GERRY LOPEZ

A Tour around Manhattan by Water

I got a call from my good friend, Darrick Doerner about going to New York city to paddle a SUP board around Manhattan Island. He explained that it was a charity event aimed at drawing awareness to the rising incidence of autism in children. Andrew Mencinsky of the Surfer’s Environmental Alliance and a friend of Darrick’s from New Jersey, was organizing the paddle and DD said it would be worthy and fun. My father was a New Yorker, born and raised in Mamaroneck but he left around 1940 for Honolulu where he met my mother attending the University of Hawaii. They married, produced myself, my sister and brothers and there we all lived. I had been to NYC once very briefly in 1980 as a guest on the David Letterman show. Only there overnight and warned by the hotel staff to not go out at night, I saw nothing of the city.

This time, it was much different. My wife, Toni and I travelled with Sparky Longley from Rainbow Sandals and stayed at the Waldorf. Rainbow just opened a new store so we walked there in the morning and did a little in-store promo for the sandals. The next day was the paddle and I had absolutely no idea what I was getting into. Darrick had arranged with Blane Chambers on Oahu to have two boards sent to the waterfront for us in NY and they were beautiful. I had done a bit of stand up paddling on the rivers and lakes around Bend, Oregon and in the surf at San Onofre in San Clemente, California, but at that time, was still pretty new to the sport. As we got ready to go, I asked someone how far it was around Manhattan and was informed it was about 28 miles. Well, that was quite a distance! It came as somewhat of a shock.

Andrew had planned the timing of the whole event with the tides in our favor. So, the river currents flowed in the direction we were going. It was a pleasant - if long - paddle. Conversation on a SUP board is easy especially so at our leisurely pace and along the way, various local fellow paddlers would explain all the points of interest.

The bridges of Manhattan were fascinatingly plentiful. The famous boroughs of NYC were all pointed out often along with a story or two. Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx on one side and the sights of Manhattan on the other, it was an amazing way to see this great city from the perspective of the water. Equally amazing was how quickly and easily the miles slipped by with so much of interest to look at.

When we finally turned out onto the Hudson River for the final, long, last leg, now with New Jersey on our right side, it was almost sad that the tour was coming to an end. Cruising by the docks and piers along Chelsea and the Village, there ahead was the Statue of Liberty taking in all the sights. And before I knew it, even if about 8 hours had gone by, dodging the ferries around Battery Park, we made the final turn into the North Cove Marina.

It was a long paddle and I was feeling it in my shoulders and mostly my feet from standing so long. Like one of those 1000 piece jigsaw puzzles, that paddle around Manhattan was a jumble of sights, sensations, thoughts and impressions. There were almost too many to process but it was already safely if maybe deeply stored in my memory banks. Yes, I’d do it again in a heartbeat. Keep Paddling!

DARIAN BOYLE

Daughter of the Captain

SEAPaddleNYC has evolved into a very special event for me and my family. The date is locked in early on our summer calendar and it has been a fixture, equally immutable as the 4th of July. The SEAPaddleNYC was originally hosted at my father’s marina in Jersey City, NJ where he contributed his water taxi, our Typhoon as a chase boat. The Captain, my father Bruce Boyle, quickly became a part of the fabric and the magic of SEAPaddleNYC.

I initially participated in the SEAPaddleNYC as a prone paddler as I had never paddled a stand up paddleboard. However, a challenge from Darrick Doerner after that initial race hooked me on SUP. The gift of stand up paddling has been life changing. I have raced, toured and surfed from Hawaii to Sicily to Montauk. Each year, I look forward to going back to SEAPaddleNYC for the rugged physical and mental SUP challenge that is fraught with danger. I even refused to miss the 2014 event following the birth of my daughter and jumped into the Elite race to finish third for the woman.

The Paddle became a gravitational pull for my friends from around the globe to reunite for several days, see Manhattan from a different point of view, have some laughs and just catch up while giving back to Autism and the environment.

One year, Hells Gate looked more like a Class Five river mixed with a double overhead break. There is never a shortage of tankers who can’t see us very well and even if they did see the paddlers, it takes them 2 miles to stop their vessel. A particularly sporty year had me racing a tanker to” Hells Gate “as I was looking for the fastest line and current. I remember narrowly escaping with a "kiss" from a massive barge as I saw the whites of the dock hands’ eyes on the stern of the vessel.

The Paddle itself, despite its challenges, was always safe because it was in the Captain’s hands. My father, Bruce Boyle, made sure not only that I was safe, but that the field was safe, hydrated, fed and comforted. If you needed something, the chase boat was there led by my father who watched me, and those tanker captains, like a hawk. He became an integral part of the paddle and the award he won, Friend of the Paddle, later became the Bruce Boyle award which is given to those who, like him, value the watermen and women who participate, the support teams that volunteer their time and the causes that the SEAPaddleNYC and SEA have tirelessly supported from the event’s inception.

I was given SUP as a lifelong passion by this incredible paddle around Manhattan. The family affair it has become means so much to me, as has the summer tradition of getting on the water with close friends and family at the annual SEAPaddleNYC "Reunion" which, like the ripping tides on the East River, cannot be stopped!