NYC Tugboat Race 2015

Bravo to the organizers and participants of the 2015 NYC race.  It starts with a muster…

L to r:  Catherine Miller, Robert E. McAllister, Eric R. Thornton, Mister T, Buchanan 1, and Buchanan 12

which looks  different as you shift perspective.

Add Red Hook and Sarah Ann, with a jet ski for scale.

 

Add Thomas Witte.

 

Take a close up on Mister T with John J. Harvey in the distance.

It’s great to see race newcomers like Sea Scout Ship 243 out of Rahway NJ, and

Patricia.

By this point, some boats like Robert E. McAllister start to get impatient.

Muster then turns into a procession,  filing straight toward the starting line and

 

showing the colors

as some newcomers catch up.

James William used to be a Moran boat.

Next stage . . . it’s the tension on the starting line, feet digging into the starting blocks and muscles tensing, sort of.

There are 11 boats here, including Margot pushing a set of rock barges and not racing.

They’re off!

and water starts to cascade away from the bows…

froth by the ton.

 

But when the quick minutes of the race have elapsed, the first boat down the course is the impatient Robert E. McAllister.

And almost as in a triathlon, the dash down the course changes and the pushing starts.

 

All manner of paired struggle ensues.

 

And we need to leave.  All photos here by Will Van Dorp, with thanks to Bjoern and crew for my ride.