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History of Modern Day Seakayaking in New York City starting with the
German Folding Kayaks on the Sea Walls of NYC's Hudson RIver
It was here that
John Petrocelli and
Bob Huszar created the largest recreational seakayaking club (M.A.S.K. -
The Metropolitan Association of Sea Kayakers) in NYC about 15 years or so
ago (maybe longer) in the United States.
Back then in New York City, every beginning sea kayaker either owned a German
Klepper folding kayak or they didn't own a boat at all. Plastic
sea kayaks were not even in prototype stage yet and the sea kayaking market
hadn't really been established.
Although across the pond, In England, kayaker designers were working on
developing the prototypes for the first fiberglass sea kayaks.
A sleek design emerged called the Nordkap. It was meant for advanced paddlers
because it had poor initial stability, but if you had the skills, this beauty
cut through water and waves like a knife through butter (The double klepper
folding kayak was affectionately labeled - 'The Sea Slug'. It moved. It
was roomy (you could pack gear for a month's expedition). It was strong
and stable, and if you paddled as much as we did, your body developed to
meet the challenge.
It
was a blast for sea kaykers back then in NYC. We had the waterways all
to ourselves. The tricky part was, it was extremely dangerous just getting
in and out of the water as there were very limited and treacherous access
points along Manhattan's waterways.
As the first year went by with our fledging organization (called M.A.S.K.)
we grew. Sometimes from 3-40 hardy paddlers would show up an hour or two
earlier along some beer can, broken glass and sharp rock strewn site along
NYC's waterways each lugging 2 sacks containing close to 110 lbs. of unassembled
hypalon rubber, tightly meshed canvas skin and Birch wood interior boat
frame folding boat which were lugged in the open trunks of NYC cabs or
through the NYC subway system.
The
boats (most of them, were 17 foot, 2 seater models. We were a site to
NYers and tourists alike as we assembled our kayaks along the debris-ridden
sea walls of NYC. We then carefully lowered each boat down long the slick,
oil-encased ea walls using frail 'climbers' ropes, doing our best to avoid
glass, rats, sharp, oil-encrusted pilings, rusted steel spikes and sometimes
waves which rammed us relentlessly up against the seawalls.
There was no put-ins (a 'put-in' for new kayakers is like a floating ramp
or a driveway into the water that offers easy and safe accessibility)
in New York City for kayakers at the time. Because of the efforts of our
M.A.S.K. group, Bob Huszar formed an offshoot - the Hudson River Watertrail
which set in motion the precedent for other environmental groups to follow
... major groups ... like those who over the last few years completely
redeveloped the waterfront along the Hudson into beautiful parks and a
system of put-ins for kayakers emerged.
It's amazing ... the actions of a handful of kayakers whom were continually
arrested (the NYC police boats didn't understand the law, that we as small
boaters had a right to be on the Hudson) and we were continually hauled
down to the precinct and when they tried to charge us, well ... heh heh
... they had to let us go (talk about ignorance of the law)..
The
Salty Dog Webzine contains those articles which appeared in the first
four years of the M.A.S.K. newsletter.
M.A.S.K. grew in 4 years from 10 or so paddlers to 600 strong and hearty.
The organization created
a movement. We took celebrities, newscasters, authors and just plain folk
out on what was still considered
the polluted waters of the Hudson and got them paddling. Now, sea kayaking
has been established in the U.S., which is comical as I was told I was
a fool. No one wanted to kayak in the Hudson. Sea kayaking would never
take off ... after all ... it was jet ski's that were coming into fad.
JFK jr. (his pre-flying days) joined us and we took him out on his first
trip. He even had two boats stored at the Downtown BoatHouse, another
successful off-shoot with members whom originally came from M.A.S.K.
John Petrocelli still kayaks. Sometimes
he leads trips to the Statue of Liberty or up in Cold Spring Harbor but
mostly
he likes the quiet back waters of the NJ Pine Barrens
or fishing in the NY reservoirs. He has gone from being known
as one of the leaders of a kayaking movement to being known as one of
the leaders in the self help movement and is
one of the most well respected hypnotherapists
/ hypnotists on the planet and has an office just a
heartbeat from the old world trade center site. You can find him here!
Robert
'Bob' Huszar ran a successful kayak company called the Manhattan Kayak
Company who offered
tours of the Hudson from a barge located near 25th Street in NYC and the
Chelsea Piers.
Bob formed the original Hudson River Watertrail which was the defining
mark which started the
whole ball rolling for the redevelopment of the Manhattan Waterfront and
the Parks Commission.
We hope you enjoy these articles contained within.
As you notice, when these were written, there wasn't specific kayaking
gear.
We had to borrow from other industries and sports.
You
could imagine how we looked in those rag-tag days: Wearing fisherman's
thigh boots, long rubber fisherman's glove in the winter which made it
extremely hard to grasp a paddle. We wore scuba diving wet suits which
cause our arms to chaff from the constant rubbing. Yep, we were a sight.
So enjoy the pages and remember,you're perusing the history of the Sea
Kayaking movement in America ... from the famous German Folding Sea Kayaks
that were around from the early 1900's and were used in military expeditions
during the war ... and now to the Hudson River and beyond .... again ...
enjoy ... and if we peaked your interest in trying your hand at sea kayaking,
you're in for a wonderful experience that's addictive and a wonderful
way to get some exercise.
See you on the water.
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