by
Brian Tong

From Row to the Narrows

This Labor Day, a crew of nine departed Pier 40 on the King Tide bound for The Narrows. Starting at 8:30 AM and arriving at the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge at around 11:15, we caught the ebb, making for a speedy and surprisingly easygoing journey. Oddly, boat traffic in Upper New York Bay was relatively light, though it may have only felt that way because we made sure to steer clear of shipping channels when possible. Hugging the Brooklyn coastline from Red Hook to Fort Hamilton, we took in great views of Sunset Park’s industrial waterfront, the Brooklyn Army Terminal, the lower reaches of the Upper New York Bay, and Fort Wadsworth from perspectives that can only be experienced on the water.

Passing the Verrazano on the Staten Island side, we circled Hoffman Island, a man-made island originally used to quarantine immigrants now re-purposed as a bird sanctuary. We then beached at the Fort Wadsworth campgrounds around noon to take a two hour lunch break (involving a 20 minute walk to a deli since everything else was closed).

The only tricky part of the whole journey was the launch from the campgrounds. After doing the default backing-out launch, large waves quickly broadsided us back onto the beach. At Marcel’s suggestion, we launched bow first. The increased power from rowing forward away from the beach (as opposed to backwatering out) did the trick, and we were on our way.

Thanks to the prevailing SW winds, the full flood tide, and a fully re-energized crew, we arrived back at Pier 40 around 4:45 to a barbecue manned by Frank and Dave Clayton. In all, the trip was roughly 22 miles, only 8 miles short of the route of our annual fundraiser held last month, the Row Around Manhattan. All in all, it was a fun row, and definitely worth waking up at 5:30 AM for.

Click on the thumbnail below for more photos:

Row to the Narrows

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