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Written by Captain Samantha Heyman
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Friday, 14 August 2009 07:49 |
Like the explorers we’ve been honoring all year, sloop Clearwater has been searching out new waters. After our big return to Brooklyn, we spent an exciting and busy weekend at another new dock, the Nyack Boat Club. Like Gulliver among the Lilliputians, we wove our way through the mooring field of small yachts to come alongside at the small floating dock. We were grateful, for once, that there was a lack of wind since we had little wiggle room and a dock most certainly not built for a 69-ton sailing ship.
We hadn’t been there for over twenty years, and the enthusiasm of residents and club members was apparent and infectious. We took almost a hundred people out sailing on two sails on Saturday, getting a little push off the dock from one of their small motorboats, and welcomed over 300 visitors aboard for dockside tours on Sunday, despite the inclement weather. We made many new friends and were treated with exemplary hospitality, with the crew boogying down at the club’s party Saturday evening. And though we enjoyed our stay very much, we departed Nyack under cover of night at 9:30 PM on Sunday, guided back out by their launch driver, Steve.
Why would we take off at such a ridiculous hour you might ask? There is a saying: “When the depth of your boat exceeds the depth of the water, you are, most assuredly, aground”, and the two hours on either side of low tide at the Nyack Boat Club saw our hull most assuredly stuck in the soft mud of the Nyack shore. Thankfully, this does no harm to the hull—you just can’t go anywhere until you’re floating again. Monday was our big preparation day for the 3-day “Young Women at the Helm” program, and we needed to be in the city early and could not afford to lose the bulk of the day waiting for the tide to rise in Nyack. So we took our window, and with a 1,000,000 candle power spotlight to illuminate the obstacles, we hightailed it down to the Alpine Boat Basin about 9 miles to the south.
We were secure before the rain hit and enjoyed a quiet night to recover from a fun and eventful weekend. Thanks to Jack Yates, the Nyack Boat Club and the local residents for making us feel so welcome! |
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Written by Captain Samantha Heyman
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Wednesday, 12 August 2009 20:39 |
It’s been a frenetic week aboard sloop Clearwater, but all the energy moved generally in the right direction. Completing our week in Red Hook only fortified our good feelings about the neighborhood and our resolve to return. Highlights of our visit there, beside the obvious and previously mentioned harbor inhabitants caught in our net, were many:
- Saturday night, after an astoundingly beautiful sail, the crew adjourned to Sunny’s Bar, a historic site in its own right and serving the sailors at the waterfront since 1890, for a great grassroots bluegrass jam session. The small bar was filled with guitars and banjos, plus mandolin, lap steel guitar and an upright bass—and the music didn’t finish up until just shy of 4 AM. I was even convinced to bust out a song or two, and the crowd graciously sat through “Bell Bottom Trousers,” a randy sea shantey I wouldn’t dream of singing with students on board despite the fact that I prefer a “cleaner” version, and a song I learned from my twin brother, “Old Zeb,” about an aging schoonerman from Martha’s Vineyard. I emerged from the bar with my crew tired but happy, and looking forward to adding many of our new musical friends to our sailing roster.
- Time off from deck tours afforded the crew the opportunity to gain a little culture. They toured the shops and galleries along Van Brunt Street, stopping in as well at the free art show in the warehouse next door presented by the Brooklyn Waterfront Artists Coalition. They were also treated to tours of David Sharp’s Waterfront Museum and show barge, a beautifully restored wooden barge that presents programs in history and theater.
- In addition to the utterly convenient proximity of the Fairway market, Red Hook is home to another food vendor with a very specific product. Steve’s Key Lime Pie shop was just a short walk away and more than satisfied my aggressive sweet tooth. He’s been making fresh Key lime pies for over twenty years and has invented perhaps the best dessert on earth: a Key lime tart dipped in dark chocolate known as the “swingle.” I could eat at least one swingle every day for the rest of my life—that’s how damn delicious this hybrid creation is.
- Amid the sticky heat of mid-summer, nothing is more precious to a sailing crew than a shower, and the kind folks at Pier 41 were gracious to oblige. Thanks for the showers go out to Dave, restorer and builder of violins, cellos and other stringed instruments, who owns the cutest little block plane I have ever seen; and to Sandor & Gloria, proprietors of the Liberty Sunset Garden Center. An oasis of green among the bricks and stone, they carry a spectrum of living things ranging from exotic plants to heirloom tomatoes to deep red hibiscuses. When they came sailing, they brought with them a lovely gift of a plumeria plant, my favorite flower from the South Pacific, and I will pour my heart into keeping it alive on board.
On Thursday night—the day before my birthday—I had the opportunity to work for Clearwater in a different way. The “Big Surprise” Tour was in town at the Beacon theater, with our old friends from the Revival, Old Crow Medicine Show and the Felice Brothers, joined by Dave Rawlings, Gillian Welch and Justin Townes Earle. We were invited to standby at a Clearwater exhibit in the lobby to spread the good word and interact with the crowd. It was a fantastic show and a great way to usher in my birthday. More importantly, it was during those conversations with the crowd that I began to realize the power of our Brooklyn visit. Many folks that I spoke with had actually gotten word somehow of our visit, had toured the boat there or had told their friends to check it out. Everyone we spoke with asked excitedly when we would return this year.
