CB 2019 B

CB is obviously “Chicago bound.”

Neither Thomas D. Witte nor Clearwater here off Mount Beacon is that, but we were.

Meagan Ann headed south with

used and abused cars on

SMM 157 for the start of their last trip.

James William pushed several loads of building materials southbound.

Rebecca Ann turned around for her next trip.

Lisa Ann worked on the bulk heading project in Troy.

Frances moved a scow south, and

Ancient Mariner too moved on.

All photos by will Van Dorp, and this was Newburgh to Troy.

 

Retro Sixth Boro 15

It’s that time again . . .  a glance back at exactly a decade ago.  Back in June 2009, the 400th anniversary of the Half Moon going up the Hudson kicked off with a 20th century version of the Half Moon going up the Hudson.  Note the banner hung to the old TZ Bridge along the right side of the photo.   That replica is now in the Netherlands, looking for a new home, and that bridge–parts of it–have become fish structure somewhere off Long Island.

A newish boat in town was Peter F. Gellatly, now Vane’s Long Island.

Bounty–alas her fate–was still an irregular visitor to the sixth boro.  Here she’s made up to Harvey just outboard of Frying Pan.

Brian Nicholas moves a scrap barge out of the East River.

Paul T. Moran made one of her really rare visits to the sixth boro.

Container vessels calling in the ports of NY and NJ had not yet become UL . . .  ultra large versions

Harvey follows Half Moon northbound on the Hudson.

Michigan Service and Erie Service gather near IMTT.

Sisters assists with a tanker, and

here’s more of the River Day procession marking the year of Half Moon the first.

All photos taken in June 2009 by Will Van Dorp.

Autumn Sail 11

Way in the distance where the waterway narrows, that’s lock E-11 and accompanying moveable dam, Amsterdam NY.  Click here for closer-ups of some of the Erie Canal locks and bank scenery.

I saw no names anywhere as this catamaran cut dynamic grooves into a calm river, where I was waiting–in vain–for a vessel in the opposite direction, hoping to get photos of it navigating through the morning mist.  By this time, that mist had dissipated.

Here Bear motorsails westward past Little Gull light . . .

Anyone help with the name of this large sloop in the sixth boro about three weeks back?

It looked to be about 60–70′  . . .

America 2.0 plied harbor waters operations

out of Chelsea Piers.

Off Croton Point, this metallic-looking catamaran headed upriver.

Again, I noticed no name, but the flag could say Bermuda.

Even as the mainsail is lowered, Clearwater is unmistakeable.

And this brings up back up to the Oswego Canal, it’s brigantine St Lawrence II;

her rig conspicuously missing tells me it went on ahead on a truck.  St. Lawrence II here was nearing Oswego.

And to close this out, here are three photos from Lake Erie, late summer.

 

 

All photos recently by Will Van Dorp, who by this time should be back on the St. Lawrence River.

 

Port of Albany 1

aka GHP&W 5

You saw the tug Cornell moving Clearwater to the Rondout in this post in late October.  But if you wondered how the Maine-built sloop was loaded, today’s your lucky day.  First, the truck comes to deliver the wood to support the keel on the barge before the

Travelift moves Clearwater.  Along the left side of the photo, that’s Norman’s Kill near where it flows into the Hudson.

 

When the blocking is ready, the Travelift moves down the tracks alongside the “pit”

and final adjustments are made.

Jacks provide stability.  Note the large green building in the background;  that’s Scarano Boat Building, where the Manhattans and many other vessels have been built.

Click here to see the 3m31 sec YouTube of the process of getting the loaded barge out of the pit for the southbound trip to the Rondout.

 

Many thanks to Paul Strubeck for these.

Random Tugs 152

The Cornell (1950) with Clearwater (1969) on Hughes 141 photos come with thanks to Glenn Raymo.  The Hudson Valley is particularly beautiful this time of year, especially if you catch it in the right light, which of course is true everywhere.

The other tugboats and landscapes in this post are mine.  In the KVK, Sarah Ann (2003) passes RTC 135 just as the morning sun clears a bank of low-lying clouds.

An upriver-bound Navigator (1981) clears the Kills with HT 100 around the same hour.

. . . passing lighthouses,

gantry cranes, storage facilities,

 

high ground, 

 

and impossible towers.

Many thanks to Glenn for use of his photos.  I’m sure Paul Strubeck plays a role here also.  And I took the photos of Sarah Ann and Navigator.

Here and here are some previous photos of Clearwater on its winter maintenance barge.

Whatzit 28

Here’s the index.

Of course, it’s two boats, the sloop Clearwater tied up to the ex-NYC DEP skimmer Cormorant.  As I understand the situation, it’s on the market . . . again.

I don’t know the date of this photo or the identity of the person showing scale.

Dimensions are 114′ x 44′ x 10′

And here’s Clearwater pulling away.  But, before they cast off lines, their crew was on the dock checking

this short nose sturgeon.  Now I can’t prove a connection between dead fish and TZ construction, but a few days ago I read this article at the Lohud site that included this paragraph:  “In June 2012, the fisheries service determined Tappan Zee construction would injure or kill some sturgeon but was “not likely to jeopardize the continued existence” of the fish. Under a federal permit issued to the Thruway Authority, two of each species can be killed during construction.”  I’m surprised such language exists in the paperwork.  And what happens if this limit is exceeded?

 

Well,  here’s another paragraph from the article:  “[Riverkeeper]  said 100 Atlantic and shortnose sturgeon have died since the start of construction in 2012. From 2009 to 2011, it said six sturgeon deaths were reported to the state Department of Environmental Conservation.”

Here’s a statement of Cormorant‘s mission, now turned over to the USACE.

