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Great Hudson River Paddle Has Strong Ties to Cold Spring
Building Bridges Building boats sail the "River that Flows Both Ways"
by Mike Turton
 | | One of Building Bridges Building Boats (BBBB) white-hulled gigs shoves off from the Cold Spring Boat Club and heads out to join the fleet kayaks taking part in the 2008 Great Hudson River Paddle last week. |
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Many of us plan our vacations around it. It fascinates us. Life on our planet depends upon it. Its power is undeniable and at times it terrifies us. Most often it soothes us. "It" is water and the waters of the Hudson River, so near, so constant and so easily taken for granted, are a vital presence in the lives of everyone who calls the Hudson Valley home. Last week, two Hudson River-based programs with strong local ties glided through Cold Spring, reminding us of just how important the "river that flows both ways" is to life in this area.
The importance of the Hudson River was underlined again last week when the 2008 Great Hudson River Paddle made Cold Spring one of its rest stops. "The Paddle" challenges kayakers to cover 145 miles of the Hudson River, from the Corning Preserve in Albany to Pier 96 in New York City. The event, now in its tenth year, is the creation of the Hudson River Valley Greenway, a non-profit organization that works to improve public access to the river and uses the event to promote the Hudson as a water trail. Fifty-four people took part this year - including several young people, members of the Cold Spring-based Building Bridges Building Boats (BBBB) program.
Participants in The Paddle camped overnight on the old Dockside property, rested and shared food, refreshments and music with local residents at a party held in their honor at the Cold Spring Fire Hall - and in Phil Heffernan's back yard. Heffernan serves on the BBBB Board of Directors.
This year The Paddle saw fourteen members of BBBB take part, the fourth year that the two programs have joined forces. BBBB has a simple goal - get kids out onto the Hudson River. In their distinctive white-hulled gigs - long, sleek wooden boats - BBBB members row alongside the kayakers as the flotilla makes its way down river. Some paddlers do the entire ten-day trip while others join for shorter periods.
Sixteen-year-old Stefan Carlson, a senior at Haldane High School, is a member of BBBB. This was his fourth Paddle but the first time he took on the entire 145-mile challenge. Carlson explained that in the gigs, much larger and heavier than kayaks, "the hardest part is when we run into a head wind." He pointed out that the gigs are equipped with sails which are used when breezes are favorable. Thanks to his BBBB experience Carlson knows the Putnam County section of the river well but he found the upstream areas to be very different. "I was surprised how industrial the river is, how many factories there are up near Albany" he said. The Paddle and BBBB have made Carlson a huge fan of the Hudson River. "A lot of people who don't know the river just think of it as being polluted, but it's been cleaned up a lot now and it's really beautiful, really scenic. It's just a great trip," he said. Carlson indicated that he likely won't row next year but hopes to return as a volunteer with the on-shore support team.
According to David Hardy, Executive Director of BBBB, the program began ten years ago when students from Haldane High School built the gigs - the same boats being used today. The program later moved away from an emphasis on boat building to concentrate simply on "getting kids out onto the river in the summer." The connection with The Paddle was a natural. "We joined in the Great Hudson River Paddle to give kids even more experience on the river" Hardy said. "The kids love to be together - and it's in a way that's not usual for them. There's no TV. No computer games. You don't have a thousand things going on. The kids calm down. You have to go from this place to that place. If you don't make it - you don't get dinner. It's that simple!" Hardy explained.
This year's BBBB participants included Malcolm Kemeny, Stefan Carlson, Chloe Goldberg, Lukas Lahey, Wil Hoffmann, Lina Kroehling, Skylar Francis, Kim Clancy, Forrest Hardy, Spencer Hardy, Graham Rice, Stefan Jimenez and Danielle Bassignani.
Hardy indicated that BBBB's day program gets underway this week. Parents drop their kids off at 9 am and pick them up at 3. "The first week is for younger kids and in the second week, after they have some experience under their belts, we take them out on the river. Older kids join us for the third week for a 'serial river trip' he explained. During that final week, parents drop off and pick up kids at various places each day as the group goes up and down the river. A few spots are still available. Anyone interested in the program should email Diana Stenzel at dstenzel@optonline.net
Hardy pointed to Malcolm Kemeny as an example of how young people can benefit from BBBB and The Paddle. Kemeny started out as "one of the BBBB kids" who took part in The Paddle. Now eighteen, he came back as one of the adults on this year's trip. According to Hardy, Kemeny, a junior at Reed College, credits BBBB and The Paddle with helping him get into college. His entrance essay was based on his experiences on the Great Hudson River Paddle.
An annual tradition when The Paddle nears Cold Spring is the water fight at Little Stony Point. Using kayaks provided at no cost by Teri Barr of Hudson Valley Outfitters, locals gather each year to "ambush" The Paddle. But this year, aided and abetted by their BBBB allies, The Paddle had a new wrinkle in store for Barr and her hodge-podge crew of locals. "They came down the middle of the river as though they were going to go totally past us" Barr said. Then, according to Barr, they turned quickly and attacked, taking the local fleet by surprise. "I got surrounded" Barr said. "They took my water gun and paddle and hooked me to their boat - and I had to surrender." It was a sweet surrender for Barr who has supported The Paddle since its inception. "Having the local kids involved this year just created a lot of joy" Barr said.
David Hardy quoted a Greek philosopher in summing up the unique nature of The Paddle and BBBB experience, "It's as Heraclitus said 'you can't step in the same river twice.'"
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