1     High   6:28 PM     4.8

10am: Gather at Natural Frontier Market (12-01 Jackson Ave , LIC, NY 11101).

1130am: Launch from LIC.

1PM: Land at Governors Island (we’re likely to land earlier).

1:30pm: Launch from Governors Island.

3PMpm: Land at Porte Liberte.

430PM: Launch from Porte Liberte

7pm: Land in LIC.

Porte Liberte. Google satellite image.

Hackensack Bushwhack!

Posted on August 19, 2013 by Erik Baard

The launch is quite close to the Hackensack Meadowlands Conservation and Wildlife Area.

Join HarborLAB on the wild frontier of New Jersey! 😉

HarborLAB will paddle the beautiful and recovering river called Hackensack, from the Lenape word Achinigeu-hach, or Ackingsah-sack, “meaning flat confluence of streams.” More about the waterway from the indefatigable Hackensack Riverkeeper (http://www.hackensackriverkeeper.org/history.html). Our thanks to Extended Stay America hotel for trailer parking and launch access. The launch is near the Hackensack Meadowlands Conservation and Wildlife Area.

We would welcome the public the Hackensack Riverkeeper serves to join us, and its staff or members, and for others from outside the area to join the exploration. Total capacity of 20, with volunteers and students getting priority. We might be able to offer some rides, and our boat trailer might have capacity for private boats. Wesley Miller will coordinate the trailer loading.

Email tours@harborlab.org with the subject line “Hackensack Bushwhack” if you’d like to participate.
Please fill out and bring a waiver ahead of time if possible. Also join our Facebook event page.

Photo by Paul Baker.

This will be a casual paddle to explore, learn, and enjoy each other’s company. Paul Baker will lead this trip and sets its final schedule. We aim for high water so the ramp is less muddy.

Tides for North Secaucus, Garretts Reach starting with August 24, 2013.

Day        High      Tide  Height   Sunrise    Moon  Time      % Moon
           /Low      Time    Feet    Sunset                    Visible

Sa  24      Low   6:14 AM    -0.5   6:16 AM     Set 10:14 AM      90
    24     High  12:28 PM     6.8   7:41 PM    Rise  9:31 PM
    24      Low   6:44 PM     0.1

Photo by Paul Baker.

Join the OMEGA Exploratory Paddle!

Posted on August 16, 2013 by Erik Baard

Image courtesy of NASA.

Come paddle into the future! (We’ll stop for ice cream along the way).

HarborLAB will be receiving seed funds this month (announcement coming) to work with students to build a small, prototype photobioreactor on the Newtown Creek Superfund site modeled on the NASA’s project called OMEGA — Offshore Membrane Enclosures for Growing Algae. HarborLAB’s vision is to work with students to grow clean, green fuel in membranes floating on a waterway polluted by the largest U.S. urban oil spill. Algae chosen for biofuel potential would harness sunlight on the open surface expanse and derive nutrients from treated water from the Newtown Creek sewage plant. How poetic is that?

HarborLAB hopes to undertake OMEGA Newtown Creek as a project that will enrich the educational experiences of students at LaGuardia Community College and other area schools. As OMEGA Newtown Creek grows, we’ll welcome other nonprofit partnerships. One of our sponsors, Arup, is leading Hunters Point South park and infrastructure development at the Newtown Creek mouth and in Germany built an algae-powered building.

HarborLAB sponsor Arup building in Germany with a photobioreactor skin.

On August 25th, we’ll be installation site scouting and generally exploring the creek, which tells uniquely instructive ecological tales. We’ll soon name our canoes for local and renowned environmental heroes — we hope Bernie Ente, Jenni Jenkins, and Rachel Carson would get a kick out of the NASA OMEGA Project.

To participate in this paddle, please be at least 18 years old. Email tours@harborlab.org with the subject line “OMEGA Paddle.” If possible, please email with your signed waiver form (http://harborlab.org/waivers/) attached. You can also visit our Facebook event page. BONUS: We’ll stop by Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory on the Greenpoint side before heading back.

OMEGA might be especially suitable for the sheltered waters of Newtown Creek, away from destructive wave action. We’re in touch with NASA’s OMEGA project lead scientist Jonathon Trent, Ph.D. to learn as much as we can. We’re a long way from implementation (classroom and lab work, further funds, permits, curricular integration, etc.), but it starts Sunday, August 25 with a canoe paddle to assess possible installation sites.

Teachers’ Oyster Seed Paddle!

Posted on August 13, 2013 by Erik Baard

Oyster seed. Photo by Solar One, another participant in the estuary-wide seeding effort.

August 26.

HarborLAB will take teachers from the Hunters Point Community Middle School on a paddle from LIC to Governors Island (no landing) to pick up oyster seeds from the New York Harbor School. This is a great chance for the school to learn about NY Harbor School‘s innovative curriculum. We’ll then paddle to back to Hunters Point and beyond to Socrates Sculpture Park, where the oyster seed platform will anchor.

Here’s our Facebook event page:

https://www.facebook.com/events/1389198831306521/#!/events/1389198831306521/

Please also email volunteer@harborlab.org with the subject line “Oyster Paddle” if you’d like to paddle and help.

It’s exciting for HarborLAB to play a small role in seeding great maritime education programs in western Queens! HarborLAB and NY Harbor School are unrelated organizations with shared goals. HarborLAB Founder Erik Baard invited NY Harbor School Founder Murray Fisher to Long Island City six or seven years ago to meet with a landlord and others about encouraging the establishment of a middle school that might graduate students into the NY Harbor School. Erik also lobbied then-City Council Member Eric Gioia for an estuary-themed middle school. Flash forward some years and Hunter’s Point Community Middle School Principal Sarah Goodman independently had such visions. Ms. Goodman grew up learning about marine ecology and stewardship in New England.

HarborLAB looks forward to being the Hunter’s Point Middle School’s on-water partner, perhaps in concert with CUNY LaGuardia Community College and other community environmental groups and agencies to which we introduced Ms. Goodman. While the nearby waters of Anable Basin, site of great contamination by Standard Oil generations ago, are likely unsuitable for children (especially in sit-on-top kayaks), HarborLAB will arrange educational field trips and will continue to advocate for paddling in Gantry Plaza State Park. We also strongly advocate for an Anable basin cleanup, and have lobbied for this with state officials and local developers.