We beg you to remember some safety rules and share them with your friends:  Barges are often out of sight behind tugs being towed on long cables. Do not cut behind a tug, especially if you do not know how to read the towing lights that indicate if, and how, the tug is towing another vessel.  Do not anchor in the channel, do not tie up to navigational aids, do get out of the way of larger vessels (they generally have right of way since they can't move out of narrow channels); always carry a VHF marine radio, and know the rules of the road (no, sailboats do not always have right of way). 

Boater Info           (Boating in Brooklyn at right)                                                                                                                              

Marine Weather, Tides       

·         NOAA weather at various buoys:  northeast map,   NY buoys  Ambrose
·         Boater's Box simple user-friendly graphics and text
·         text printout of official NOAA  forecast for NYC area
·         Tides near Red Hook (reference Governor's Island)
·         full-blown NOAA GIS mapping portal http://nowcoast.noaa.gov

Free on-line NOAA charts
Navigation Rules
Marine Radio (VHF) usage tips from the Coast Guard
US Coast Guard NY website
Safe Boating near commercial traffic by American Waterways Operators (tug + barge industry)
Preparing boats, marinas for hurricanes a 12 page guide from Boat US
Knots - animated illustrations by Grog make learning easier
NYC Parks Boating & Marinas now merits a whole webpage!  their facilities map
NYC Parks Water Trail
Master of Towing Vessels Association Forum blog about, and for, tugboat captains and their life and industry

New York Harbor Beaches - a mapping and finding project

beach drinking: New York Magazine's review of Urban Beach Bars.  For honky-tonk bars, look up little creeks and bays for blue collar marinas and boating scenes. A short ferry ride to Jersey City will also get you to a floating saloon on the south side of Morris Canal, and if you can get to the north side, there is a dockside restaurant.  There, you can arrive by boat, if you've got one.

Media
Marine industry rescues passengers after Hudson plane crash. As during 9/11, private sector boat crews are the first on scene, organize themselves spontaneously, do the job without grandstanding.  Interview with the private tug captain who towed the plane out of the channel, He was Capt. Conrad Roy, Jr, of Tucker-Roy Marine Towing & Salvage out of New Bedford, MA.  They were transiting New York on their way back to New England after a job up the Hudson, a good example of how water and the working waterfront links us all. Interview with David Hoy, Dive Master at Weeks Marine which covers salvaging planes how-to.

Working Waterfront  Would that we had this for NYC waters... This monthly publication covers life on Maine coasts and island.  As they put it "Our "beats" are fishing, small business, manufacturing, the arts, books, scientific research, communities, aquaculture, transportation, history, the environment -- just about anything connected with this coast and the lives of the people who live and work here.

Waterfront Planning
10/14/08 panel hosted by the Drum Major Institute.  Hear how an effort by the city and Port of Los Angeles to fight air pollution leads to a decision to phase out old trucks servicing the port, which then leads to the elimination of "third world working conditions for truckers," according to the LA mayor's office. It was a morning of zingers such as Chris Ward's "if you don't throw money at problems, what do you throw?" and Congressman Jerry Nadler's reference to the current economic situation "a crisis is a terrible thing to waste."  But you don't want are quotes out of context, visit DMI's YouTube page!

Eco

DEP Harbor Water Wastewater Treatment System  How NYC moves our sewage by ship, and an in depth look at New York City's wastewater treatment process. Topics include the testing of New York City waterways, pollution control programs, beneficial use of biosolids, and how you can make a difference.

Whales recorded near NYC during 2008

Resurgent cormorants and their curious vomiting habits on Swinburne Island described via a NY Times story and blog

Vintage charts and maps from NOAA archive billed as "over 21,000 Maps and Charts ranging from the year 1747 to 2001."  Whew!

Maritime Research Resource

Research the world's merchant marine fleet and mariners

NY Food Museum: seafood in NYC 100 years ago

http://oldstreets.com (note the lack of Ws in the url) fascinating guide to lost street names in Manhattan.  Includes info on how maritime industries shaped that island at these 3 links:
    Canals
    Wharves, Piers, Slips
    Ropewalks
 

11/2/08 tugs take the Intrepid from Staten Island, soundtrack of VHF radio chatters reveals a lot about the job

vintage video of the harbor with some classic old-fashioned narration

"accelerated views" timelapse videos of the waterfront from lost nono

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBxbx0e-Xy0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5UyDTn8qJzg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACHh05_F8mk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftNOzgumzfo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=evgXpegOkrI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xP8fd1OYOto

Tug documentary -atmospheric 9 minute short about life on a NYC tug.  Includes a take of entering the Gowanus Canal (great!). Director Gavin McFarland.

Why is the Red Hook waterfront so decrepit?
A few reasons: mothballing by the Port Authority after a lot of shipping switched to containers and went to Jersey by the late 1970s, poor management (remember the Fishport?), warehousing of property, cleaner water re-introducing worms that eat wooden piers, cost of repair and permits. A word on permits below. More on the other factors in the future.

The photo below shows current identifiers on a historic photo of Red Hook at a peak period of economic activity. Sadly, many of these piers were removed during the years of Red Hook's economic collapse. The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) regulations generally prohibit the reconstruction of piers once they are 50% gone, even if the piers have existed for decades or centuries.  As a result of Red Hook's dark years, we've lost much of our waterfront infrastructure, and therefore many options for future waterfront activity.  Many waterfront stakeholders in this city—from private homeowners and park planners to large industrial marine operators—have been trying to get the DEC to reconsider their pier permit policies.  PortSide NewYork has testified before the New York City Council Waterfronts Committee about these policies.  Read our testimony.