For the last taxi trips of June, we decided to motor instead of paddle.
Birgit Rathsmann helped me rig an electric motor to the raft I built for Newtown Odyssey a few years ago; a moving dock that would carry up to 10 people plus my boat!
But for now it was just Birgit and me, and we picked up Forest Entsminger from the shore at Plank Road.
Upon meeting for the first time, we asked to see his tattoos: fantastically rendered water creatures, some of whom might be underneath the raft right now!
Our first stop was the Park under the Kosciusko Bridge. Birgit wanted to see if there was water access to the park, which could be useful for future adventures.
We decided the answer was yes, maybe, if you were a nimble adventurer.
It was easier to climb out on the Queens side.
Having the raft and a ladder made it work. Scrambling up a sheer cement wall is nearly impossible from the boat alone.
We found a hidden skate park, built entirely in miniature.
The builders had even painted miniature graffiti along the transitions.
Birgit pointed out a “no skateboarding” sign about an inch tall.
It’s a DIY ‘fingerboard park’, built by local skaters years ago, maybe during the pandemic, for boards small enough to ride with your fingers.
Whoever built it must have come here to skate the culverts and abandoned curbs, then found a perfect sport for the mini version.
It was fitting to examine it with Forest, a set and production designer, who makes just this type of space; highly imaginative and totally functional.
We got back onto the raft and drifted, now in the direction of the wind and current.
We dropped Birgit back at Plank Road,
and continued up the creek.
Forest had been curious about sunken ships, and I remembered that Newtown Creek has one of its own.
The Schamonchi, a former Martha’s Vineyard ferry, has been sinking here for years.
We rowed up close and looked into the leaning hull, monumental and disorienting.
For this part of the journey, we had switched back to my boat, better for examining the shoreline.
“It was hard to keep paddling toward the sinking ship,” said Forest later, “such an unsettling feeling.”
But I’m glad we overcame it.
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