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Many thanks to Steve Schwartz for reminding me of still another vastly different type of February sail. In this post, enjoy photos from over a decade of “hard-water” sailing.
Why retro? I took this next batch of photos in 2010 and 2011 in different locations in the Hudson Valley because ice boating conditions don’t form each year.
I learned that ice boating was on back then by word of mouth from these folks . . . you may
recognize some of them: John, Christina, and Bonnie.
Since ice boats are not used each year, they can last a long time . . . some of these over a century old, explaining their vintage appearance.
They sport classy, antique names too.
Ice Queen and these other names here conjure up another time; beyond Ice Queen are Whirlwind and Ariel….
For more posts about February sails in 2021 and 2011, click here,
or here.
Bowsprite’s video here taken during the sail below shows the exhilaration of the moving and then the pain of crash . . .
All photos, WVD, who points you to ice boating–hard water sailing v. soft water sailing– close to the sixth boro here and in other parts of the US here.
But wait, note the * in the title; this is not all retro. Rather, it’s hot off the press . . . or rather super-cold through cyberspace, here from Steve Schwartz, Brian Reid, with credit to the fine folks at the Hudson River Ice Yachting blog, enjoy these very recent photos and the blogpost they come from.
Again, many thanks to Steve for the reminder, the Brian and the others at the Hudson River Ice Yachting Club and blog
For an hour-long video on the sport, click here.
. . . or I could call this another unusual tow or unusual cargo, but Kevin took these photos, as he did some of those here.
Megan Beyel has towed cargo down the Hudson before, as these two posts, but she’s hardly a regular. I’ll bet that unit weighs upwards of 150 tons.
The other striking thing I find about these photos is their depiction of some of the variety and beauty of the Hudson River. Many folks are familiar with the Hudson as it appears flowing through the sixth boro, but farther up, as it defines the edges of the Catskills, as here at the Hudson-Athens light, it’s a gorgeous river. By the way, if you’re wondering why there’s a light there, it marks what was once referred to as Swallow’s Reef, and if you’re wondering why it was called Swallow’s Reef, well . . . there was once a steamboat called Swallow and it had an encounter on a reef there.
Many thanks to Kevin for taking these photos.
Related: Another GE related cargo was depicted here, headed for lock E8.
And, a half hour or so after Kevin took the shot above, Megan Beyel and Paisley Alice would pass under the Rip Van Winkle Bridge and within sight of Olana.
As this blog evolves, I sometimes try to show what’s up in those hills, as seen from the hills like this one in March 2017, instead of
what you see in instances when then light is unfavorable.
Olana is the hilltop mansion above the Rip Van Winkle Bridge, built by an artist whose commercial success allowed him to travel, become inspired by the 19th century “near east,” and scrap his plans to engage architect Richard Morris Hunt and instead design and build a neo-Persian palace on the site where once he painted with his mentor Thomas Cole, whose home was just across the bridge in Catskill.
The photo below looks down the Hudson Valley toward the south.
This looks along the south side of the house facing west and the town of Catskill. Kaaterskill Falls is lost somewhere below the front of the jet trail.
Looking out a south side window, there’s a northbound tug/barge just barely visible.
Directly behind me are these treasures. Mark Twain–see his own house here— once stood on that stage and discoursed on all things wise, hilarious, exotic, and jaundiced.
I used the word “treasure” above because here’s a closer-up of that unit approaching from the south–it’s Pearl Coast with a cement barge.
And now a more focused view along the south side and toward the Rip . . . Bridge, see the tug/barge there southbound?
It’s Treasure Coast, with another cement barge. I know there’s a work of Church’s with a steam ship on it, but it’s so far eluded me.
Olana is just one place up on the hilly banks, and so other many places along the river I hope to visit . . . one of these months or years.
All photos by Will Van Dorp, who has posted Hudson Valley photos here and here, and in many other places as well.
As to seeing Olana from the river, here’s what morning light does,
and here below, late afternoon.
Go visit Olana some time in 2018, and while you’re there, visit the Cole home across the river..
About four years ago she arrived . . . and has been lifting into place this huge structure sometimes described as one of the largest current civil engineering project in the country. Her original name Left Coast Lifter , a ZPMC product, stuck despite attempts at New Yorkizing it, renaming it I Lift NY or Ichabod Crane.
I saw the size of those blocks recently when I drove across the new bridge for the first time, but being alone in the car . . . obviously, no pics.
But the Lifter has been repurposed now. I don’t suppose my attempt to rename her now will succeed any better… But how about Downstate Dropper Lowerer, Tappan Zee Deconstructor, Dewey-Driscoll-Wilson Dismantler?
But thankfully, the crane does more than just drop lower the sections for scrap, and I’m often not so thrilled by state or federal decisions, but here’s a good one: sections of the old bridge will be used to replace compromised infrastructure in the Hudson Valley. Here’s a story.
And the rest of these photos, thanks to Glenn Raymo, show these sections on their way to re-use, signs and all.