 

All photos by Will Van Dorp, back on June 12, 2015.

A Slew of Sail

There’s winter sail, spring sail, and autumn sail.  And today I’m just staying inside culling photos.   Since moving by wind has been around for millennia, Pioneer is a relatively modern vessel.

Pioneer, 1885

This vessel below can be “insanely fast.” I took this photos and ones that follow back on May 11, 2015 in Morris Canal.

Lending Club 2, 2015

Here’s another sixth boro regular, the largest NYC-based schooner.  See her here in winter maintenance.

Check out these special sails on Clipper City.

Here LC2‘s just finished the 635 nm run in less than 24 hours.

From Seth Tane on the Columbia River, it’s HMCS Oriole, US-built in 1921.

I’d love to see the interior of Lending Club 2, but my guess is . . . spartan.

Also from back in May . . . it’s Wavertree in the last feet of its transit for a major makeover, Thomas J. Brown sliding her over.

Here’s another shot of L’Hermione entering the Upper Bay for the first time.

And what do you make of this?

Maybe more on that last photo tomorrow.

Except for the photo by Seth Tane, all photos by Will Van Dorp.

 

Hudson Downbound ’13b

To start part 2, I’ll go back upriver a bit to Esopus Island.  Craig Eric Reinauer with RTC 103 is anchored to the south.  Much of the Hudson has  associated with some unusual characters, both in fiction and in real life.  Esopus Island is no exception:  about a century ago it was the magical hideaway of Aleister Crowley.  My friend Mitch–Newtown Pentacle–wrote about him here.

Farther south is a place with a magical name but a quite mundane though necessary construction on it.  This is the current resident of Duyvil’s Danskammer Point, idled in litigation I think.  The Dutch called it “devil’s dance chamber” because they saw natives doing a ceremonial dance there by firelight . . .   A lighthouse and several brickworks also once stood here.

Looking back upstream . .  the Newburgh-Beacon Bridge and Danskammer Point in the background.  Foreground is picnic boat Gem.  A Hinckley?

River Rose previously appeared here about three years ago.

Justine McAllister . . . I caught her the day before east- and then northbound at the KV buoy pushing RTC 120.  Also, three years ago I caught Justine towing the same barge on the Hudson.

Upbound off Cornwall . .  it’s Kimberly Poling, also a frequenter of both this river and this blog.

I’m not sure why so many large yachts were on the river the other day . . . off Bannerman’s Castle, location of a ceremonial swim a few months back, it’s Blue Moon.

Here’s Bannerman’s from the south side, juxtaposing the residence (left) with the warehouse.

I’ve yet to deliver on closeups of the residence, but here’s a preview.  The “picture window” serves to illustrate the interior for now.

That’s Bannerman’s in the background as Black Watch passes northbound.  Slope on the right is dauntingly named Breakneck Ridge.

The Hudson is truly loved.

Here a crowded Clearwater lowers sail in the Hudson Highlands.

Seastreak New York, usually shuttling south from the sixth boro, travels north when the leaves start to turn color.   Not pictured to the left is West Point.

Peak behind Bear Mountain Bridge is Anthony’s Nose, which I scaled back in April.

And finally . . . just south of the Bear Mountain Bridge . . . it’s another people mover usually associated with the confines of the sixth boro, Circle Line Queens, here assisting in leaf peeping.

All fotos by Will Van Dorp.

Clearwater Maintenance 2013

If anyone out there needs to be convinced of the beauty of the Hudson Valley less than 100 miles north of the big city, take a glance at this foto by Tim Hetrick showing tanker Icdas 11 escorted by a paparazzi savvy eagle.

The foto below shows sloop Clearwater in mid-June arriving at the music festival that shares the same name.

A minute or so earlier . . . Clearwater rounded the bend following Woody Guthrie toward the shallows.

But if anyone has notions of operating a wooden vessel, it’s important to consider the regular maintenance.  Here was a post from about three years ago about work on Clearwater.  Currently way upriver this

is happening again.  All the following fotos now come thanks to Paul Strubeck.  In mid-December, Clearwater was downrigged and hauled out near Albany at Scarano Boat Building and

gently placed onto Black Diamond, with tug Cornell nearby.

Securing the big sloop for travel takes care and time, more time than there is light at the winter solstice end of the year.

But when all’s fast, the trip to where the winter maintenance crew can begin.

Click here for an article about Clearwater‘s winter home in the shadow of the Hudson River Maritime Museum.

Many thanks to Paul for sending these along.  It looks like I need to find time to get up to the Rondout.  The first two fotos in the post are mine.

Up the Hudson 2

The event is called Clearwater’s Great Hudson River Revival, so indeed, it’s a water festival, a river fest  started by a folksinger, now 93,  who cares deeply about

the river that flowed past his birthplace.  A river festival means boats.

Of course, Clearwater in the distance is the flagship of this festival, and the big sloop spawned the smaller sloop Woodie Guthrie closer in.

The festival takes place on a peninsula where you see the tents in the middle of the foto.

It’s called Croton Point Park, about 30 miles north of Manhattan’s north tip.

But this location is surrounded by shallow water, so temporary docks are needed, which means small shallow draft tugboats like Augie (1943 and on the first job of her new life) and

Patty Nolan (1931 and available for charter). . .   And the red barge is Pennsy 399 (1942!!) .

Also taking passengers during the festival is Mystic Whaler, here with Hook Mountain in the distance.

Here’s the northside of Croton Point last evening looking toward Haverstraw.

Exactly five years ago I took this foto from a small boat just off Pioneer‘s bowsprit.   Here are more fotos from that day.

All fotos by Will Van Dorp, who might go back for some music tomorrow.