NYC Tugboat Race 2013 b

The race may last for less than 10 minutes for (most) boats, but each participant spends hours before and after.  Here, using the power of thousands of conceptual horses and one very real donkey, all four vessels in Miller contingent make their way upriver.

At Pier 66, crew on deck and crew below start them up.

Lady B (read her interesting history here and here, the latter explaining that the “B” stands for either “Benazir” or Bhutto.”

For boats that arrive on the scene early, Red Hook may have come straight from a job delivering bunker to Norwegian Breakaway, there’s time for what might look like lollygagging, and

(in these next two shots from William Hyman) saluting the spectators or just

being seen.  Does Seagus have another name?

But it’s also getting acquainted time.

Some regulars didn’t show, and other vessels arrived that I’d never seen before.

I had to look up South River Rescue Squad attending the Great North River race . . .

Somewhere in the attractively dressed race day crew on Jake-boat Resolute are two of the principals of tugboatinformation.com . . .  hi Birk and Craig, as well as the force majeure aka Rod behind Narragansett Bay Shipping.

This kayaker stays well out of the stream.

The white bowstriped vessel–Lt. Michael P. Murphy– in the distance won the prize for persistence, finishing the course in a historic half an hour . . . spending most of that time doing a mid-race-course onboard repair.

Despite forecasts of storms–and rain north of the GW Bridge–the only lightning I saw was here and

thunder from the crowds on the piers.  That’s the intrepid bowsprite showing us her drawing/painting arm.

Spectators took advantage of any platform.

More soon.   Thanks to William Hyman for his fotos, especially the one of an exuberant W. O. Decker, which I featured hard at work using Seth Tane fotos from over 30 years ago here.  Click here for John Huntington’s superb fotos from a wet place in the race . . ..

Again, my hat’s off to all who must work on Labor Day, including my son, who always works holidays for the higher hourly rate.  And if you’re inclined, read what Paul Krugman has to say about Labor Day.

Half a Week Away

Five (can it really have been that long ago!!?)  years ago I did a series of posts counting down the days til the tugboat race:  three  . . . two  . . . one.  In these I speculated which boats might show. My goal had not been accuracy of prediction, and as it turned out, I was mostly wrong.

This post strives to accurately predict which vessels–some of which have appeared in previous races–will not appear.

Crow will be a no-show.

Juliet . . . disengaged.

Scott C and Dorothy Elizabeth . . . nope.

Ross Sea . . . you won’t see it.

Barney Turecamo . . .  are you kidding?

Black Hawk . . . in the shop on the other coast.  This foto and the one above come thanks to Seth Tane.

Bloxom . . .  ?  All she needs is some good slippery bottom paint and a tuneup . . . bet you could buy her cheap and still enter her in the race?  Otherwise, she’s sidelined for now.

Handy Three came through the sixth boro just over a year ago . . . but she has other engagements this weekend.

Dean Reinauer . . . don’t expect this one, foto taken in a snowstorm the likes of which she’ll never see again .  . in Nigeria.

Rosemary McAllister?  She won’t race,  I’d bet on it.

Labrador Sea?  Reconfigured and reassigned.

Baltic . . . somewhere near the Equator.

Crow again . . . no.  Sorry.  Vernon C . . . no longer in the registry.

Urger?  As a workboat, on Labor Day weekend, she’s laboring.

Rosemary . . . I reiterate . .  she ain’t coming.

Shenandoah?  No.  Tug44 . . .  is that really a tugboat?  Would they actually allow her in the race?

To find out who will be there and to learn how you could even watch the race from a non-racing vessel, click here.

All fotos by Will Van Dorp, except the two provided by Seth Tane.

Related:  I know from my analytics that this blog has readers in Nigeria.  I’d LOVE to hear from you, specifically related to the tugboats formerly of New York USA and currently working in the  Nigerian marine industries.