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, 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, know the rules of the road.  You are not required to have a boating license in New York State, but we recommend taking boater education classes.  

Boater Info                                                                                                                                             (original Ambrose light)

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

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.

Waterfront Planning
The National Trust for Historic Preservation designated Brooklyn's Industrial Waterfront its #1 endangered place in 2007. 

Sea History editorial: Is NYC turning its back on its Maritime Roots. Why we may never have OpSail again.

Port Security (and what it means for you)

A must read "Watching the Waterfront" the June 19, 2006 New Yorker article on port security (or lack thereof) in this harbor. Much of the content is highlighted in the Q&A with the author. Curious historical note: The new Shop Steward of  Bayonne Local 1588 Tom Hanley had a child role in the forever-invoked movie "On the Waterfront." He was the impassioned the kid who tends the pigeon coop.

Eco

There are many ways our environment is threatened. Just as we were cleaning up our waters thanks to the Clean Water Act, we have increased threats from invasive species as a result of increased foreign imports.

Chinese Mitten Crab - new invasive species in the Hudson

Asian Longhorned Beetle - arrives with wooden pallets and dunnage from China, currently limited to areas within the cities of Chicago and New York according to University of Vermont. Devastating to trees.

Sadly, we also find ways to destroy our environment all on our own. An unusual steward of the environment of the non-academic, autodidact school is Ted Ames, lobsterman, fish researcher, and recent recipient of MacArthur "genius" award.  The fate and future of cod, with snippets about lobsters, is revealed in the 7/31/06 New Yorker profile of Ted Ames, See also Q&A with the author. See Lobster Trap Video and more University of New Hampshire research mentioned in the New Yorker article.

Maritime Research Resource

Research the world's merchant marine fleet and mariners

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

Videos

vintage video of the harbor with some over-ripe vintage 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.

youtube.com astounding self-fishing fish

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.