For Immediate Release
July 28, 2001
East River C.R.E.W. 3rd Annual "Hook to Hook" Row
East River C.R.E.W., Inc. will sponsor an educational rowing trip on the East River from Red Hook, Brooklyn to Horn's Hook, East 90th Street, Manhattan, Saturday, August 25, to promote community involvement in using and conserving local waterways.
At 11AM, reproductions of historic "Whitehall Gig" rowing boats, and other boats too, will pull out of Red Hook with the tide and row together up the East River to the esplanade just north of the Fireboat Pier at Carl Shurz Park. The boats should arrive at about 1 PM and remain for three hours while rowers come ashore for refreshments, information exchange on "Community Recreation & Education on the Water," and to participate in activities with local children. A different group of rowers will make the 10.5 mile return to Brooklyn on the ebbing tide.
Spectators are invited to watch the boats from the start, the finish, or along the rivers' edge, to wave support for the idea of increased recreational and educational uses of our city's rivers and harbor. At Horn's Hook, near East 90th Street, teachers from East River C.R.E.W. will present a kids' magical marine science and art plaza.
The event is sponsored by East River Crew, Inc., who seeks to impart a love for, and an understanding of, the waters of the East River Community of New York City, with the idea that learning about and using the river will promote future generations' protection of it. Public access to the aquatic environment has been lost as boathouses and piers deteriorated over time, and C.R.E.W. hopes that can change.
Event co-sponsor Floating the Apple, Inc. also seeks to restore access to New York City's waterways, and is providing logistic guidance and one of the boats. The students of Saint David's School on the Upper East Side constructed another one of the boats. These 25' "Whitehall Gigs", whose lines and form are based on the 19th century working and racing boats of New York Harbor, use four rowers each plus a coxswain to steer.
The landing area, Horn's Hook, has been used for boats since early times. Named after the town of Hoorn on the Zuyder Zee by Dutch settlers 350 years ago, this hook, or point, of land includes both Gracie Mansion and the Fireboat Pier at 90th Street. Before the days of steamboats, the Red Hook to Horn's Hook river trip would have been an express excursion compared to horse drawn carriages, and probably would have been a regular occurrence. The event will be cancelled in the case of inclement weather.
Look for East River C.R.E.W.'s ongoing exhibition "Rowboats Past, Present & Future on the East & Harlem Rivers" at this and other waterfront activities
Contact:
Tori Gilbert
President & Co-founder, East River C.R.E.W.
212-427-3956 Vg33@columbia.edu
www.maxpages.com/eastrivercrew
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Saturday August 25, 2001
"Hook to Hook" Tides
Lo 8:12 AM
Hi 1:57 AM & 2:30 PM
Hi + 4 hrs 6AM Ebb 2.5 Governors Island
Hi + 5 7AM EBB 2.5 "
Lo 8AM EBB 2.2 "
Lo + 1 9AM Ebb 1.0 "
Lo + 2 10AM Flood 0.5 "
Lo + 3 11AM Flood 2.5 Brooklyn Bridge; 3.9 Roosevelt Island
Lo + 4 NOON Flood 3.1 " " ; 4.6 "
Lo + 5 1PM Flood 4.6 Roosevelt
Hi 2:30 PM Flood 3.7 "
Hi + 1 3:30 Flood 2.0
Hi + 2 4:30 Ebb 2.5
Hi + 3 5:30 Ebb 4.4
Hi + 4 6:30 Ebb 5.2 Roosevelt; 3.7 Brooklyn Bridge
Hi + 5 7:30 Ebb 3.7 Brooklyn Bridge
Lo 8:30 Ebb 3.0 " " , 2.2 Governors Island
Lo + 1 9:30 Ebb 1.0 Governors Island
Sunset 7:41 EDT
Public transportation
To Red Hook: A, C, or F trains to Jay Street-Borough Hall then B61 Bus to last stop on Van Brunt Street (Beard Street) and walk to end of Beard Street Pier, alongside the Civil War era warehouses. Look for a retired trolley and our davit, and you know you're in the right place.
To Red Hook: F train to Smith & 9th and half hour walk, or B77 bus to Van Brunt & Coffey
For a map, see mapquest.com and enter Beard & Van Brunt Street, Brooklyn NY 11231
To Horns Hook: M86 Crosstown or M31 York Ave. Bus to East End and 89th Street. Enter through Carl Shurz Park at East 89th Street
To Horns Hook: M96 Crosstown to the FDR. Walk across the FDR, then south to 90th Street along the Bobby Wagner Walk on the East River. |