The “Boatbusters! Halloween Parade, Race & Fundraiser” sure was a success! According to the History Channel, Halloween tradition is dated back 2000 years ago, where the Celts marked the end of summer and the harvest and the beginning of the dark, cold winter. This tradition was spread through Europe and was modified by the church and different ethnic groups. In America, as the beliefs and customs of different European ethnic groups and the American Indians meshed, a distinctly American version of Halloween began to emerge. The first celebrations included “play parties,” which were public events held to celebrate the harvest. Neighbors would share stories of the dead, tell each other’s fortunes, dance and sing. In the late 1800s, there was a move in America to mold Halloween into a holiday more about community and neighborly get-togethers than about ghosts, pranks and witchcraft. At the turn of the century, Halloween parties for both children and adults became the most common way to celebrate the day. Parties focused on games, foods of the season and festive costumes. To me, Halloween has always been a holiday I had mixed feeling about. On one hand – I am all in when it comes to wearing costumes, decorating houses and having fun. On the other hand – I always felt a bit quite uncomfortable with the Trick-or-Treat tradition, as kids who are Trick-or-Treating are expecting to get candy, get upset when they don’t get enough and get pulled into crazy sugar-rush caused tantrums.

If there’s one good thing that came out from 2020 is a shift in attitude. Some sociologists and politicians thought that the long months of lockdown, learning, adapting and becoming accountable to new standards of behaviors, such as: personal hygiene, social distancing and mask wearing, would be detrimental to our society. In reality, people who care stepped up in solidarity and took action to make an impact on the lives of the less fortunate.

A few months ago I wrote an article telling about Michele Wiemer and Barry Richards, a sailor couple, who started cooking meals on their boat and delivered them along with masks to Jersey City Homeless in Journal Square. A couple of weeks later, Michele & Barry started a Go-Fund-Me campaign – “Sailors and Seniors Helping Jersey City Homeless” to raise money to fund food products and mask materials. Since then, Michele & Barry’s network of friends and family across the country got inspired by this initiative and joined them in making different nutritious meals every week and making sure that the homeless – who are part of our community and society, are protected and protect others who they come in contact with from Covid-19.

Halloween is always a bitter-sweet time of the year for us, sailors. While it’s fun to go sailing wearing costumes, it’s also the last sail for the season… Remembering Kennedy’s famous quote, I decided not to let covid-19 to get in the way of celebrating our community through extending kindness beyond. In that vein, I decided to re-imagine the Trick-or-Treat custom, from an act of getting something or feeling entitled to something, to an act of giving to others. The Trick-or-Treat became a way to either raise donations to the “Sailors and Seniors Helping Jersey City Homeless”Go-Fund-Me campaign (Trick) or donate a coat, a warm clothing item or a non-perishable food item to the homeless (Treat).

As a new member of Liberty Yacht Club, I was able to present this idea and gain their support. The officers of Liberty Yacht Club recognized the impact we can make as a community by supporting its members in bringing awareness a local NY Harbor region cause, through bringing members last opportunity for this year to get together on the water and to start an annual club tradition. With the assistance of LYC members, LLM tenants and others, I was able to present a day long event that included a boat parade, a sailboat race and a Trick-or-Treat contest.

 

The event started on a very cold morning of Saturday 10/31/2020, with the Boatbusters Boat Parade, led by Le Peniche – with Captain Jim Chambers at the helm. Le Peniche led the 9-boat parade along the Morris Canal from Liberty Landing Marina’s fuel dock west, and then back east towards green buoy 1 at the entrance to the Morris Canal. The parade participants stepped up for the game with decorating their boats, having Halloween theme accessories and costumes. A few kids were sited on board the different boats, and in spite of the cold temperatures, everybody seemed delighted and amused. After the boat parade, 7 of the boats prepared for the race start.

 

The special custom made prizes, created by glass artist Stephanie Baness of Moxie Sorbet Designs. Thank you Liberty Landing Marina and Dockmaster Andrew Licata for your help and support in coordinating the event.

The post Liberty Yacht Club’s First Boatbusters! Halloween Parade, Race & Fundraiser was a great success! appeared first on New York Harbor Channel.

Money donations from the fundraiser will be made through a go-fund-me campaign Sailors & Seniors Helping Jersey City Homeless started by Michele Wiemer and Barry Richards, who are boat owners in Liberty Landing Marina. In addition to money fundraising, they are also looking to collect coats and food items for this same grassroots effort.

The event, presented by Liberty Yacht Club, will take place on Halloween Day, Saturday 10/31/2020 and the schedule is as follows:

• 10:00am -10:45am – a Halloween Boat Parade along the Morris Canal
• 10:45am-12:45pm – Sailboat race in the NY Harbor
• 1-3pm – Trick or Treat on marina’s docks – fundraising for the above cause.

