Category: THE BOATHOUSE JOURNAL

We are totally obsessed with our new logo which was designed by local artist Keri Sheheen of Parlor Trick Prints! We’re thrilled to unveil it in announcements about our 2024 season info session.

We’re excited to share what we’ve been up to and how you can help in 2024! Please join us at a fun and low-key volunteer info session.

When: Friday, April 19th 6-8pm

Where: Staten Island Makerspace -450 Front Street Unit A (entrance on Thompson Street) SI NY 10304 (just blocks from our Stapleton launch site)

What to expect: This event is for long-time volunteers, newbies and everyone in between! We will talk about who we are, what we do, what we’re planning for 2024 and how you can be an imperative part of it all. We’d love to have you there if it’s been a while since we’ve seen you too- your experience and insight are invaluable to us. And for newer folks- come bring a fresh perspective. All are welcome!

Afterward, we’ll just hang out, answer questions and have some refreshments. We look forward to seeing you!

Despite it being the cold, dark days of bleak midwinter, Kayak Staten Island hasn’t had a boring time of it! Our calendar has been full of meetings, holiday gatherings and fun events like the Special Olympics Staten Island polar plunge. We are honored to be asked every year to provide kayak support for the brave swimmers who take a dip in the chilly December ocean for a very good cause.

The weather for the 2023 polar plunge was not exactly favorable and the surf provided quite a ride for KSI paddlers James and Evan. Pictured is KSI co-captain Annette with James riding the waves in the background.

The KSI polar plunge kayak support crew was Marcus, Evan, Annette and James. We tried to take a selfie but the weather had other ideas.

KSI co-captains Annette and James and volunteer Marcus had a nice time at the Waterfront Alliance holiday party. Such great hosts!

Annette and James also had a great night at the Gowanus Dredgers’ holiday party at their boathouse in Gowanus, Brooklyn. Holding court here is Dredgers’ captain Gary Francis (this dude knows his stuff).

KSI captains Annette and James had an interesting and edifying walk-through of Staten Island’s North shore (including KSI’s Stapleton launch site) with representatives from the NYC Economic Development Corporation, councilmember Kamillah Hanks’ office, the Waterfront Alliance and other community partners. Afterward, we had burritos and viewed an exhibit at the Staten Island Museum. It was a really fun day!

To close out a fantastic 2023 paddling season, we had two more beautiful sunset tours from our unique North shore launch site in Stapleton, a super busy paddling morning where we put over 100 of you safely out on the water down at Page Avenue with the help of volunteers from the Verrazzano Honors School cohort AND a chill October season closer where volunteers had a celebratory barbecue after another perfect day of paddling. We had such a special year and are so grateful to our community of friends and neighbors, old and new. We are very much looking forward to expanding, advocating and exploring in 2024.

KSI co-captain James giving Stapleton sunset tour participants a paddling lesson

The students from the Verrazzano Honors School cohort were a great help at our last September event of the season. They join us as volunteers every year and we always look forward to it.

We had so much fun paddling and barbecuing at our October season closer down at Page that we didn’t take too many photos. We love that our Page Avenue program is family-friendly and is on the grounds of the beautiful Conference House Park.

It’s a bit sad to think we’re winding down our summer 2023 season here at Kayak Staten Island. Alas – we have some fun events coming up in the next week and we’d love to see you!

Saturday, 8/19 – 10am – 1pm : we have our FREE walk-up public paddling at 850 Page Avenue. Bring the kiddos and wear clothes you don’t mind getting wet – we’ll provide everything else. No pre-registration necessary as it’s first come, first served.

Wednesday, 8/23 – 6:30pm and 7:30pm : we have our low-cost sunset kayaking tours from 777 Front Street down to the Alice Austen House Museum and back. These tours are for participants who are 12 years old and up only. You may purchase tickets below:

6:30 pm tour

7:30 pm tour

If you need enticement, check out these photos of our last sunset tours on August 9th. It was yet another gorgeous evening on the NY Harbor.

…95 neighbors that joined us for a gorgeous summer morning paddle at 850 Page Avenue, that is!

We are thrilled to have put 95 of you safely out on the water for another of our free public walk-up paddling programs. We’re at 850 Page again on Saturday August 19th from 10am – 1pm. Check out our calendar of events under the Calendar tab.

No joke- we have the coolest community of paddlers and volunteers and we appreciate you all. Such good vibes!

Thanks always to John Kilcullen and the good folks at Conference House Park for all the support.

This cute family for the win!

It’s like our favorite annual holiday at Kayak Staten Island when we get to spend a summer morning with the kiddos from Staten Island Urban Center. Many of these young folks had never been in a kayak before but they are fast learners. We had such a fun day on Wednesday August 2nd and can’t wait to do it again!

Thanks so much to NYC councilmember Kamillah Hanks for joining us for a private tour the other evening and showing the waterways in her district so much love! We had a wonderful (if humid) sunset paddle from our Stapleton launch site down to Alice Austen House Museum and back- and the lightning even managed to hold off until later.

Another beautiful evening on the water in Staten Island!

We spent an inspiring (if painfully beautiful) City of Water Day canoeing in the Gowanus Canal with our fiscal sponsors (and rad humans) the Gowanus Dredgers.

The canal smelled like tar and was full of dead fish from post-rain sewage run-off (CSOs)- and yet, the crabs and egrets hung on because nature is resilient. It was an inspiring day because we have a huge admiration and affinity for activating underutilized, neglected and often discarded spaces like superfund sites, abandoned lots and the unfinished urban shoreline/parking lot full of abandoned trucks that is our own North shore launch site.

We are inspired by the comprehensive ways in which the Dredgers bring awareness to the extremely pressing environmental and infrastructural issues which precipitate superfund sites like the Gowanus Canal. Kayak Staten Island hopes to take a page (or five) from their book in our own efforts to engage our local community equitably and meaningfully and not just with kayaking – but with concerts, arts programming, dance, citizen science, education, environmental stewardship and other eclectic offerings, like the Dredgers do. We look forward to bringing some of that ingenuity, resourcefulness and creativity to our community and to helping Staten Islanders fall in love with our waterfronts.

Thank you to our wonderful community and fantastic, hardworking volunteers for such good vibes on a bumpy but fun day in our little bay! The water and wind conditions made the day rather exciting haha – but the weather held despite a little uncertainty in the beginning.

While we paused for a few minutes to see about the weather, some of our participants took grabbers and trash bags and cleaned the beach while they waited. Very cool. We’d like to do more of that.

As always, thanks always to our friends at Conference House Park for all the support.

We put 106 of you safely in the water. It was our pleasure and we can’t wait to see you all at 850 Page on August 5th at 10am!

photos by our excellent volunteer (she made you sign your waivers) Gail Middleton.

After a tense morning of obsessively monitoring the weather, Kayak Staten Island has made the decision to cancel tonight’s kayaking tours. The current radar shows thunderstorms right over our tour location for this evening and we’re not willing to jeopardize volunteer or participant safety. We are totally into a rainy day paddling trip but we cancel right away for lightning and high winds since those conditions pose quite a danger to anyone out on the water.

We hope to have a reschedule date for the tours asap- but in the meantime, come slake your hankering for free kayaking next Sunday, 7/9 from 12-3pm at 850 Page Avenue!