In case you were wondering who all those kayakers were that were paddling South down the East River’s West Chanel they were participants in the 2007 Mayor’s Cup New York City Kayak Championship. The race took its entrants on a 26.7 mile marathon around Manhattan including the stretch of the East River we call our backyard (granted a backyard we have no access to). The race was associated with the Riverkeeper project. The race boasted $15,000 in total prize money including $5,000 for the winner.
I have heard a rumor that a plan may be in the works to establish a point off of Roosevelt Island in the East Channel that kayakers might be able to gain access to the East River. I know nothing about it other than that rumor. For anyone that knows the East River the East Channel is much calmer than the West Channel so a kayak access point would be more suited to that channel.
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acoupla those kayakers were so gung-ho that they nearly were run down. a small tug was pushing a much larger disabled tug down channel, and blew a warning 3 times... they didn't blink. the tugs were about 25 feet away before the guys moved, and passed within a beamwidth of one, and even closer to the other. the kayakers just sorta sat there and stared at the beasts going by. had the disabled tug not been able to put on power at the last minute (and help steer to center channel), it could have been a mighty short race for those guys. it's a shipping lane, dudes, not a lake.
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