By Frank Cervi & Joe Fung
On Saturday, June 1st, early morning risers met at the boathouse and towed the Notorious GIG, Warrior and the wherry to Overpeck Park, Lenonia NJ. The VCB rowers were hosted by the Overpeck Community Rowing Association. as part of National Learn to Row Day, a nationwide event sponsored by US Rowing.As we headed into the park, Frank Cervi, Joe Fung, Jenny Chen, Miad Hoque, YuQing Xu, Kenneth Chuen, Marcus Chan, John Olson, and Margaret Ma enthusiastically unloaded the boats at the launch area.

From Drop Box

and were ready for the sceptical community at a floating dock 50 yards away.

From Overpeck

“I never seen boats like this”, one man said to his wife.
After erecting our tent over a picnic table and setting up our promotional materials, we started to sign up parents and kids.

From Overpeck

After a day of boat trips lasting approximately 20-30 minutes, in the end we took 40 patrons out on the water.

From Overpeck

A mother commented “if we knew this was here we would not plan to go to the shore.”
The afternoon progressed though steamy hot sunshine. Neighbors and friends started to arrive, bringing their kids who experienced something right at their back doors. They came off the boats with plenty of smiles.

From Drop Box

From Overpeck

About 3:30 John Olson was very excited to get the grill going and I noted the long day’s effort on all our volunteer’s faces who looked forward to sustenance. We invited Coach Clemens and his local high school crews for a feast, conversing about our boathouse. There was growing interest in collaborating on around the Manhattan row with local high school kids. Coach Clemens expressed how well the day went for all and this met with satisfaction from us too. Eating our fill with our strength reacquired, we knew it was time to reload the boats onto the trailer.

From Overpeck

We got to back to the boathouse at 7pm.

Joe: “Rowing in Overpeak Park was unique; it was a rare opportunity to row in calm water that is not usually available to us on the Hudson. It was a fun and learning experience seeing how the local high school clubs in that area operated. Overall, although left tired and sunburnt, the event was a success. It provided something for everyone, the newer generation of VCB coxswains got to experience something out of the norm and the locals were able to row in Whitehall gigs, boats uncommon in Overpeak.”- Joe
Marcus: “I learned to cox better and improved my rowing.”
Jenny: “Overall, the row last Saturday seemed fairly successful and I think the people who were able to get onto a boat and row, thoroughly enjoyed themselves. It was personally really fun teaching and having adults as well as kids aboard. It would definitely be something I wouldn’t mind spending time doing again and I imagine it would be just as successful the second time around.”

The following article was posted by UrbanBoater on February 15, 2012 in Features, International, Urban Boats·

Unfortunately, the budget wouldn’t allow for an interview in person but UrB caught up with Rob Buchanon of New York’s Village Community Boathouse to find out more about boat life in the city.

The Village Community Boathouse (VCB henceforth) is an all-volunteer community rowing association based on Pier 40 in Hudson River Park in Lower Manhatten. Rob starts by telling me that the original idea for the association came from Turkey,

“The boathouse is a spinoff of a an organization called Floating the Apple, a community rowing group founded in the early 1990s by a retired archeologist named Mike Davis. Mike had spent a lot of his career in Turkey and was struck by the neighborhood rowing clubs in Istanbul, which seemed to be located at the end of every street. On returning to New York, he set out to create a similar network of community boathouses here.”

The Hudson River Park offered the Community Boathouse free rent and waterfront space in exchange for the association offering the public free rowing. Rob notes that the Community Boathouse is a social, education and environmental enterprise,

“The harbor is our biggest public space, and our primary mission is to promote universal public access to that space, to get people on the water wherever they live. We’re also interested in the environmental stewardship of the estuary, and in fostering a tradition of maritime hospitality and fellowship (in other words, partying) with other boating groups.”

From Village Community Boathouse Favorite Photos

The association now has around 60 members from all over New York that not only get to use the boats but get involved in making them. The association has a number of boats to choose from, “ten four-oared, fixed-seat, 26-foot-long Whitehall gigs, based on a traditional New York Harbor design, plus a six-oared pilot gig and several smaller boats” adding proudly, “all of them built by us”, an added attraction for members that can get involved and learn new skills (you never know when you might need to build a boat).

I asked Rob what kind of people the association attracts, “Every kind operson-it’s New York. Our core membership is about 60 people, of all ages and ethnicities. Many live nearby in Greenwich Village or Soho, but others travel from all over the five boroughs.”

The association is growing with numerous high schools, colleges and member of the public getting involved with the rowing programmes and community boat-building sessions. Rob notes that, “Last year, more than 1200 individuals went rowing with us, and we sent out more than 500 cruises, for a total of more than 3000 rower-days.”

From Village Community Boathouse Favorite Photos

The increasing numbers of people participating in the association’s rowing or boat-building programmes means that New Yorkers are getting to enjoy a public space previously inaccessible to many of them. Rob notes that, “the best thing about urban waterways is that they belong to all of us, no one can privatize them or put them off limits-at least not as long as we are out there using them.” Rob adds that public usage and ownership of the waterways not only empowers people but can enrich their lives in a social, mental and physical way,

“People who row with us therefore experience the thrill of collective ownership, as it were. They also get to know their neighbors and anyone else who wanders in, feel the power of the tide, soak up the scenery and a bit of history, and get a good workout. We’re not a club, by the way–for better or worse, we’re a true community boathouse. Anyone can row with us, and anyone who ‘exhibits a spirit of service’ can become a voting member.”

From Downloads

To link with the original Urban Boater Article, click HERE

From Downloads

Two years ago, the fire at the North River Wastewater Treatment Plant at 125th Street and the Hudson River resulted in the release of millions of gallons of sewage into the water. Timely data about water quality became paramount. Boating clubs, fishermen and others who came in close contact with the water needed to know when it was safe to resume their activities — but were frustrated by a lack of useful information.

Last year, to supplement water quality data presented by government agencies, the NYC Water Trail Association in partnership with The River Project organized the Citizen’s Water Quality Testing Program, in which people volunteered to take weekly water samples at shoreline sites all around New York City (agencies generally collect samples mid-channel). The samples were tested for Enterococcus, an indicator of human waste.

See results of last year’s program HERE:

The 2013 program begins Wednesday, May 1 at 5pm, when Nina Zain offers a training session at The River Project’s field station on Pier 40. Participants agree to take a sample every Thursday morning starting May 23, and deliver samples to Ms. Zain at Pier 40 by noon. Weekly sampling continues for 20 weeks, with results posted online every Friday.

Ms. Zain and Rob Buchanan, coordinators of the program, are adding new sites and hoping to expand testing to difficult-to-understand locations. “We are always looking for more locations and participants,” Mr. Buchanan said. “People can volunteer as samplers, or just join our mailing list and see the results every Friday afternoon when we send them out.”

For details, email [email protected].