Spring Sail 2

Here was the first time I used this title.

America II looked resplendent bathed in a last burst of late afternoon sun yesterday.

She was one of several sail vessels out;  here Pioneer seems headed over to a new loading point.

On a meteorologically different afternoon a few weeks ago, I caught Lettie G. Howard out headed for the Kills. Here was another spring when I caught Lettie under very bare poles.

 

 

I saw Topaz briefly only once, so far away she was only a tall mast, but Claude Scales caught this from his daily vantage point.  Click here for a close-up of Nantucket WLV-612 from three years ago.

No words . . . no gilding the lily!

Pioneer heads back to the dock.

Anyone know where Mary E is sailing from these days?

Thanks to Claude Scales for use of his Topaz photo.  All other photos by Will Van Dorp, who has used the title “autumn sail” much more frequently.  And if you have not yet read my article about sailing to Cuba last winter, you can read it here.

New York Media Boat 1

Photo thanks to John Skelson . . . it’s not a bird . . .  it’s not a plane . . . it’s NY Media Boat, one of the recent recipients of the Life Saving Award from the Marine Society of New York for a February 2014 rescue from a sinking tugboat.

So . . . what might you see on a customized adventure sightseeing tour of the sixth boro aboard NY Media Boat?   Well . . . if you’re interested in fireboats or firehouses . . . they’re near their Pier 25 pick up site.

A bit farther north . . . you can see Chelsea Market or Pier 66 Maritime from the water, a perspective quite different from experiencing either of them by land.

You never know what private boats might be docked at the passenger terminal . . . this one obviously wanting proximity to

the car wash.  Thanks to Phil Little for this unique perspective from the cliff at Weehawken.

You can see the newest NYC scalloper port.  F/V Endurance was back there yesterday.

If Alice is in town, you can meet her up and personal.   Alice Oldendorff, aggregate carrier, was the focus of the very first tugster post over seven years ago, as well as many since.  Use the search window.

The East River offers unusual juxtapositions . ..  like the UN and the WTC.

You might see remnants of industrial Brooklyn riverfront like Havermeyer’s sugar mill, or

demolition happening to IER 17.

You can see classic architectural icons of NYC like the 1929 Chrysler Building or

1976  tramway.   But if you’re like me, you’ll be hoping for

unexpected sailing vessels like Halie & Matthew or all manner of work boats like

Long Island built Maryland.

How about the “interior” side of Red Hook Container Terminal?

Of course, then there’s nothing that beats close-ups of wherever you want on the sixth boro by open boat.  Book a tour here.   By the way, the boat offers warm, waterproof gear and PFDs.

Here’s an article on Bjoern Kils and the boat from a publication of Willard Marine, manufacturer of the boat, which formerly lived on a US destroyer.   Also, here are some recent NY Media Boat clients.

All photos here by Will Van Dorp, except the delightful one of the private boat at the car wash by Phil Little and the lead photo by John Skelson.  Thank, Phil.

 

Other Peoples Fotos 29

All these photos come from bowsprite, who is known to scale the cliffs and trees of lower Manhattan to photograph and sketch the ships go by.  From auspicious time to time, she shares her photos with me, as she did recently.

Northbound . . . Stad Amsterdam in formation with a sludge tanker.

This past Sunday she caught Topaz.  Some years back, I caught Skat, a yacht built by the same yard.

Here and here were photos of Stad Amsterdam I’ve taken in recent years.

The Intermarine vessel (Industrial Echo taken on April 6) is evidence of expansion of wind power generation upriver.  Thanks to David Silver for identifying the ship.

In the foreground Gateway tug Bridgeport (Thanks for the help!)  and in the distance the all-knowing, never shrinking from difficult work Michele Jeanne.

As we move through these photos, bowsprite must have descended the trees or cliffs, because here she’s incorporated early spring arboreal detail into her compositions . . . Gran Couva (with “lower” Jersey City) and

Afrodite and Stad Amsterdam and

Voge Freeway.

For the current tip of bowsprite’s opus, click here.  For the most recent tugster post showing her work, click here.  Her photos clearly show the variety of large vessel traffic northbound between Manhattan and Jersey City/Hoboken.

I am grateful to bowsprite for her permission to use these photos.  To see and buy her work online, click here.