Neversink Reservoir Fleet Arrives!

Posted on May 29, 2014 by Erik Baard

Neversink Reservoir Fleet received by Forst Valley YMCA and funded by Catskill Watershed Corporation with support from NYC Department of Environmental Protection.

Neversink Reservoir Fleet received by Frost Valley YMCA and funded by Catskill Watershed Corporation with support from NYC Department of Environmental Protection.

HarborLAB’s fleet for Neversink Reservoir program fleet of ten kayaks (Ocean Kayak Malibu 2 XL tandems) and five canoes (Old Town Saranac 160), life vests, and paddles have arrived! Many thanks to the Catskill Watershed Corporation for the grant that purchased these boats and the NYC Department of Environmental Protection for its support of the program! Many thanks to Johnson Outdoors for making this great community amenity affordable!

The Frost Valley YMCA received the boats, for which we’re also grateful. HarborLAB is working to arrange safety training and environmental educational programs with the Frost Valley YMCA.

We need volunteers and sponsors to make the most of this opportunity! Email support@harborlab.org or volunteer@harborlab.org to help, with the subject, “Neversink.” THANKS!

2014 Paddlesport Show!

Posted on March 29, 2014 by Erik Baard

HarborLAB attended Jersey Paddler‘s 2014 Paddlesport Show, the East Coast’s largest annual canoe, kayak, and stand-up paddle board expo. Erik Baard and EJ Lee represented HarborLAB to safe boating educators with the US Coast Guard Auxiliary (Vessel Examination – Paddlecraft) and American Canoe Association, as well as a host of environmental educators and manufacturers (Folbot, Hobie, and Johnson Outdoors had especially strong showings). It was a great gathering. We purchased nautical charts, waterproof illustrative guides to estuary fauna, a safety horn, scupper hole plugs, reusable tie-downs, and other useful gear. We also received free waterproof cell phone dry bags. A huge bonus was that HarborLAB won a free whitewater rafting trip for two from Jim Thorpe River Adventures that we’ll use as a raffle or auction prize at a future fundraiser!

HarborLAB Operations Manager EJ Lee charms the warm and friendly US Coast Guard Auxiliary crew.

Great knot-tying practice and quiz board at the Delaware River chapter of the American Canoe Association.

HarborLAB Operations Manager EJ Lee meets a new American Canoe Association certified instructor.

Cardboard Kayak Race!

Posted on July 23, 2013 by Erik Baard

The fierce First Heat. Photo by Scott Sternbach.

Contestants awaiting the start signal. Photo by Scott Sternbach.

This year the City of Water Day gathering on Governors Island featured the inaugural cardboard kayak race — a bit of lunacy that drew an enormous flood of spectators to the Pier 101 basin. HarborLAB provided paddles and life vests to the contestants and safety kayaks should anyone have needed rescuing.

Kayak blogger Chris Schiffner captured the fun on video from the viewing area, as did HarborLAB volunteer and CUNY LaGuardia Community College photo student Daniel Callaway. HarborLAB board member Scott Sternbach (CUNY LaGuardia Community College photo director) snapped away from his kayak and HarborLAB volunteer Daisy Hope Benjamin (an ER nurse who added safety to the day) took photos from the dock.

The cardboard bodyboard. HarborLAB volunteer Omar Barrios dubbed this team, “the best bromance ever.” Photo by Daisy Hope Benjamin.

The competition was organized into several rounds — or, appropriately for the scorching day, “heats” — past a buoy across the embayment, culminating in a mad dash for the medal. Designs ranged from efficient to fanciful. One North Brooklyn Boat Club entry looked like a Balangay, while another was ready to join the New York Water Taxi fleet. A few sank, though the prize for tenacity had to go to North Brooklyn Boat Club for recovering from a keel-over collision in Heat 2 to complete its buoy circuit. Erik Baard pulled the soggy canopy from their boat and carried it on a HarborLAB safety Ocean Kayak Malibu 2 XL for the duration of the heats.

In the end, triumph went to Stevens Institute of Technology engineering students whose sleek and sturdy boat reflected weeks of planning. It seemed they could have paddled back to New Jersey in that thing!

Disorderly fun. Photo by Daniel Callaway.

An early favorite starts to dissolve. Photo by Daisy Hope Benjamin.

All hail the taxi! Photo by Daisy Hope Benjamin.

All hail the taxi! Photo by Scott Sternbach.

A team from Stuyvesant Cove ran a strong second before sinking. They sportingly swam their craft in. Photo by Scott Sternbach.

The go-go Greenpointers of the North Brooklyn Boat Club who impressed us all with determination and filled us with envy that they got to take a swim. Photo by Scott Sternbach.

To the victors go the As. Stevens Institute of Technology students with their winning cardboard kayak. Photo by Scott Sternbach.