East River restrictions

[svWindweaver]

Does anyone know what the restrictions are for the U.N.? We are heading south and worrying about getting through.

[Snore]

Delivered a boat Bristol to Norfolk and we went down the East River. No restrictions and in a sailboat it was a FAST ride!

[sveinung]

They haven't published it yet, but I'm sure they'll share I'd you give them a call.
There's also a mailing list where's it's been announced in the past.

https://content.govdelivery.com/acco...letins/20f01b4

[skipmac]

Unless there's a special event there are no restrictions. However we went through a few years ago and it turned out Obama was speaking at the UN that day. We had planned a very early transit to beat the flood through the East River and passed by the UN at 7:00 am just before they closed the river for the rest of the day. I think you would still be allowed to pass by on the east side of Roosevelt Island when that happens but not certain.

When passing through monitor channel 16 and anything going on will be well announced.

[sailorboy1]

I went down east river a couple days ago so googled it. There are full closures coming up in a week or or so. I don’t remember when.

Just google it

[Captain Bill]

When the UN is in session you have to go on the east side of Roosevelt Island and they require a couple of hours notice to raise the bridge. The current really rips through there so it gets rather sporty if you arrive too early. I've done it a couple of times and it was no big deal. A couple of years ago wen the pope was there they had the whole thing shut down and Obama was supposed to arrive on Monday so they set up a special time to let the west bound boats through on Sunday morning. Then for some reason Obama decided to come a day early and they shut the river down at the Brooklyn bridge after all the boats had passed the UN. With a lot of throttle we could face upstream against 7-8 knots of current for 2 hours, but a lot of the smaller boats were really having trouble. It wasn't just inconvenient for them. I guess most of the morons who have occupied the White House have no idea how much trouble their travel causes the rest of us. I knew two guys who were killed in a plane crash because they had to avoid being within 30 miles of Air force one during W's administration and were forced into bad weather. Enough rant on politicians.

[J120Heron]

Check the Local Notice to Mariners for District 1.

https://www.navcen.uscg.gov/pdf/lnms/lnm01382018.pdf

P. 18-20. Some restrictions start 22 Sep.

[Chotu]

So it's closed 7am-7pm. Anyone transit Hell Gate and the East River at night before?

Is it easy due to all the artificial light?

I'm thinking of going through northbound at the 4am flood so I can be past 59th street by the time the damn UN General Assembly starts.

[Snore]

We cleared the Throggs Next around 1630 with a 1930 sunset. I found the channel well marked, think Chesapeake or Delaware. The Friday afternoon traffic on the river was insane. I ran two radios, one on 12 (ship to ship) and one on 16.

If you are heading out under the VZ in one shot, push HARD. I waited for the tide at the Throggs Neck and took it kind of easy (max speed 12 kts with current) and got nailed by the changing tide between Governors and the VZ. Next time I do a delivery through there, I will hit the Throggs Neck Bridge early. My read is that as long as you pass LAG and Rikers with the tide and push the boat a bit, it should work.

As I am reading everything I wrote, if you don’t have good crew—-wait a day or two for the river to open up.
.

[skipmac]

Originally Posted by Chotu

So it's closed 7am-7pm. Anyone transit Hell Gate and the East River at night before?

Is it easy due to all the artificial light?

I'm thinking of going through northbound at the 4am flood so I can be past 59th street by the time the damn UN General Assembly starts.

I did the first half, southbound in the dark. Flood was due to start very early so we left Throg's Neck about 4:00 am, sunrise was around 7. Didn't have a chart plotter in the cockpit so running on charts and markers and had one problem and at least certainly due to all the light pollution.

Heading east at Riker's island we couldn't see the markers or lights for the East River where it turned left at Manhattan and turned left too early next to Rikers. Realized pretty quickly the marker numbers and positions didn't match the chart so turned around and got back on course but lost about 20-30 minutes and started catching a pretty good flood current before we could get past the Battery.

Going north should be a little easier and if we had had a plotter would not have missed that turn.

[Chotu]

Thanks for the input. In thinking the Battery to Rikers will be well lit by all the light pollution. Certainly the Battery to Hell Gate should be lit up like a parking lot I'm thinking.

Sunrise is around 7am for this transit as well. So as it gets darker away from NYC, the sun should be rising.

That's the plan.

Anyone see any major oversights?

[sveinung]

Originally Posted by Chotu

Thanks for the input. In thinking the Battery to Rikers will be well lit by all the light pollution. Certainly the Battery to Hell Gate should be lit up like a parking lot I'm thinking.

Sunrise is around 7am for this transit as well. So as it gets darker away from NYC, the sun should be rising.

That's the plan.

Anyone see any major oversights?

It's certainly well lit but that makes it also harder to see lit markers due to all the light pollution. You'll get up East River at any state of daylight (or lack of), Just choose the outside loop around North Brother island as it's pretty narrow between the two (N and S Brother), at least if it's your first time and at night.

And for anyone wanting to go down the east side of Roosevelt island to avoid closures, be aware of vertical clearance height is just 40'. This is not a place where you want to hang out and wait for a bridge opening as the current will easily run 4 knots.

On a clear night it can be an impressive view so enjoy!

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, Windweaver.

[hellosailor]

The main channel runs past the UN, unless you have a short air draft you can't go through the east channel of the East River. (Any chart will have the hight restriction.) So as a practical matter, you keep away from the shore there, and the Coasties know that traffic has to pass. No real worries about it.

That building has aged so poorly, had so many leaks and other issues, they'd probably hold a commendation ceremony to anyone knocking it down anyway. The bigger worry is when you see a USCG boat with *manned* heavy machine guns doing the patrolling, with the guns casually pointed at Manhattan Island. (There's just no way that can end well.)