A Beautiful Day for a Sail

...or a paddle! "America II" was making its way up and down the Hudson today. What a great looking sailboat. The weather was perfect today. I paddled for a few hours in bright sunshine, 80 degree temps. and low humidity. Apparently, it was also an excellent day to fish. I talked to a few of the fisherman on 14th street pier and they said they were having great luck catching stripers. Which begs the question- would you eat fish from the Hudson?

Maxwell Place Piers

Toll Brothers, best known for the McMansion, came to Hoboken a few years ago to do for the urban condo owner what it had for the suburban housewife. That is, construct a dwelling as quickly as possible, sell it as quickly as possible, and leave before anyone realizes how much they paid for a stainless steel kitchen. Their latest building, Maxwell Place, taking the place of the old Maxwell Coffee Plant is a perfect example. The design team meeting on this place must have gone something like this: "what size windows do we have in the warehouse? What color bricks do we have in the warehouse?" Further, they are the kings of cut concrete (look at the quality of their park compared to pier A). Don't get me wrong, I appreciate how they took a blighted area and made it family friendly, but please take a look at the piles that hold up their piers - picture below.

This hotel was named before 2000

Does anyone else see the irony of something named "W" actually stimulating the economy? That's my buddy Max in front of Hoboken's new hotel.

Clouds

Have you ever seen clouds like this? Amazing! These are mammatus clouds - small, round cloud puffs found after thunderstorms have passed. They were seen above Hoboken last night.

Go back to LaGuardia!

It seems the efforts La Guardia Airport is going to to eradicate geese from its surrounding areas and, most importantly, its airways (no, I wasn't in the boat when the American Airlines plane landed in the Hudson) has caused them to fly here. There are more geese than ever in Hoboken. Before you say how cute they are, realize they poop 3 pounds a day. Each.

Check the Weather and Tides

This is the only weather buoy in Hoboken's waters. I'm sure it measures all kinds of info. needed by paddlers like me.

The Hardest Working Guys in Town

Years ago, Hoboken's waterfront was filled with dock workers. Today, it is filled with condos. In fact, Hoboken Propeller Works is the only remaining working dock in town. Propeller Works refurbishes older barges, fixing them and repainting them. The guys who work there are all very friendly- they always wave. Sometimes they even joke "hey, no wake" and laugh.

Companions

The message in this bottle

...is to stop littering.

Where I put in...

This is a great little beach to feed the ducks, walk the dog, or kayak out of Hoboken. Best of all, it is only blocks from my home. For those wondering, I wheel my kayak from my garage. It's not the San Juans, but it only takes me about five minutes to go from my front door to the water (no flight required).

Stevens' Waterfront

I know that Steven's Institute of Technology is filled with bright young engineers. So why is it they can't figure out how to clean up their waterfront? (Note: this pier was larger weeks ago and they let it collapse into the river.) Hoboken, and the Hudson, deserve better. (Insert rant here about how the entire Hoboken waterfront is beautiful to walk except the area owned by this college. You might also want to add why a school filled with intellects thought it would be a good idea to build a parking lot and maintainance building on its most valuable plot of land!) I know Stevens will do the right thing and clean up their mess.

I'd better slow down!

We'd get more use from a ski chalet...

This beautiful boathouse is never open. I have heard that due to political reasons, Hoboken paddlers have had little to no access to this building. I hope it doesn't stay that way for long.

A ferry I'm not affraid of...

"Yankee" used to be a Hudson river ferry boat. Today, it is an artist's studio. It resides here in my hometown and, I think, adds a lot of charm to our waterfront.

The biggest boat in Hoboken

It's bigger than the Empire State Building! Ok, maybe not, but it is quite a large boat. I think it is used for dinner cruises, though I rarely see it pull out of dock. Rumor has it a man died on this ship last year. Maybe it's a murder mystery cruise?

Welcome to Hoboken Paddler

This is my third year paddling the Hudson from the Jersey side. This blog will document my days on the big river.