Go with an outfitter You said you rode a bike around Manhattan. You probably rode on the bike path?
Try riding on the street instead. You’ll get a sense of what it’s like to paddle around Manhattan:
Traffic: You’ll have dense motor traffic squeezing you into stuff you don’t like to be near. Drivers/boat-captains in New York City are simply quite used to maneuvering in tight spaces. So they will squeeze through when you don’t think there’s space.
Hazards: Like potholes lurking on every street, there’re docks all over the shore, submerged pilings too. Get near them when the current is running, you risk being pinned and dumped into the water.
Going with an outfitter who know the water, they’ll steer you away from those dangers. You’ll think it’s such a piece of cake! You’ll enjoy it more too.
You do need to be a reasonably strong paddler and can get back to your boat quickly IF you capsized. Though with the outfitter keeping you from danger, the risk of capsize should be minimal.
Good idea to think it again Good move on your part to first ask, and secondly to re-think it. There are lots of things you need to know about paddling in a marine environment in order to safely circumnavigate Manhattan, as well as some local knowledge.
Rules of the road, how to read traffic and channel markers, tides, currents, navigation, rescues, paddling in strong current, boat wakes, and standing waves. They all add up, and make each other more hazardous the less of each you know. It can take a couple of years of lessons, practice, and real-world experience to get it all down to where this paddle would be fun and relatively safe to do, even in a group.
I admire your gumption, but would rather see you safe & informed. Maybe try circumnavigating other islands with fewer hazards first, like Prudence Island in Narragansett Bay, RI, or something like that - it will expose you to all the aspects I mentioned above, but at a lower intensity. That allows you to learn, and still keeps it fun. Start with figuring out your tides and route, and go from there. Then do longer and progressively more difficult trips, making the next one just a little more challenging than the one before.
Manhattan is the big leagues because of current, traffic, and limited bailout options. Not to be taken lightly.
Choose a different trip At your skill level, why don’t you find a good river guide and spend two days paddling down the Delaware River ending in New Hope. It’s a great trip. There are a few dams and rapids but they can be missed.
I’m sure you could also find some fine coastal paddles in New England.
If you want to paddle around New York (why have you been in the water there, not my idea of fun at all?) find an outfitter who takes groups and do some training and reading first.
Using others for your safety source I agree with Carl here - people regularly act as the safety margin for beginners. Guides and instructors, of course, do this on every trip.
The question, in my mind, is whether this guy’s experienced friends really have the experience to safely guide him on an advanced trip like this.
To the OP. 15 miles is a quite long day for a new paddler. With good guidance I’ve seen it done by beginners in good physical shape. But for the vast majority of beginners, that’s more miles than they can do.
who to trust Sometimes the hardest thing for beginners is knowing who you can trust. As a beginner you don’t know where the dangers lie, and you are relying on someone else to make safety judgements on your behalf.
When you say you’re asking a key kayaker at SU about doing the Manhattan trip, you need to figure out if he has the skills to give you an informed answer. Does he/she have lots of ocean paddling experience? Does he have any certifications in ocean paddling from training organizations (like ACA or BCU)? Does he have experience paddling in an extremely busy port?
He could be an outstanding whitewater paddler, but all that would be nearly useless in accessing the feasibility of the trip you’re considering.
not for beginners I paddle from a boathouse in far northern Manhattan, frequently and sometimes on long trips. I have been around Manhattan three times, once taking 6:00 and twice taking 8:30. It can be done in 3:15 (clockwise) by the world’s fastest racers and was done in maybe 11:00 by a recent mass circumnav (60 boats). You have to plan the tides just right. All three of my trips I planned so as to be at the Battery early on a weekend morning, when there wasn’t much traffic. The conventional float plan is counterclockwise, not clockwise.
