Everybody's Bothering Me!

I did my first Bear Mountain Bridge run of the year, and it was an odd experience. The weather and wind were working against me, but that wasn't the real issue. The issue was that people in other boats were stopping me.

The first was a sailboat. It was tacking up the narrows towards Bear Mountain Bridge and I was gradually catching up with it. I did right by the bridge, but then the people in the boat started shouting something to me on a megaphone. I couldn't catch what they were saying except when they we're calling out the guy with the red shirt and the khaki board. (My board is yellow, but my shirt was definitely red.) I waved my hand, then my paddle (which technically is a distress call) then turned around.

About 3/4 a mile down the river they caught up to me and blasted an air horn from the other side of the river. I stopped and waited for them to tack across the river and tell me whatever was burning, but they never did. A few minutes later a huge freighter came down the river, followed by a barge getting towed by a tugboat. So much for the sailboat tacking across the river. They never really did.

All I could figure out was that they were warning me about the commercial traffic. As if I never encountered a freighter before.

During this time a motorboat crossed the river out of the shipping channel to my side of the river. It stopped and seemed to be waiting for me. They probably didn't know what I was and thought they'd stop to help. As I got closer, they pulled away.

As I passed Fish Island, I heard another boat closing in from behind. It was a police boat. They slowed down and talked to me. They asked if I was okay and aware that I was paddling against the current (which I wasn't — technically I was paddling against the tide). I said I was peachy and after a minute or so they were convinced that I was okay, especially after I told them I was returning from the Bear Mountain Bridge.

Kirsten said to me that I should have mentioned to the policemen about the sailboat calling out to me, and they actually weren't too far away, less than a mile, as we spoke. I didn't think of it.

I pulled into Peekskill as some narsty clouds pulled in. It looked pretty.

Name:		Track 020
Date:		May 3, 2014 1:56 pm
Map: (valid until Oct 30, 2014)		View on Map
Distance:		7.33 miles
Elapsed Time:		2:12:04
Avg Speed:		3.3 mph
Max Speed:		5.1 mph
Avg Pace:		18' 01" per mile
Min Altitude:		0 ft
Max Altitude:		0 ft
Start Time:		2014-05-03T17:56:02Z
Start Location:
	Latitude:	41º 17' 06" N
	Longitude:	73º 55' 56" W
End Location:
	Latitude:	41º 17' 06" N
	Longitude:	73º 55' 55" W