Small craft, big city

People have been paddling the Hudson for centuries, most of that time in vessels far more primitive than these.

For the past few centuries, however, they've had a lot of other traffic to contend with, all of it larger and faster:

Last year about this time, I saw a couple of kayakers paddling furiously as the Queen Elizabeth II headed out with the tide, and I wished I'd had the camera handy. There were a few cruise ships in port early Sunday morning when this group was out exploring the estuary, but none was available for a race with these human-powered vessels.

In a couple of weeks, Hoboken is expecting kayaks and other watercraft galore to descend on the city as part of The Great Hudson River Paddle July 12. The Fund for a Better Waterfront will be greeting them with a community picnic on Hoboken's only beach, near the former Maxwell House coffee factory: free food (blackened bluefish, roasted corn on the cob, homemade salads & desserts) AND free kayaking, the latter courtesy of the New York City Downtown Boathouse, dedicating to providing access to the Hudson for everyone. If you're considering giving it a try, you might also want to check out some of the classes offered by the Downtown Boathouse, including a workshop July 9 on "procedures for re-entering a capsized kayak."