In order to prevent the spread of covid-19 we instruct participants to team up with groups of up to 6 people max on each dock, maintain a social distance and wear masks (not just Halloween masks.

Attached please find a digital copy for the Boatbusters flyer, as well as a banner you can use for a Newsletter in case you’d be willing to participate.

The website link to find more information and to register to the event is: Go to the Quarter Deck section of www.libertyyachtclub.org for more info. (the QR code in the flyer takes you there). Must register no later than October 28th.

So come Join the Liberty Yacht Club for one more Race for the year, along with a food, clothing and Trick or treat fundraising event! It will surely be SPOOK-tacular!

The post Liberty Yacht Club Presents: BOATBUSTERS a Halloween Fundraiser Race for Sailors appeared first on New York Harbor Channel.

Covid-19 Emptied the Waters of New York Harbor in 2020

Today’s ninth annual Liberty Cup event saw twenty one boats compete in a feisty End of Summer Classic that had diverse conditions that made the afternoon’s three division races a delightful challenge.  Sailboat Racing is common in New York Harbor; however, organized regattas are not.  The Liberty Cup is the only inter club regatta held in the harbor.  This year, amidst the Covid pandemic, it was the only regatta to be conducted that was not cancelled. The Liberty Cup is part of a 4 regatta series: the other 3 regattas are Bill Volk regatta out of Keyport YC, Red Grant out of Raritan YC, and Blue Water out of Atlantic Highlands.

We should note that the Lady Liberty Regatta is traditionally held every June and the all female event races a J/24 boat design.  Also, the thirty five year old Around Long Island Regatta would have started at Liberty Landing Marina on its’ traditional last Thursday in July.  Its’ eighty plus entries amass in the harbor, travel out into the ocean, round Montauk and Plum Gut, then finish after 209 nautical miles at its home port of Sea Cliff two or three days later.  The ALIR start in New York Harbor is a tip of the hat to its founder, Frank Braynard who co-created the 1976 OpSail that famously filled New York Harbor with international tall ships from every corner of the globe.

Covid-19 Did Allow A Handful of Off Shore Regattas

Liberty Yacht Club’s Commodore David Spence is a veteran of dozens of inshore and offshore regattas in New York and New England waters.  Last week, David sailed the Vineyard Race, an eighty-six year old 238 mile run from Stamford, Connecticut out around Plum Gut, rounds Buzzard Bay horn and heads back to Stamford.  This race takes most boats two days to complete.  After such a grueling schedule of sailing, it is a nice culmination of the sailing season to run the Liberty Cup as a one day event in David’s backyard.  Multiple design boats are invited to compete, thus attracting participating yacht clubs from down the Jersey shore out to the Long Island Sound.  The competitors are within an hour or two of reaching New York Harbor for the scheduled noontime start.

Liberty Cup Course is Spontaneously Determined by Harbor Winds and Currents

The Liberty Cup Race Committee boat anchored just south of the Statue of

Liberty in the Jersey Flats.  Aboard, the race organizer, Vicky Jo Neiner, begins her measurements and calculations to determine the starting line, the course, and the finish line.  The prevailing winds established the first round of races with the starting horn at 12:45.  The J/105s headed out on a northeast course direction extending toward Governor’s Island where the boats tacked to the northeast and back.

As the afternoon wore on, tricky winds shifted from the South-Southeast to the Southeast-East, changing the course direction of the third round of races.  The boats were directed out toward the Bay Ridge Flats in the Lower Bay, closer to the Verrazzano Narrows where they rounded the marker and tacked back toward the finish line.  Currents were of course a factor and as expected, the slack tide turned and the flood created interesting conditions.  The sound of skippers shouting instructions to their fully crewed boats off in the distance were heard prominently on the Race Committee boat throughout the day.  Needless to say, the races were spirited!

The Importance of a Seasoned Race Committee

With VHF radio in one hand and flagpoles in the other, Vicky Jo Neiner was responsible to accurately start and finish each division race.  Reliant on the volunteers who switched flags, blew the starting horns and whistles, posted the charts, coordinated the Zodiac marker buoy boat, and broadcast notifications of approaching mega-ton vessels, Vicky was the glue that made each race a success.  A professional working captain, Vicky has 50 years of maritime experience and an avid competitive sailor.  She is a member of US Sailing. Interesting fact: The Zodiac mark boat was donated by a local dive service company “Dive Tech” Owned and operated by John Pommerehn.

Assisting Vicky was Kelly McIntyre, the Statistician who calculated the handicaps and recorded the finish times of each boat.  Kelly is a member of the Liberty Yacht Club and crewed for David on Synergy at the 2020 Vineyard Race.

