Red Hook Boaters is 19 years old now, by Brian Abate

Those interested in learning how to kayak can do so for free at Valentino Pier Park thanks to the Red Hook Boaters.

The Red Hook Boaters are a group of volunteers who teach people how to kayak twice a week on Thursdays from 6-8 pm (May 30 to August 15) and on Sundays from 1-4 pm (June 2 to September 15.) In addition to helping anyone who is interested get started kayaking, the volunteers also pick up litter and help clean up the park.

“We’ve been around since 2005,” said Todd Seidman, one of the Red Hook Boater volunteers. “It’s New York and we’re an island so this is the ocean. As the tide goes up and down, it generates currents. The tide is high right now but when the tide is low we’re able to go under the pier and have twice as much space to paddle in.”

Free Kayaking!
Seidman also explained that those who come by to kayak are welcome to donate or help volunteers pick up some of the trash on Valentino Pier Park but that they certainly do not have to do so. He helped a couple of people get started kayaking and more people interested in kayaking arrived a few moments later. The weather was beautiful and it ended up being a busy night on the water.

Those who are learning to kayak don’t go out past the embayment because the current is strong further out but it is fairly calm about 20-30 feet off of the shore. Kayakers just have to make sure not to get too close to the rocks which are located near the beach area.

“One of the cool things for the volunteers is that occasionally we leave the harbor and go on trips to the Statue of Liberty or Brooklyn Bridge Park,” Seidman said. “It’s also nice that a variety of people show up including folks from the Red Hook Houses, families with kids, Muslim families, Hasidic families.”

Additionally, Tim Gamble talked about starting the Red Hook Boaters in 2005 and explained how Seidman first got involved.

“I was very involved in Downtown Boathouse [at Pier 26 in Manhattan] when they started their free kayaking program and served on the board there,” Gamble said. “In 2005 I decided to leave the East Village and while biking around Red Hook, I saw an apartment for rent on Dikeman and Richards. I took the apartment and moved to Red Hook.

Made possible with community support
“Immediately I started thinking about having a boathouse in Red Hook and I started talking to property owners on the water and looking for a site. I knew Owen Foote well, the founder of the Gowanus Dredgers and I asked Owen if the Dredgers would support a new group for free paddling at Red Hook. He agreed and that is how the Red Hook Boaters started.”

At first, Gamble and the Red Hook Boaters rented a private garage space on Coffey St. and Richards St. The Dredgers gave financial support so they could buy equipment. They had free programs at the park but it was a challenge to get the boats to the park and they had to “lash them to drywall skids and roll them back and forth.”

“I spoke to the largest landowner in the area, Greg O’Connell,” Gamble said. “He would not let me rent space or give me space for insurance and other reasons but he put me in touch with Les Nelson of Bare Wood. This was a wood restoration business in the space that now houses Resiklo in the building directly above Valentino Park. This is about the time I met Todd. He helped me build the storage Racks inside the Bare Wood location. We stayed there for a year, but then Bare Wood shut down.

“I then worked with Sal Cattuci of American Stevedoring who donated a damaged shipping container to us. Brian Robbins of Cornell paper rented us some land for a minimal cost and we moved into a shipping container near where Steve’s Key Lime pie is now.

“At this time we were in negotiations with the NYC Parks Department to get space in the park. In 2008 or 2009 NYC Parks agreed to let us put a container in its current location and the program has continued to grow from there. We are still affiliated with Gowanus Dredgers. They are our fiscal sponsor and provide banking services, insurance, and all-around support for us.”

Though Gamble moved out of the neighborhood in 2008, he has remained involved in Red Hook Boaters. Additionally, he mentioned that boating is coming to Sunset Park and there will be a public paddling day at Bush Terminal from noon to 4 pm on August 24.