Paddling the Seven Seas of Central Park | Gotham Canoe
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Canoe trip across Central Park New York City
- Thread starter yellowcanoe
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Cool article. Thanks for posting.
Reminds me of the time I smuggled a canoe onto to Jefferson Memorial’s
Tidal Basin. Across a fence and lowering the canoe down a 5’ retaining wall to the water. It was after hours and felt bandit, even though there is a concession that rents paddle wheelers there during the day. After reading the article I realize I should have carried the boat over to the Lincoln Reflecting Pool, too. Things were more lax 30 years ago. Not sure I’d try that now.
Reminds me of the time I smuggled a canoe onto to Jefferson Memorial’s
Tidal Basin. Across a fence and lowering the canoe down a 5’ retaining wall to the water. It was after hours and felt bandit, even though there is a concession that rents paddle wheelers there during the day. After reading the article I realize I should have carried the boat over to the Lincoln Reflecting Pool, too. Things were more lax 30 years ago. Not sure I’d try that now.
Surprisingly interesting, very well written, and great full moon night photos.
Here is the shorter and less well written New Yorker article about the trip:
www.newyorker.com
Here is the shorter and less well written New Yorker article about the trip:
A Secret Voyage Across the Seven Seas of Central Park
Two urban Shackletons braved the elements for a clandestine, moonlit canoe excursion down each of the Park’s waterways, from the Harlem Meer in the north to the Pond in the south, dodging the police and “Star Wars” reënactors along the way.
That kinda scares me.. With all those braided channels how do you read current ( grass drifting direction) in the dark?
Well… headlamp for marking the tree line as needed and spotting eyes on the water. Can zoom in on the aerials on my phone to see where I am. Ida know, haven’t done it but it sounds awesome! Maybe in the beater fiberglass Wenonah rather than the Blacklite Northstar… there are silicified limestone boulders and those are most unforgiving. And I’d need to hit the dam lined up right.
What could go wrong?
I only looked at the Slave Channel from the bottom... who said Florida rocks were not fearsome? Florida is all rock ! Ok some of it has mud on top but I loved that I could get out and walk in Whitewater Bay in the Everglades.. All limestone! I did use a paddle as a poke pole to avoid stepping in a hole unexpectedly.
Slave canal would be a different story. As would the wild streams going from Goose Pasture down to the Aucilla. That part would require more familiarity and care. I’d pull out at Goose Pasture, the end of the wide part of the river.
The photos with the article show trees without much foliage, which undoubtedly allowed moon and city lights to somewhat illuminate the ponds.
I had severe moonlight mania for a few years and regularly did full moon outings. One summer full moon i canoed the GW canal, an easy CII run. I could read the moonlit water, but that was only about half of it. The other half of the surface disappeared in areas of foliage moonshadow, shadows from the tree canopy. The shadowed areas just looked black. In reality, it was a benign run and I couldn’t get in much trouble, but in my mind those black areas were full of hazards and very frightening. I wouldn’t do it again.
So, if paddling where It’s important to see where you are going, I suggest a strong headlamp. Not that you need to turn it on. Headlamps make you blind outside the light cone. But moonlight alone sometimes isn’t enough.
I’ve done a fair amount of night time cycling. One of the best local situations is a trail through the Munson sand hills, after a rain when the sand is nice and packed, under a full moon. The sand trail shows as a bright white stripe through the pine needles. No lights, just go! But I guess you can’t drown in the pines.
I've done some full moon pond paddles. Magic. Highly recommend.
There was earlier canoe tripping in Central Park. In 1927 Chief Great Fire began patrolling Central Park's lake in full Iroquois attire. Story below picture.
ephemeralnewyork.wordpress.com
An Iroquois Indian canoes in Central Park
It’s all a very culturally insensitive stunt from the 1920s, apparently. According to the caption on the back of this Getty Images photo, with the city skyline in view: “Often romantici…
ephemeralnewyork.wordpress.com
My guess is that this canoe might be a Kennebec Torpedo model as shown on the following page from their 1922 catalog. This would be similar to the small canoe of @Boatman53 pictured at the link below. Fun Stuff,
Benson
Looking at Stem Curves and Geometry
I've been noticing how the stems of different wood-canvas canoes have different stem curve shapes or radii. For example, this 1916 Old Town OTCA was made for Percy Rockefeller, and its stem curve shape is close to circular. My Rollin Thurlow reproduction of a circa 1900 Morris, which I assume...
www.canoetripping.net
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