The Race Committee Boat Captain and Vice Commodore of Liberty Yacht Club, James Chambers, kept control of his Pearson trawler.  A lifelong seaman and veteran of multiple maritime occupations and vocations around New York Harbor, Jim Chambers knows everyone on the water who you might need to know when organizing a harbor event.  Everything from contact with local tug captains and especially those at the wheel of the Staten Island Ferry, all require professional courtesy and some finesse.

The Anticipated Hazards of the September 12th, 2020 Regatta.

Aside from the normal tug and barge traffic that fills New York Harbor, the steady passing of the Staten Island Ferries is always a challenge to the race participants in the harbor.  The sounding of the 5 horn blast from the captain’s wheelhouse is one to be avoided. The ferries did slow down as they approached the course area.  But today was marked by a historic occurrence in New York Harbor.  Her name is the CMA Brazil.  She was completed this year and is registered in Malta. Her voyage started from Sri Lanka, passed the Suez Canal, left Halifax Nova Scotia yesterday and became the largest Super Container ship to enter New York Harbor. Unbeknownst to all, the Brazil did not make the typical ninety degree turn into the Elizabeth Channel.  Prior to the ship’s scheduled berth at Port Elizabeth, a photo-op in front of the Statue of Liberty was arranged despite David’s notification to the Coast Guard of the regatta sailing zone.  Thanks to Captain Jim, who spoke directly to the USCG Vessel Command Center, the ship and the Moran tender tugs did slow down to allow the regatta racers to safely pass in front of the approaching vessels.

The 14:30 Trifecta

Despite Captain Jim’s best efforts to know every inch of activity in the harbor, a sudden unforeseen triad took shape in the middle of the race course.  As the Brazil was being towed back down the harbor from the Statue of Liberty flanked by the assigned three Moran tugs, the ship now sat idle in the middle of the regatta course.  Amidst helicopters, Coast Guard craft, and police boats, this stalled parade took center stage.  The unexpected event was complicated by a garbage barge emerging from the Constable Hook Reach, probably departing from Staten Island waste management facility.  And in the distance, the approaching Staten Island Ferry.  Convergence at one point created this incredible bottleneck.  From the top deck of the Race Committee Boat, it was like watching floating chess pieces moving into a global positioning chessboard.  This was much more than a 5 horn blast that we were warned about!

Capt Jim contacts the USCG vessel traffic service hoping that the duty officer’s could untangle the knot.  Captain Jim lowered his radio and said the Captain of the Brazil had ultimate say regarding control of the situation.  The race could have been shut down.  Vicki announced to the boats there was a temporary pause in the race.  The racers stared at the picture before them.  This was a historic moment crossing their paths.  We all sat watching acrobatic maneuvers of the triad of Moran tugs as the tremendous tow lines exaggerate the tension.  The majority of the boats turned into the wind to stop forward motion.  From the Committee Boat, the sailboats were suddenly idle.  What were the regatta racers thinking?  A forced pause to contemplate life?  Was this another layer to add onto he effects of Covid-19?  What would the future bring? Other more pragmatic thinkers holding onto a planned strategy to win this race?

Vicky holds the boats in position.  The Coast Guard duty officer holds the future of the Liberty Cup in his hand.  What is in the cards?  Thank goodness, a reassuring voice over Captain Jim’s VHF radio clearly speaks of a plan.  Once the garbage barge is well into the Narrows Channel, the Brazil will continue its relocation into the Lower Bay. The situation slowly resolved itself.  Jim instructs Vicky who instructs the racers that the regatta continues.

LIBERTY CUP REGATTA Race Results

In the One Design Division, eight J105s competed.  Varying wind conditions affected the outcome as rounding the markers found a lead boat loosing four positions within a minute’s time.  The J105 pack experienced varied results all taking turns for first in four races.  Jeremy Macan’s Hornet won the day, successfully placed either first or second in 3 out of the 4 races.

In the Spinnaker Division, Thunder, skippered by George Harrington, topped the class by taking first place in all three races for this division.  Aviato and Overlap jockeyed for 2nd and 3rd place finishes all day.

In the Non-Spinnaker Division, Mark Thorne’s Koinonia won first place in two of the three races.  Feng Shui placed second twice.

Synergy had a rough series of starts but ended on a high note with a 2nd place finish in the last race.

Looking forward to LIBERTY CUP REGATTA 2021

2021 will mark the 10th edition of the Liberty Cup Regatta. Expect to see the show go big with its traditional post-race BBQ, party and awards ceremony, and two days of racing. Like 2019 we expect 5 classes of boats with even more participants. We may even hit 50! 

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The most desired bait for fishermen of Long Island and New Jersey is known as bunker.  Bunker is a colloquial name for the species known as the Atlantic Menhaden.  Menhaden is a forage fish that is essential for the ocean food web.  Unfortunately for them, every larger fish and mammal swimming in the New York Bight (the sea east and south of New York Harbor) thrive on Menhaden.  Local fishermen are disturbed to hear that bunker numbers in the Bight diminish because of industrialized fishery as it has a direct correlation on the number of larger game fish populating their favorite fishing spots.  Earlier this decade, the decline was especially traumatic.

