By Bill Parry
Kayaking comes to Gantry State Park in Long Island City for the first time this week with free walk-up events Friday and Saturday.
The Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance reached an agreement with New York state to control a dock at the south end of the park and make the water accessible to the public.
“Parks was interested in opening the pier to the public,” Alliance President Roland Lewis said. “We’re very excited about this summer and we’re hoping there will be great community support.”
The alliance will administer the dock and allow two Hunters Point boating groups to use it. HarborLAB will run the first event Friday with a Community Paddle between 5 p.m. and 8 p.m.
“We’re unofficially calling it the Friday Night Skyline Unwind,” founder Erick Baard said. “It’s not hardcore kayaking but a way to get folks out on to the water. It will expose people to paddling in beautiful surroundings with a view of the Manhattan skyline from the waterline. Maybe it will lead some to join HarborLAB and expose them to our educational and environmental programs.”
The second group is the LIC Community Boathouse, which will run the event Saturday afternoon.
“We’ll put out a dozen kayaks as part of City of Water Day,” event coordinator Ted Gruber said. “We expect Gantry to be a huge hit and we’ll try to do it once a month.”
The Boathouse normally takes kayakers out on Anable Basin near its headquarters, at 46-01 5th St. They also operate on Hallet’s Cove in Astoria.
“We’ve been trying to get access at Gantry for a very long time,” Gruber said.
Baard started lobbying the state for access as far back as 2003.
“It was definitely a long time coming,” Baard said. “We’re starting out with a small space in front of the pier, but with time the administrators may allow us more space so we could use more boats.”
The two groups will use the dock throughout the summer, but not at the same time. The Gowanus Dredgers Canoe Club, which controls the LIC Community Boathouse, sued Baard for trademark infringement in 2011. Baard had been the founder of the Boathouse before he was eventually barred from the club.
What followed was a drawn out 2 1/2 year court battle that ended in May. The decision, in Brooklyn federal court, found no malice in Baard’s actions and that he had not infringed when he used the Boathouse name on a Facebook page. The court also found that the Dredgers do control the LIC Community Boathouse and had every right to bar him from the club.
Several leaders of the LIC Community Boathouse did not want to comment on Erick Baard’s participation.
But Baard did.
“We might have to alternate with them,” he said. “I have no problem with it. It’s safer for everyone to paddle at Gantry because the water is cleaner. It has less bacteria levels than Hallet’s Cove and none of the toxins you find at Anable Basin.”
Reach reporter Bill Parry by e-mail at bparry@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4538.
