A Conga Line of Sailboats in the East Channel

Over at Buds at Sea, Brian Schanning, today 10/8, recounted their adventure sailing up the Eastern Channel of the East River last week due to the United Nations boating restrictions. Quite an interesting tale to read.

Here’s a recap of some of the best comments regarding the Roosevelt Island Bridge not opening and being directed away from the Bridge by the US Coast Guard:

“We were ordered by the Coast Guard to go around and wait on the WESTERN side. They planned to escort us through soon, but until "plan" was all approved, be sure NOT to go past the Queensborough Bridge. That was easy to figure out since there were USCG boats with 2 machine guns each, clearly blocking that area.”

“We were out into the Harbor by 11:30, but some of the boats near the end of our Conga line were stopped again, by a new security zone set up around the heliport at then end of Manhattan. Pres. Bush had decided to leave an hour early and they got trapped again.”

I especially liked the Congo Line reference and where Brian in his post describes the need for constant communication between the various USCG and City agencies.