50th Birthday MetroBoat Project!
Donation protected
Hi All,
I'd be grateful if you could help me use my 50th birthday to launch new adventures through an innovative public program! It starts with purchasing a Sea Eagle 385 Fast Track kayak: https://www.seaeagle.com/FastTrackKayaks/385ft
The vision is a new form of volunteer-based, free public kayaking program that truly fits the needs of NYC by being compact and mobile. Volunteers and participants could reach seldom served communities with a public fleet of rigidly inflatable kayaks by mass transit with the boats, eliminating the need for trailers, trucks, and large storage facilities.
This fundraiser will give me a chance, along with HarborLAB volunteers, to thoroughly test out the kayak that thorough research indicates would be the best basis for the new MetroBoat, the ultimate urban kayak. Let's see how this craft, which receives rave reviews, holds up in Gotham. It could usher a new era of community water access!
Background:
Each decadal birthday I take on a challenge for NYC. At 30 I first circumnavigated Manhattan by kayak for the first time and that inspired me to remove the macho mystique of that undertaking. I was inspired to found community paddling organizations, like HarborLAB, to share even more adventures. At 40 I founded Gotham Orchards, which planted the city's largest public access (no fences) orchards and numerous smaller plantings in all five boroughs. Most notably, I conceived and executed a plan, with US and Kazakh partners, to make the "Big Apple" the place with the world's third largest apple genetic diversity, after the ancestral Tian Shan apple forest and a Cornel USDA research center.
50th Birthday MetroBoat Project:
Now at 50, I'm in talks with HarborLAB, Sea Eagle, and the Metropolitan Transit Authority to create a truly mobile boathouse and the ultimate urban kayak, the MTA MetroBoat.
The vision: a boat fleet that can travel by commuter rail, subway, and bus for local eco-tourism and equitable and inclusive access to our estuary and waterways. The MetroBoat would have capacity, stability, performance, and ease of use to rival the rigid sit-on-tops HarborLAB and other groups use, but weigh only 30 pounds and travel in a backpack or on suitcase cart. It woulld have safety and educational material silkscreened into its very body, plus marked attachments for marine radios, navigation lights, and other urban safety needs. And yes, it would be ruggedized!
We are even discussing setting up a "Pop-Up Boathouse" at Grand Central Terminal or Pennsylvania Station, to dramatize the point that NYC's mass transit and maritime identities can be fused.
The substrate model for this tandem MetroBoat for public programs and private sales that support public access will be the Sea Eagle 385 Fast Track:
https://www.seaeagle.com/FastTrackKayaks/385ft
Why this boat?
1) Sea Eagle is based on Long Island, minutes from a LIRR station, guaranteeing local knowledge, support, maintenance help, and a compelling narrative.
2) Inflatable kayaks have undergone a revolution called "drop stitch" manufacturing. Invented in the 1950s by the US military for inflatable airplanes, drop stitching binds two sides of an inflated chamber with thousands of strong threads so that highly pressurized, rigid, flat structures can be formed. Thanks to this technique and computer aided design, inflatable kayaks can provide closer to hardshell performance than skin-and-frame folding kayaks.
3) The Sea Eagle Fast Track 385 can be set up in under 10 minutes without any complicated procedures, making it ideal for public programs. It stores away using a fraction of the space needed by hardshell kayaks, a great consideration for urban groups who lack storage room or could better use that space for educational programming.
4) The Sea Eagle 385 Fast Track's keel has layers of protection and is more easily patched than hardshells can be welded.
5) The Sea Eagle 385 Fast Track can be silkscreen printed. The MTA says it has a tristate map that can be tweaked to include water access points near train stations and bus stops. The MetroBoat would be a fun and beautiful symbol of civic pride. Further, the boat could be printed with safety information and bright colors for added visibility.
So why the $2000?
To not dip into HarborLAB's capital and programming budget on testing this kayak, I'm asking that you celebrate my 50th birthday by collectively buying this boat. HarborLAB volunteers will be invited to use it to give feedback on MetroBoat modifications. It also happens that my own boat was recently stolen from HarborLAB, so it would be terrific to be equipped to explore again. A boat that can be paddled as a tandem or single is a great way to share family adventures too.
Sea Eagle is giving me a discount on the 385 Fast Track Pro Package (paddles, repair kit, foot pump, etc.), shipping, 50th birthday kayak voyage lodging, dry bags, and safety gear.
THANK YOU!
