Another Winter Paddle

A couple weeks ago Pete, Phil and I(stevie) paddled out to the Warf for lunch.
We spotted a lone seal near Ruffle Bar, probably the same one we saw a couple weeks ago. It was too far away to get a decent picture.
The wind picked up and we had a real workout returning into a strong headwind.

Here's some videos of Phil and Pete testing out the new dock:

Elders Point Mitigation and Restoration - Jamaica Bay, NY

This challenging, $15 million project was declared “nearly impossible” by one regional construction company who declined to bid on the job due to its complexity and its rigid time constraints. GBI was the only contractor to bid on this daunting job, and completed the project within the stringent schedule specified. The project required the cooperation of the US Army Corps of Engineers, the Port Authority of NY and NJ, the NYS DEC, and the National Park Service.

The project began with GBI moving 162,000 cubic yards of sand from a stockpile at Floyd Bennet Airfield through more than 3 miles of pipeline using two booster pumps. The sand was moved to Elders Point East Island in the middle of Jamaica Bay, where it was retained by a system of coir log structures which surround the island. The sand was then graded using a GPS-guided bulldozer, which graded the sand to within a half-inch of the specified grade. Following this task, 400,000 plants were installed within a 3-month accelerated time frame to ensure that the plants would thrive before the end of planting system.click here

$13-Million Elder's Island Project Helps Stem Jamaica Bay Salt Marsh Loss

"Working with our partners, this project is the first step towards the long and complex journey of addressing the salt marsh loss within Jamaica Bay. During the first phase, more than $13 million of construction activity to restore the environment at this site will provide 70 acres of wetlands for our harbor estuary," said Col. Richard J. Polo, Jr., New York district engineer. "This will be the first large scale marsh island restored, building on the Big Egg pilot, under the District's Jamaica Bay Marsh Islands Ecosystem Restoration Program." for more info, click here

HARS--Learn all about dredging, and what it means to us..

What is HARS?(Historic Area Remediation Site)

Dredging navigation channels, berthing piers and anchorage areas in the Port of New York and New Jersey is necessary to maintain our harbor and it's water dependent facilities (Figure 1). The harbor requires dredging because fine-grained sediments, transported by rivers and within estuaries, settle and accumulate on the sea floor, causing shoaling which interferes with safe navigation. Learn more about dredging, click here

Jamaica Bay Bullet Points

Specifically, the agreement-in-principle announced today includes commitments from the city to:

• Upgrade four sewage treatment plants to drastically reduce nitrogen discharges to the bay, on a schedule running through 2020
• Spend at least $15 million on marsh restoration over the next five years, which could leverage nearly $30 million in additional federal funding through the Corps of Engineers
• Resolve a long-running dispute over the city's Clean Water Act permits by agreeing to new, stricter permit terms that will lock in the treatment plant upgrades, and the resulting water quality improvements, into the future
• Improve water quality monitoring in the bay, which may include using new equipment to provide continuous, real-time information on conditions in the bay.
• Nitrogen discharges from the sewage treatment plants are the biggest cause of the severe water quality problems in Jamaica Bay. The plants discharge nearly 40,000 pounds of nitrogen into the bay daily, which cause harmful algae blooms that frequently render portions of the bay inhospitable to marine life and unusable for people. There is also mounting evidence that elevated nitrogen levels contribute to the rapid and accelerating loss of the bay's signature marshlands, which provide not only invaluable wildlife habitat but also shoreline erosion control and a protective flood barrier to the neighborhoods ringing the bay.

Paerdegat Basin is about to be “stimulated” by the feds, city officials said last week.

The city’s Department of Environmental Protection announced the registration of a $15 million contract to restore 38 acres of wetlands and natural grasslands adjacent to the Paerdegat Basin combined sewer overflow facility, a project expected to create a stunning “ecology park” near the shores of Jamaica Bay. Click here for the rest of the NY Post article

Queens Neighborhoods Get Link To City Sewage System - NY1.com

Queens Neighborhoods Get Link To City Sewage System - NY1.com

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Jamaica Bay Dredging Project

7. Title: Jamaica Bay Restoration

Authorization Cost: $140,400,000

Project 111-NY-9th-009: Restoration work including tidal marshes and creeks, and work on restoring water quality by filling over-dredged areas at 8 sites surrounding Jamaica Bay. Sites include Dead Horse Bay, Paerdegat Basin, Fresh Creek, Spring Creek, Hawtree/Bergen Basins, Bayswater State Park, Dubos Point and Brant Point.

JAMAICA BAY DREDGING: This project requires the dredging, possible transportation, and placement of approximately 333,000 cubic yards of material, with placement at the Historic Area Remediation Site (HARS). for details, click here

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Matinicus Double Ender
Rollover!
The much anticipated flip off of the building form arrived last week. For a full report, click HERE.

Matinicus Double Ender

I've finished all of the planking, and have the outer stems and keel glued on. The hull got a coat of epoxy all over, and I'm building a cradle in preparation for the turnover! For a full report click HERE .

 

 

 

Why our high-water expectations were so high...

One last quick note here about the proxigean tides. Both John & I mentioned that expectations were for a pretty dramatic high water.

Well, here's why!


This was the high-water mark left by the last major proxigean tide, back in December '08. I don't think anybody was at the club to see it, but we were plenty impressed by the evidence it left behind. I'm still amazed that the cherry tree by the ramp actually lived to tell the tale.

There was a pretty steady northwest wind this year, that probably served to mitigate the high & exacerbate the low.