UP A RIVER, WITH A PADDLE

NEW YORK WATERWAYS PROVIDE A CHALLENGING ROW, BOATERS SAY By Adam Bloch New Yorkers can easily lose sight of how completely their city is shaped by its maritime setting. Whether it is because urban canyons are essentially isolating or the harbor is no longer a major shipping hub, city residents often move around, above and under an extensive system of waterways without thinking about it. We can go days without espying all those miles of rivers and tidal estuaries. Ignore it as we might, the city is still defined by that dramatic meeting of Hudson River, Long Island Sound and Atlantic Ocean. And Circle Line is not the only thing that has replaced all the old transportation vessels and sailing ships. Among the remaining barges and tugboats, there are now plenty of canoes and kayaks paddling along the shore. Ed Acker, president of New York Outrigger, explained the appeal simply: "The Hudson is just awesome. It's a lot of fun and very challenging. And the paddling community is a bunch of great people from across all walks of life." Outrigger canoes, which were invented thousands of years ago in Polynesia to provide greater stability at sea, have support floats on one or both sides of the main hull. Acker's club has operated in Chelsea since 1996 and now features about 45 members. It doubled in size after moving into the Pier 66 Boathouse at West 26th Street last year. "It's just become the real Mecca for paddling in Manhattan at this point," Acker said of Pier 66, which is incongruously situated next to some helicopter pads. "It's where everything is centered." New York Outrigger caters to many leisure boaters, but it also focuses quite a bit on racing. It sponsors a yearly contest, the Liberty World Outrigger Competition, which draws professional canoeing teams to New York every summer. "It's a pretty prestigious race for the East Coast," Acker boasted. "There are clubs from Maine down to Florida, but New York is the only place where you'll get a real international presence for a race." New York Outrigger shares its boathouse with Manhattan Kayak Company, a commercial enterprise that offers lessons and outings, a sailing club and New York Kayak Polo, which is exactly what it sounds like. Teams of five, each helmeted and paddling a kayak, pass around a ball and try to throw it through a net above the waterline. "It's not very well known here in the U.S.," said Felix Apfaltrer, one of around 20 club members. "There are about 100 people playing nationwide, but it's quite well known in Europe, Australia, New Zealand and Japan. It's a really fun game to play." These are niche interests, though. The biggest name in Hudson River paddling is clearly Downtown Boathouse, which for more than 10 years has offered free kayaking to all visitors. On virtually every day from May to October, anyone can walk up to the organization's launches at Pier 40 (near Houston Street) or Pier 96 (at West 56th Street), sign a simple waiver, put on a lifejacket and quickly hop into a kayak. The floating dock at West 72nd Street operates on weekends and holidays. And from November until March, there are free winter classes in a pool at Riverbank State Park. Summer programs include Wednesday classes and three-hour trips every weekend into the Hudson and the lower harbor. As Downtown Boathouse's website says, "You don't have to do anything but have a good time." That's pretty rare in a city where everything usually has a price, and an expensive one at that. Financial support is derived from optional membership fees and donations. But the biggest contribution comes from the volunteers who staff the boathouses every summer. "It's because of a good interest in kayaking," said one volunteer, Robbie Orlando, explaining why people like him donate their time. He was sitting under the welcome tent at the 56th Street location, greeting visitors who were arriving for a class on kayak turns. "A lot of people try it out and decide to volunteer because they enjoy it, and then they see the camaraderie here and want to share the excitement with other people." The Hudson remains the waterway of choice for paddlers in the area, despite strong currents and wakes from other boats. The area around the Battery can be particularly treacherous, with heaving swells slamming into seawalls. "You've got so many things going on with the Hudson," Acker said. "First, you've got the currents, which are pretty strong. They get pretty intense. On top of that, there's a lot of ferry traffic, a lot of commercial and leisure boat traffic. Add in the wind, and you've got a washing machine effect with the waves." But the river offers far more space than can be found on the other side of Manhattan. The Harlem and East Rivers are too narrow and often disrupted by small islands and even the occasional waterfall (at least until Oct. 13). Overall, the resources for kayaking or canoeing in the area are truly extraordinary. The Department of Parks and Recreation has established the New York City Water Trail, which connects 160 square miles of rivers, bays and ocean that are suitable for paddling. Along with the aforementioned Manhattan Kayak Company, New York Kayak Company at Pier 40 is the other major outfitter. Beyond that, innumerable clubs around the city cater to paddlers. The best portal to all of them is NYCKayaker, a listserve that provides the most prominent online resource for water activities in the city. There is something for everyone, from those looking for local trips (The Hudson River Watertrail Association) to those who want to try more wide-ranging voyages (Metropolitan Association of Sea Kayakers is a good bet). And that's not even mentioning all the rowing organizations. So even if the harbor hubbub of yesteryear is no more, there's still plenty of fun to be found in New York waterways.