Pier 15

I was really lucky to see some great boat handling on the schooner Pioneer during the 7 – 9 docking by Captain Glenn this past Saturday and the 1 – 3 docking by Captain D. this past Sunday. It’s a difficult docking under any circumstances due to the current, slip setup, and the Zephyr (a party boat of sorts that gives harbor cruises). However, the City of New York recently began construction on a new Pier 15, just south of the Wavertree. Apparently the city is re-building Pier 15 as part of the larger East River Esplanade project. This project is planned to expand the city’s use and interpretation of the historic waterfront area.

“The plans for Pier 15 have not changed much since they were unveiled in November 2007. The major components remain a new pier constructed upon the site of one that collapsed decades ago—a sign of just how far the waterfront had fallen in the city. On the main level, there will be fendering and bollards for the Seaport Museum's historic ships to dock, as well as a small boat launch and a maritime-themed pavilion, all of which were major demands from the maritime community.” - SHoP Architects website

Though this seems like really great news for those who work around the Seaport, it also has the added side effect of making Pioneer’s difficult docking nearly impossible. Very rough and inaccurate measurements on my part using aerial photos indicate that the distance from the southeast corner of Pier 16 to the northeast corner of Pier 15 will be approximately 180 feet. However, when Zephyr is docked at the end of Pier 16, the distance between the northeast corner of Pier 15 and Zephyr’s stern is approximately 120 feet. The Pioneer is a little over 100 feet long from the end of the jiboom to the end of the main boom.

I hadn’t really thought about the difficulty of this until I was the deckhand on Pioneer when she made her approach in the dark, on the flood, with the Zephyr docked at Pier 16. Glenn made the approach from the north, powering against the current and crabbing sideways into the slip. Our stern cleared Zephyr by ten feet, with about ten to fifteen clearance from the pilings off Pier 15. Then as we began to spin our stern into the slip, the bow came forward with the jiboom right over the pilings. I was calling distance and I know my voice showed the strain because the crew mocked me mercilessly afterward. We backed down toward the float and tossed over the midships spring dockline and the stern breast dockline. In powering forward however, the flood caught our bow and started to swing the jiboom toward Zephyr. I called it, the Captain backed down on the midships dockline, and after some scrambling aft to free the vangs on the mainboom all was well.

The next day Captain D. took us out on a strong ebb and after a short education sail, we came back just in time to have Zephyr beat us into the dock. We made two different approaches, then on the third try we powered against the ebb while closing on Zephyr and let the tide carry us down so that our jiboom cleared Zephyr by ten feet. Once clear of Zephyr’s prop wash, the current died away and Captain D. spun Pioneer into the float for a sweet docking without incident.

I’m glad we have captains with the guts to do this crap, because I know I couldn’t manage it.