I'd be grateful if you could help me use my 50th birthday to launch new adventures through an innovative public program! It starts with purchasing a Sea Eagle 385 Fast Track kayak: https://www.seaeagle.com/FastTrackKayaks/385ft
The vision is a new form of volunteer-based, free public kayaking program that truly fits the needs of NYC by being compact and mobile. Volunteers and participants could reach seldom served communities with a public fleet of rigidly inflatable kayaks by mass transit with the boats, eliminating the need for trailers, trucks, and large storage facilities.
This fundraiser will give me a chance, along with HarborLAB volunteers, to thoroughly test out the kayak that thorough research indicates would be the best basis for the new MetroBoat, the ultimate urban kayak. Let's see how this craft, which receives rave reviews, holds up in Gotham. It could usher a new era of community water access!
Background:
Each decadal birthday I take on a challenge for NYC. At 30 I first circumnavigated Manhattan by kayak for the first time and that inspired me to remove the macho mystique of that undertaking. I was inspired to found community paddling organizations, like HarborLAB, to share even more adventures. At 40 I founded Gotham Orchards, which planted the city's largest public access (no fences) orchards and numerous smaller plantings in all five boroughs. Most notably, I conceived and executed a plan, with US and Kazakh partners, to make the "Big Apple" the place with the world's third largest apple genetic diversity, after the ancestral Tian Shan apple forest and a Cornel USDA research center.
50th Birthday MetroBoat Project:
Now at 50, I'm in talks with HarborLAB, Sea Eagle, and the Metropolitan Transit Authority to create a truly mobile boathouse and the ultimate urban kayak, the MTA MetroBoat.
The vision: a boat fleet that can travel by commuter rail, subway, and bus for local eco-tourism and equitable and inclusive access to our estuary and waterways. The MetroBoat would have capacity, stability, performance, and ease of use to rival the rigid sit-on-tops HarborLAB and other groups use, but weigh only 30 pounds and travel in a backpack or on suitcase cart. It woulld have safety and educational material silkscreened into its very body, plus marked attachments for marine radios, navigation lights, and other urban safety needs. And yes, it would be ruggedized!
We are even discussing setting up a "Pop-Up Boathouse" at Grand Central Terminal or Pennsylvania Station, to dramatize the point that NYC's mass transit and maritime identities can be fused.
The substrate model for this tandem MetroBoat for public programs and private sales that support public access will be the Sea Eagle 385 Fast Track:
https://www.seaeagle.com/FastTrackKayaks/385ft
Why this boat?
1) Sea Eagle is based on Long Island, minutes from a LIRR station, guaranteeing local knowledge, support, maintenance help, and a compelling narrative.
2) Inflatable kayaks have undergone a revolution called "drop stitch" manufacturing. Invented in the 1950s by the US military for inflatable airplanes, drop stitching binds two sides of an inflated chamber with thousands of strong threads so that highly pressurized, rigid, flat structures can be formed. Thanks to this technique and computer aided design, inflatable kayaks can provide closer to hardshell performance than skin-and-frame folding kayaks.
3) The Sea Eagle Fast Track 385 can be set up in under 10 minutes without any complicated procedures, making it ideal for public programs. It stores away using a fraction of the space needed by hardshell kayaks, a great consideration for urban groups who lack storage room or could better use that space for educational programming.
4) The Sea Eagle 385 Fast Track's keel has layers of protection and is more easily patched than hardshells can be welded.
5) The Sea Eagle 385 Fast Track can be silkscreen printed. The MTA says it has a tristate map that can be tweaked to include water access points near train stations and bus stops. The MetroBoat would be a fun and beautiful symbol of civic pride. Further, the boat could be printed with safety information and bright colors for added visibility.
So why the $2000?
To not dip into HarborLAB's capital and programming budget on testing this kayak, I'm asking that you celebrate my 50th birthday by collectively buying this boat. HarborLAB volunteers will be invited to use it to give feedback on MetroBoat modifications. It also happens that my own boat was recently stolen from HarborLAB, so it would be terrific to be equipped to explore again. A boat that can be paddled as a tandem or single is a great way to share family adventures too.
Sea Eagle is giving me a discount on the 385 Fast Track Pro Package (paddles, repair kit, foot pump, etc.), shipping, 50th birthday kayak voyage lodging, dry bags, and safety gear.
THANK YOU!
Organizer
Erik Baard
Organizer
Potsdam, NY
