Saturday, August 8 I got up early and rode my bike over to Pier 40 to spend some time cleaning up my old kayak for my upcoming trip. As I opened the storage bin I noticed Randy (from New York Kayak Company where I store my boat) had some new TideRace kayaks in some of the storage slots. I proceeded to clean up my boat and after I had completed cleaning the hull I walked down to talk to Randy about getting help fixing my sticky skeg. He and I started talking about the new TideRace boats and one thing led to another. In no time he had me doing a test run in the Hudson. I have to tell you the TideRace is like no other kayak I have ever paddled. It is stable, comfortable and extremely responsive. There was no hesitation. I bought one. Randy helped me walk my old beautiful Dagger Meridien-SK (which he reminded me I had purchased from him in 2002 - where does the time go?) down to the Downtown Boathouse where I donated it to the wonderful free kayaking program they run. That kayak has seen two cross-country trips and many happy hours on top of an SUV Thule Rack as well as a large number of waterways.
After we pulled the test boat back up to the dock I walked down with Randy to pay for my new kayak. We talked awhile and did all the paperwork. I checked my receipt for the time and it showed 11:53 a.m. Randy sanded down my durable Werner paddle and in about 10 minutes we headed down to the dock to take my new TideRace Xcite Hardcore 17-foot kayak for a spin and capture the traditional photograph Randy always takes.
When we got back down to the dock we noticed a Coast Guard boat unloading a stretcher onto the dock where I had just launched the TideRace kayak. I saw a young person in tennis shoes on the stretcher that was laid down on the dock. The person was not moving and at first glance appeared to me to be sedated. A crowd was gathering in front of the kayak launch dock where only moments before there had been no one present. The word quickly spread throughout the crowd about the Liberty Helicopter and small plane collision which had just occurred over the Hudson apparently moments before. I thought the EMS folks would be hurrying off the boat and into an ambulance but that never happened. The police closed the area and asked all the bystanders to leave. I packed up my new kayak and quickly put it and my gear into my storage slot and locked up. I was the last to leave the area but the police were very kind in not hurrying anyone. It was only as I unlocked my bike to leave that I noticed the officers had covered up the head of the person on the stretcher still on the dock. Only then did it dawn on me that the person was dead and that was why the EMS team had not been in any hurry to get the stretcher off the dock.
I felt pretty bad most of the afternoon as it had been such a lovely morning, such beautiful weather and everyone had been enjoying a wonderful Saturday summer day by the waterfront. I kept thinking that only that morning that person had been alive and looking forward to the helicopter tour over Manhattan. Life is really unpredictable. Live each day to the fullest.
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