The answer (because I know all of you out there reading this are waiting to hear) is YES! We will be back in mid-October for several days. Now that we know we can stay there safely, this time we will give everyone proper and ample notice. We will plan for official public deck tours and public sails, plus create partner programs with the Waterfront Museum, the local urban farm outfit, Added Value, and local artists. Also in mind: hootenannies and fundraisers at the local watering holes—perhaps with some Key lime pie…
We have a busy couple of months ahead of us, but both Clearwater and the Red Hook community are abuzz with the possibilities, and all are looking forward to another warm homecoming to the borough. Check our website and our sailing schedule for updates, and we’ll see you then! |
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Written by Captain Samantha Heyman
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Wednesday, 12 August 2009 20:31 |
The Great Brooklyn Experiment of 2009 carries on despite Mother Nature's best attempts to break our spirit. I was disappointed to have to cancel our “Thank You” sail for the many folks who helped get us here, which also would have continued our fundraising and outreach efforts here in the Brooklyn community, but that is how it goes when you make your living on a sailing ship.
 Indeed, just docking here and being accessible to the public is a feat in itself, and a goal of mine for many years. Brooklyn—all of New York City in fact—has miles of waterfront, virtually none of it usable for a vessel the size and design of sloop Clearwater. The right-sized docks present too much exposure to the wake and swell in the now heavily traveled waterways; and those docks offering protection are undeveloped and unsafe to board passengers. Add desired proximity to the Bay Ridge Flats, fantastic fishing grounds in the harbor, and the New York City waterfront is facing a tall order from its most acclaimed historic ship.
The vision and generosity of a couple of Brooklynites, however, has opened up a small dock to us in Red Hook and allowed Clearwater to return to this beautiful borough after almost eight years away. Built as a front-loading ferry dock, it is a little funky for the sloop, requiring some crafty fendering and acres of chafe gear. In spite of the exposed nature of the dock, we ridie the swells surprisingly well. The squishy fenders have managed to stay put in between the steel dock and the wooden boat; protecting us, even when the rolling reminds us faintly of being at sea. Plus, we’ve gotten beat up far worse at other docks with far less to show for our troubles.
The location here, again despite the southwesterly exposure, is ideal. The neighborhood of Red Hook, and this particular corner, with its massive and beautifully restored Civil War-era warehouses, feels as if they were made to welcome the sloop. Best of all, we have gained tremendous exposure of another kind while here, as local residents are re-discovering the harbor and enjoying a unique interaction with their waterfront.
We have had free impromptu deck tours for the public, all very well attended. Almost 400 visitors crossed our decks in just a few days, the result of not one word of advertising—just folks walking by, in the area to shop at the Fairway market or the Garden Center, to check out the art galleries, or to soak up the tranquility of lush landscaping set against breathtaking views of the harbor.
We've had some great sails here so far. Our “Team Clearwater” sail, for our 5 Boro Bike tour participants, was, in the words of Bike NY Executive Director Pam Tice, “sublime.” A westerly wind allowed us to tack up close to the Statue of Liberty, then down towards the Verrazano Bridge. We were serenaded by our friends from Medicine Woman and their rich harmonies during the sail, and this time they brought their cellist! 
Our public sail Saturday night nearly sold out, again with only word-of-mouth to bring folks aboard, and a fresh easterly breeze guided us along the Brooklyn waterfront past the Gowanus, Sunset Park and Owl’s Head. In response to the enthusiasm of our dockside visitors, we added a second public sail on Tuesday evening from 6 PM to 9 PM that filled up as well.
And those famous Bay Ridge Flats, less than 10 boat lengths away, have lived up to their great reputation. In four trawls we have caught at least five flounder, two almost a foot in length; a baby sea robin; several blue claw crabs (one very gravid) and spider crabs; a hermit crab; a moon snail; many bay anchovies; two star fish; four pipefish; and two seahorses. Yes, that’s right—wild seahorses live in New York Harbor! All these specimen were caught in a net cast for half of our normal trawl time. By the time we departed Brooklyn over 150 youngsters had sailed aboard the sloop, joined by over 100 adults—Brooklyn’s “young at heart,” who are just as enthralled by the catch and the power of a sailing vessel as the students.
In the long term, we can improve upon this dock, striving for something more stable, better protected and gentler on the old girl. All in all, it has been a satisfying and jubilant return to Brooklyn, and our bow is well through the entrance of this hospitable borough.
My sincere thanks go out to Tom Fox and NY Water Taxi, and Greg O'Connell and Pier 41 Associates for allowing us to be docked in Red Hook. Thanks also to all the local residents and businesses (a big thanks to the Fairway Staff) who have made us feel so welcome here and whose enthusiasm for the sloop Clearwater and her educational program infuses us with renewed energy and pride in our work. I am excited to see what comes next. |
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