I missed a good session yesterday. Why? Because I am NOT going in the bays or the sound. The only water clean enough for me is the ocean. We actually have less rain this summer than last. The problem is it has all been in the form of thunderstorms and downpours. That means everything is using our surrounding waters as a dumping ground.
I can usually spot the storms approaching. That tell tail "anvil" cloud, the wind starts blowing from the WNW instead of the prevailing SSW thermal we get in Summer, the temperature drops suddenly...
But none of those skills can protect me from the damage we have already done to Mother Ocean this year.
The tide to sail Democrat Point did not start to work until 5:00 yesterday afternoon.[Yes, I know know your tide table says 3:00PM. But Fire Island inlet is becoming so shoaled over, that true high tide was not until 5.] And we always sail Fire Island Inlet to Democrat in an opposing tide. One mistake and you are screwed. Unless you can suddenly swim at a 9 knot pace against the tide.
So since the wind forecast on the ocean was questionable...[BTW, it turned out that it did blow well enough to sail].
Since we couldn't start till 5 at slack tide, and sunset was about 7:50.
Since we had no plan B, [usually Joe's Beach at Heckscher State Park].
Or plan C:[usually to take out Segue. But Manhasset Bays was 90 degrees, and smells worse than a porta-potty, with out the deodorizer...
I opted for the Olympics. Thank god we had a nice Ocean session last Sunday. The last wave sailing I had was in June. And I was feeling it. The worst part was humping my gear a quarter mile each way in the deep sand. Don't get me wrong. This is better than humping your gear a mile and a half in the sand from RM2 out to Demo, But a pain in the ass when you watch some fisherman make that same drive to carry his 20 ounce rod and reel. Why it is against State Park rules to Wind surf or surf from my truck on the outer beaches, by just fine for fishing is beyond my scope or reasonable understanding,
Millions of gallons of raw sewage spill into Hudson River, threaten Ironman Championship
Published: Friday, August 10, 2012, 8:00 AM
By
Steve Strunsky/The Star-LedgerA sewer main break in Westchester County is sending millions of
gallons of raw sewage into the Hudson River from the New York side,
keeping summer vacationers and others away from the water and
threatening to cancel the swimming competition for tomorrow’s Ironman
U.S. Championship.
The break occurred Wednesday at Tarrytown, N.Y., prompting the
Westchester County health department to issue an advisory warning
against direct contact with the water anywhere south of Croton until
further notice.
Officials said the advisory could be lifted by tomorrow, depending on
the pace of repairs. But it could still be in effect at 7 a.m., the
scheduled start time for the 2.4-mile swimming competition by 2,500
competitors along the Hudson River’s New Jersey bank, just north of the
George Washington Bridge.
Environmentalists and public health officials are taking water
samples to gauge levels of the enterococcus microbe in the water.
They’re also using computer modeling to determine where and in what
concentrations the waste water is likely to flow.
The break sent raw sewage flowing directly into the river at Yonkers,
via the Croton Aqueduct, a defunct drinking water tunnel that serves as
a right-of-way for the sewer main which runs into a Westchester County
treatment plant along the river.
More raw sewage began flowing into the river Thursday morning at
Sleepy Hollow, farther the north, where a bypass line is being used to
divert the sewage from the broken main while repairs are under way, said
Heather McGill, a Westchester County spokeswoman.
Repairs could be finished and the flow of untreated wastewater into
the river shut down by this morning, McGill said. But even after that
happens, she said, "it usually takes about 24 hours for an advisory to
be lifted."
Westchester officials issued the advisory on Wednesday and
immediately notified New York State, New York City and New Jersey
environmental officials.
View full sizeTim Sparvero/The Star-Ledger
"We’re monitoring and we’ve contacted Bergen, Passaic and Hudson
(counties) to make sure they’re aware," said Larry Hajna, a spokesman
for the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, who
downplayed the health threat of the discharge. "Westchester has
indicated that they are chlorinating the discharge, so we would expect
that to kill any pathogens in the water. And we would expect the river
to dilute the discharge."
Environmentalists said the forecast for heavy rains last night, today
and tomorrow presents as big a threat to the triathletes’ health and
safety as the main break. The New York side of the river has hundreds of
combined storm water and sanitary sewer discharge points, where
millions of gallons of untreated New York City sewage routinely drains
into the river when sanitary sewers are flooded with storm water runoff,
said John Lipscomb, manager of the water quality sampling program for
the Hudson River Keeper, an environmental watchdog group.
Lipscomb said 13 percent of routine samples taken mid-channel at the
George Washington Bridge exceed EPA standards for enterococus, the
microbe tested for in brackish water.