However, with warmer waters over the past five years, there has been an uptick in the menhaden population.  As climate change has moved Caribbean and Gulf water species northward, the entire ecosystem has also shifted in this northerly direction up the U.S. coastline.  Most significantly, lobsters off New England have moved into Canadian waters to find the cooler temperatures on the ocean floor.  Recently, warm-water sharks typically abundant off of Florida and the Carolina’s are now visiting Long Island.  Of course, another contributing factor is that the sharks may be following the greater numbers of menhaden migrating up to New York and New England.

As a result, Americans are getting their lobsters from Canada, tuna fishing boats coming out of Montauk are filled to capacity, and the incidence of shark sightings are breaking records along Long Island beaches.

WHALES LOVE MENHADEN

The whale population in the New York Bight has also been on the increase.  More humpbacks are regularly feeding on menhaden.  The presence of whales outside of New York City is now commonplace and it is no longer seasonal.  Monitoring devices such as the Melville buoy built by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute identify humpbacks, sei, fin, and right whales throughout the year.

Finally, just three weeks ago, the American Princess whale watching tour was permitted to re-open as Covid-19 restrictions were lifted.  Gotham Whale is a not for profit organization that routinely accompanies the American Princess into the New York Bight to catalog all ocean mammals.  Their naturalists are happy to report many sightings so far this year.

THE MENHADEN SLAUGHTER IN THE NEW YORK BIGHT

But there is a war taking place in the waters along the United States East coast.  For most of us living in the metropolitan area, we know little about it.  The Atlantic Menhaden has been a staple bounty for one specific company whose trawlers come out of Virginia to cast their nets into the New York Bight.  The Omega Protein Company, part of a conglomerate owned by Cooke, a Canadian firm, is responsible for removing millions of menhaden from our waters every year.  Menhaden is targeted as it accounts for the greatest source of omega fish oil, livestock feed, and other desirable consumer goods. The main use is for feed for Cooke’s fish farms around the world.

When New York Harbor Channel first interviewed Paul Sieswerda of Gotham Whale three years ago, we learned of his organization’s effort to not only catalog ocean mammals, but reduce the menhaden fishing quota presently allowed by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission.  Like all commercial operations that rely on government regulations, the Menhaden Fisheries Coalition has at least two dozen large ocean fishing companies within its ranks.  This organization has traditionally lobbied and influenced the governing body to allow an excessive slaughter of menhaden.

GOTHAM WHALE PETITION TO STOP THE OMEGA FLEET

For casual fishing enthusiasts, divers, boaters, and admirers of the sea, it is important to get involved to protect your environment.  Establishing a manageable program for forage species of fish is essential.  You can sign any number of petitions that have been circulated to help maintain a healthy menhaden population in the New York Bight to allow the ecosystem to thrive.  Gotham Whale is dedicated to the sea life that calls the New York Bight home.  Here is the link for Gotham Whale’s petition to stop the Omega Fleet from over-fishing our waters.

Gotham Whale is aligned with other ecological preservation groups to prevent the collapse of the species in northern waters such as the Menhaden Defenders.  The national organization called the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership (TRCP) is also concerned with saving the menhaden, with greater emphasis this year in the waters outside the Chesapeake Bay where the fight for menhaden is just as important.  TRCP lobbies to influence reduced caps and put in place Ecological Management that will consider the impact on other species by fisheries managers.

These alliances will hopefully bring greater weight to the fight within this decade.  In doing so, ocean mammals will no doubt flourish in New York waters and more of us will be able to share their magnificence just outside of New York Harbor.  The ask of Gotham Whale is to establish a prohibition of industrialized fishing for menhaden within twenty miles from New York Harbor, an area where we know whales feed.  A small step to keep a healthy ecosystem in the New York Bight.

The post IF YOU LIKE MANHATTAN, YOU’LL LOVE MENHADEN (for fishing around NY Harbor) appeared first on New York Harbor Channel.

WHALES ARE A BIG CONCERN TO THE NAVY AND NOAA

Aside from hump backs, sie, fin and right whales, the Cuvier’s Beaked Whale is common to the U.S. Eastern seaboard.  However, sightings of Cuvier’s Beaked Whales in the New York Bight are rare.  They are more plentiful further north and east of Montauk where they have been studied by NOAA’s Okeanos Explorer Research vessel last Autumn in the underwater deep exploration of the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument.   No doubt, the Navy is as concerned about whales as its sister agency.

A NAVY MISSION TO HELP PROTECT MARINE MAMMALS

THE NAVY’S LIVING MARINE RESOURCE IS COMMITTED TO MARINE MAMMAL PRESERVATION

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