Many thanks to Glenn for use of these photos. The top three photos by Will Van Dorp, who has posted about this bridge many times . . ..
Of all the area Tilcon sites, this one at Clinton Point is the most conspicuous one as seen from the river.
If you’ve taken the train northward along the Hudson, you traveled just inland from this structure.
To see the cavity quarry behind the silos, click here and go to page 57 of what has become one of my favorite books. The quarry, where rock has been dug since 1880, dwarfs the shoreline buildings.
Buchanan 12, a regular on the river doing Mississippi style assemblages of scows, here prepares another group for travel downstream.
I wonder if Tilcon welcomes visits by reporters . . . as this one in Illinois does.
All photos by Will Van Dorp.
Here was 1 in this series.
About a month ago, I caught up with Buchanan 12 moving crude materials, as is almost always the case with Buchanan 12, aggregates, one of the basic elements for most construction projects.
According to this lohud.com story, about three million tons of aggregates were shipped on the Hudson in 2014. My guess is that it’s higher today, since there’s long been rock in “them thar hills.”
Some aggregates further move east toward the Sound, as these in the East River are.
Mister T is a Blount built tug.
And these seem mixed aggregates.
More statistics on aggregate production–including a listing of all the types–can be found here.
All photos by Will Van Dorp.
After about 3600 posts and almost 11 years, I’ve concluded my titling is based on a flawed assumption, i.e., nothing is random or generic except such things as our understanding. Another way of saying that is . . . everything has a specific context. A better title for this post would be something like tug/barge units between Kingston-Rhinecliff and Bear Mountain Bridges on such/such date with various sceneries related to autumn in the case. But, I’m not switching so bulky or to re-title everything, so on we go; life has no first drafts.
Having blabbered all that, I just have to say the Hudson Valley is a beautiful place, and the creations of our work in it serve to complement the natural beauty.
Consider Delaware and DoubleSkin 50.
Or Coral Coast and
Cement Transporter 5300.
Sarah Ann and Cape Wendy.
And Haggerty Girls with
RTC 107, with birds rounding Bear Mountain . . ..
Here’s a closing look.
All photos and sentiments by Will Van Dorp.
My sidekick and I caught glimpses of Helen Laraway over a period of about 30 hours starting in Coeymans.
At the first sighting, Helen seemed to be moving astern with a load of scrap, whose origin I wondered about. SS Binghamton perhaps? My sidekick?
Oh, I borrowed this beauty from Diana, who had been called away on a mission.
Whatever my sidekick was thinking, I’ll never know, as she spoke not a word
in spite of watching with intensity.
While we were on the crag, Helen passed southbound and we caught up a bit later.
Safe travels. Notice the Left Coast Lifter near the left margin of the photo above?
All photos by Will Van Dorp, whose previous posts with Helen can be found here.
I’ve left on another gallivant before “processing” photos from the trip in from Chicago, these being from a portion of the Hudson in various times of day, qualities of light, and types of weather.
Down bound in the port of Albany, we pass Daniel P Beyel, Marie J Turecamo, and –I believe– Comet.
By now, Daniel P is part of the way to Florida. And I’m intrigued by the units on the dock beyond her stern . . .
…nacelle covers–and I assume the innards–for what looks like 20 wind turbines. This led me to find out how many wind turbines are currently functional in upstate NY. I come up with a total of at least 770 as of a year ago: 528 installed since 2006 in the northernmost band from the Adirondacks to the Saint Lawrence Valley, 165 since 2007 in western NY, and 77 since 2000 in central and Southern Tier NY. Read specifics here.
Treasure Coast loads cement in Albany County, where Lafarge has just dedicated an upgraded facility.
Pike awaits the next job at Port of Coeymans.
B. No. 225 gets moved northward
by Jane A. Bouchard.
And Tarpon–has to be the only one in the Hudson–moves a fuel barge as well.
All photos by Will Van Dorp.
Here’s a seldom-seen tugboat, delivered in 1977 by Gladding Hearn, who builds everything from rowboats to pilot boats to tugboats . . . it’s Tappan Zee II,
dedicated to serving the bridges (for now, plural) and waters called the Tappan Zee. In the distance is the renowned Left Coast Lifter.
Here’s a photo of Patriot, which had a mishap the next day from when I took the photo.
Here’s Fred Johannsen, formerly known as Marco Island.
Here comes Kimberly Poling with Edwin A. Poling, rounding the bend between West Point and Garrison. Can anyone identify the yellow/tan house on the ridge line?
In roughly the same location, it’s Mister Jim with some very deep stone scows.
And I’ll end today’s post with an unidentified tugboat near Newburgh.
All photos by Will Van Dorp, who’s back in the sixth boro but recapitulating the trip west . . . a task which could take a month.
I hope to see some of you at the screening of Graves of Arthur Kill at the the Staten Island ferry terminal on August 13.
tugster: a waterblog 
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