My brother wanted to take a ride down the East River on July 7th.
There was a musical performance in Dumbo, conducted by the legendary Japanese musician, Yamantaka Eye, from the Boredoms.
Normally, I would shy away from a drum circle in Dumbo. But this sounded like an interesting event.
Although we figured the place would be mobbed,
we thought we might be able to land right inside the fenced off area – citing ‘Freedom of the Seas’ – the oldest principle of international law, written by a Dutch Jurist, Hugo Grotius in 1625.
In giving proof to the ‘Law of Hospitality’, Grotius quotes the poet Virgil,
“What men, what monsters, what inhuman race,
What laws, what barbarous customs of the place,
Shut up a desert shore to drowning men,
And drive us to the cruel seas again.”
The seas were indeed a little high that day.
And I was happy to be making the trip with my brother,
who grew up the same as me,
taking small boats out against gales in the Canadian wilderness.
We were well trained by our uncle – Roger Klassen.
We came into Dumbo and got the lay of the land.
It seemed clear that if we trie to land inside the grounds marked off for the concert, the security guards would not acknowledge the ‘Freedom of the Seas; Law of Hospitality”.
So we landed where everyone else who didn’t get into the show was hanging out,
and waited for the music to start.
Some friends came out of the crowd – they saw us landing in the boat.
Just as the sun set,
my brother and I pushed off into the bay with Eric Foreman.
We drifted up close to the concert.
We could hear it pretty well from there and it was nice to be out floating.
Also we could drink our beer, safely out of reach of park security.
The concert sounded great echoing under the bridges.
And soon it wass dark.
I couldn’t decide what to do. The tide had turned around after sunset and was heading back in the direction we had come.
But I didn’t have a light for the boat.
We decided to make a run for it.
The water was perfectly flat.
And the lights from the city were beautiful.
I think I always say ‘this is the best time to be out’.
But really, this is.
We slipped under the Huron Street Pier.
And made it back to Greenpoint in about an hour – just as fast as the G.
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