Some of the dangers: At some spots at some times, there are currents strong enough that, if you get off course or off schedule, you might find yourself taking an unplanned trip down a different river. You have to know not just the current but also the ferry terminals and security zones (entering the zone around the U.N. is a good way to get people with machine guns to pay attention to you, and the zone varies in width depending on what is going on at the U.N. that day). At the Battery, you are exposed to waves coming from all directions across New York Harbor; the waves reflect off the seawall and hit you again while you’re not looking. Hell Gate (which in my definition extends all the way down to the northern tip of Roosevelt Island and is therefore, contrary to what an earlier poster said, an unavoidable part of circumnavigating) has strong and varying currents; my two longer circumnavs were planned so that I crossed Hell Gate exactly at the slack current, and I recommend that plan to others.
I discouraged a few new members of our club from going this year, and I would discourage you. It depends on your skills, endurance, natural athleticism, and willingness to do research, of course, but why not work up to it? The stretch of Hudson from 56th Street northward is much less risky than the southern stretch, so you can, on a favorable tide, paddle two thirds the length of the island pretty safely. Then you can paddle the length of the Harlem River, again without much risk. Turn back just above Hell Gate! I can give you more details if you send me a private message.
Having discouraged you from doing a circumnav now, I do recommend that you do one someday. It’s a great way to see Manhattan, the other boroughs, the Jersey shoreline, and the harbor. My advice is to do some research, work on your skills and endurance, and join an outfitter trip, a Downtown Boathouse trip, or (next year) Jerry Blackstone’s mass circumnavigation (very slow but very well planned).
Mark
P.S. to kayamedic: Last I heard, the Mayor’s Cup is cancelled this year due to lack of funds.
No, that was me I “circumnavigated” Manhattan on a bike one day. Much of it was on the street, including mid-town at rush hour. Only one mishap: I hit a curb and bent my rear derailleur. Otherwise it was lots of fun.
I looked at the NOAA chart and you are indeed correct re: the extent of the Hell Gate - it begins much further south than I realized, beginning between Hallett's point in Astoria and Mill Rock. This is not quite the northern tip of Roosevelt Island, but might as well be, as the currents are going to be 'all squiggly' throughout this area due to mixing from the different channels.
“experienced” "The question, in my mind, is whether this guy’s experienced friends really have the experience to safely guide him on an advanced trip like this. "
That’s a very good point. And it applies to just about everywhere and every trip. There’s a saying “you don’t know what you don’t know”. Unless the “experienced” paddler have a fair amount of seat time on different locations, chances are they haven’t seen enough to handle the unexpected!
There has been too many stories of so called “experienced” paddlers who themselves gotten into condition above their head, with their charge of novices.
Though in this particular case, the technical challenge isn’t all that great. The only part that has any rough water is at Battery Park. (though that’s make more challenging by the amount of motor boat traffic) The distance is considerably short than the 15 (or 30) mile on the map, because the tide can almost carry you all the way around while you lily-dip. (that’s something for the OP to consider also, as your brag-able accomplishment will be deflated by the herd of out-of-shape moms and pops on sit-on-tops also finishing the same trip with ease)
As a local, I’ve done this trip more than once. And I have seen quite many not-so-expert paddlers having a good time doing the trip. What they need (and get as local paddlers) are other paddlers who are familiar with the route and knows how to deal with the current, the traffic and have a few bail out options. In this case, it’s not advance skill, but local know how that will make the trip safe.
As others have said, go with an experienced group. It will make all the difference and you will have a much better experience. I have done this during swim support several times and it's really neat but you need to know the tides/currents and you need to be safe from ferry and commercial traffic. Definately not for the novice as a solo trip.
there's more than one patch of rough water on a Manhattan Circ, depending on the tides and wind, of course, cf. the ConnYak article linked below by jaybabina.
i have read This whole post and have nothing to say regarding advice. But it got me thinking. Isn’t kayaking in nyc kinda like playing beach volleyball inside. Sure you could, but wouldn’t you go somewhere else. It’s like snow skiing in indiana, you can, but if I was planning an accomplishment in skiing it would be out west.