East River closures for UN Sessions?

[derfy]

Looking for an official site with 2023 announcements on restrictions transiting the East River during US sessions - typically in Sep.

I have word of mouth info that next week (week of 17 Sep) the river is closed, but cannot confirm it.

Seeking an official info source (an not commentary about the UN and if closing the river is okay and a good idea or not ... save it for another thread, please).

[Chotu]

https://www.dco.uscg.mil/Featured-Co...Mariners-LNMs/

The answer to any of these questions is in the local notice to mariners for the specific region.

It is a good idea to consult this before you plan any trip at all.

I’m searching through right now to find the UN information. But there will be closures. There always are.

Edit: Sorry. This is taking an extremely long time to load due to poor connection and bandwidth right now.
You might be better off just going to the link I gave and searching yourself. Just look through for united nations, east river, it will show you the closures and restrictions.

You need district 1 - northeast

Edit 2: it finally opened. Didn’t find anything in it. That’s where the information has always been listed. Maybe they are not closing this year and they are just keeping the restricted area very well enforced.

[TheoWjr]

I'm looking for the same info. I actually called the coast guard yesterday and was directed to the homeport site,
https://homeport.uscg.mil/
but found nothing there.
I'm looking for a better number to call, to get info. Would be a PITA to get through the race with the current and have to turn around.

[Chotu]

Either there was an oversight this year or it’s not closed.


Every year this information appears in the local notice the Mariners

[TheoWjr]

Found a good number and a helpful source.

Sector NY Enforcement Phone: 718-354-4353

He said that the info is late in coming out.
He did say to call back to check daily as needed.
Please check for yourself, but here's what I was told.

17th, closed 18:00 - 19:20
19-23 closed 09:00 - 21:00

I'm heading west and with tides that means mid day for me. So I may try to get through Sunday or Monday.

[Chotu]

Nice work, Theo. It was a mystery why it wasn’t in the usual spot. Now we know

[BCCLover]

I had a heck of a time finding any information when we went through 2 years ago and wrote a blog post about how we FINALLY figured it out. Maybe this will help someone?

https://www.fit2sail.com/countdown-t...g-a-un-session

[Jamme]

Hopefully the CFR is of some help:
“Contact information. Vessel operators desiring to enter or operate within a security zone shall telephone the COTP at 718–354–4356 or a designated representative via VHF channel 16 to obtain permission to do so.”

Source: https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/33/165.164

Fair winds.

[derfy]

Dear All from the OP...

Thanks for this. I have never done this transit before.

BTW, first place I checked was Dist 1 Notice to Mariners. Yes, that is where I would expect it to be. I found nothing. Maybe it is there now.

Cheers and Fair Winds.

[derfy]

Originally Posted by Jamme

Hopefully the CFR is of some help:
“Contact information. Vessel operators desiring to enter or operate within a security zone shall telephone the COTP at 718–354–4356 or a designated representative via VHF channel 16 to obtain permission to do so.”

Source: https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/33/165.164

Fair winds.

Captain of the Port USCG seems like a the place to check.

I found this link for more phone numbers for them. I will be calling them. I will report back to this thread when I have done my transit.

https://www.atlanticarea.uscg.mil/Ou...ctor-New-York/

[AnsleyS]

The East river is not closed when the UN is in session just the security zone in front of the complex. Look closely at the chart of the area west of Roosevelt Island and south of the Queensboro bridge for one mile and you will see the security area. You can still proceed up and down to the west of Roosevelt Island but you need to be close to the island. Dont worry, there will be cops and coasties there to remind you.

[TheoWjr]

I finally found the factual reference for 2023.

https://homeport.uscg.mil/Lists/Cont...0(Rev%201).pdf

It's pretty clear which zones are shut down when. Remember that zone 3, East of Roosevelt Island has a 40' bridge so if you're a sailboat with a mast higher than that it's a no-go.

For future reference these notices are in CAGN's found on the homeport page, under the "Coastguard Prevention"/"Waterway Management"/"Coast Guard Advisory Notices (CGAN)" section, easy to find - right?

https://homeport.uscg.mil/port-directory/new-york

[massnspace]

About 7 years ago I passed through Hell Gate after spending the night in front of Billy Joel’s house in Oyster Bay. Early morning.

Was stopped by the Coast Guard near the UN and told I couldn’t go through until 5 pm due to Obama’s speech.

I dropped an anchor in front of Randall’s Island to consider my options. Actually was thinking about going around the top of Manhattan, but it looked like a ton of small bridges to get to open.

Then I saw a sailboat heading towards Hell Gate from the south. Hailed him, and he told me no problem to go on the EAST side of Roosevelt Island (not sure why the coast guard didn’t mention this). So I just did that.

I had a hard time getting a low bridge to open (couldn’t understand the very staticky communications from them) but some mysterious person finally came on the VHF and helped me to get them to open it.

Anyway, just go on the east side of Roosevelt….no need to check any UN schedules as far as I can see.

[rrayfield]

I'm anchored at Ellis Island currently and will proceed east tomorrow, my air draft is 71, the bridge someone mentioned above has a clearance 39 feet when down, 100 feet when raised.

I've hit UN week 3 years in a row not even trying!

They just send you around Roosevelt it's no big deal, just lots of flashing lights to make everyone feel safe.

Transit as usual, just take the other channel... and as someone else mentioned, they will remind you if you get confused.

Stay on 16 as normal...

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by rrayfield

I'm anchored at Ellis Island currently and will proceed east tomorrow, my air draft is 71, the bridge someone mentioned above has a clearance 39 feet when down, 100 feet when raised.

I've hit UN week 3 years in a row not even trying!

They just send you around Roosevelt it's no big deal, just lots of flashing lights to make everyone feel safe.

Transit as usual, just take the other channel... and as someone else mentioned, they will remind you if you get confused.

Stay on 16 as normal...

Oh, they will remind you alright. Lol