"The organizers of the race have more to worry about from the
rainfall that’s anticipated tonight and tomorrow, than this
three-million gallons a day coming from Tarrytown," Lipscomb said.
Tomorrow’s triathlon begins with the swimming competition. It’s
followed by a 112-mile bike race and then a standard 26.2-mile marathon.
The competition is the biggest event of the year for American
triathletes, who compete in eight other regional events around the
country, said John Korff, the event’s local organizer.
Swimming competitions have been canceled before, though typically due
to lightning. If the swim is canceled tomorrow, the other two events
will determine the champion, Korff said.
Ironman Jeff Glasbrenner, a 39-year-old below-the-knee amputee from
Little Rock, Ark., will be vying for his 18th victory in 20 competitions
in the “physically challenged” division, and to be among 75 of
Saturday's competitors qualifying for the Ironman World Championship in
Hawaii on Oct. 13.
Glasbrenner said he wasn’t all that concerned about the sewage
hazard, and if Korff says the race is on, Glasbrenner will be in the
water. He’s an Ironman, after all.
“If the race director’s good to go, I’m good to go,” he said.
The Department of Environmental Conservation is investigating incidents
on shores of Tiana and Shinnecock Bay shores; Baykeeper points finger at
red tide or pesticides.
The Department of Environmental Conservation is trying to find out
why hundreds of blue crabs and horseshoe crabs have washed up dead on
the shores of Tiana and Shinnecock Bays — and so far, there are no
answers.
DEC spokeswoman Lori Severino said that on Tuesday the department has
fielded many reports of the crabs washing up near the shores of the
Shinnecock Indian Reservation at the end of Corwin Lane in Hampton
Bays.
"It's an ongoing investigation," she said.
Eric Shultz, the president of the Southampton Town Trustees, said he
also received reports of dead crabs and conducted his own investigation.
He believes the crabs simply shed their shells. To read his report,
click here.
RELATED: Trustee Says Crabs on the Shoreline Is a Common Occurrence
However,
Peconic Baykeeper
Kevin McAllister believes that the kill could be caused by one of two
things — the red tide or algae that has recently returned to Southampton
waters, or pesticides related to mosquito spraying.
"It's hard to say what the cause is without testing. Often times it
is pesticides, but it could also be the red tide," he said, adding that
whatever the cause, "It is not good news for the bays."
Just this this week, McAllister said, the red tide, which has
reappeared in area bays for several years, is responsible for a fish
kill in a creek off Flanders Bay.
Red and brown tides, McAllister said, have become a chronic problem.
"We can’t delay anymore," he said. "We can’t sit here and debate this
and ignore it for another five or 10 years. The time to act is now."
McAllister has long-advocated for pollution reduction strategies,
including a call on Suffolk County to take action when it comes to
sewage. He also has fought for the DEC to set numeric quality standards for the bays.
In addition, McAllister said he thinks people should take a closer
look at mosquito spraying by the county, to determine if it's both safe
for the environment and entirely necessary.
Nancy McGrath of Hampton Bays, who spotted the crabs at the end of
Corwin Lane on Thursday evening, said she was saddened by the site.
"In my 50-plus years of being on the water here in Southampton Town, I
have never seen this kind of die-off before. I'm sure there are other
areas of Shinnecock beaches where this is happening, unfortunately. It's
a very sad day for our bays."
Coast Guard had received reports of a dead whale floating out in the ocean earlier in the day.
A dead whale washed up in Hampton Bays on Friday, after it was seen floating out in the Atlantic Ocean earlier in the day.
Kim Durham, the rescue program coordinator at the
Riverhead Foundation for Marine Research & Preservation, said the whale's body landed just east of Tiana Beach between 4:30 and 5 p.m.
The Coast Guard received calls on Friday afternoon that a whale was
floating in the ocean, but officials weren't exactly sure if the carcass
was headed east or west. The southwind pushed the whale toward Hampton
Bays.
The whale was fairly decomposed, Durham said. While she hasn't
examined it yet, she believes it is either a sei whale, which is an
endangered species, or finback whale, which is a threatened species.
Both are common in New York waters, she said.
It was estimated to be about 50 feet long and weigh 50 tons, Durham said.
The Riverhead Foundation will work with the county on Saturday in
deciding what to do with the carcass. The biologists will have to be
escorted to the area due to piping plovers nesting in the area.
Just this spring, an
adult pygmy sperm whale was discovered dead on the shore in West Hampton Dunes.
In July 2011, an injured sperm whale calf washed up on the rocky
shore in Montauk. It died several hours later. At one-year-and-a-half
old calf, it weighed 2.5 tons and measured 18 feet long, making the task
of removing it extremely difficult. A
n excavator hoisted the whale off the rocky shore and placing it in a large Dumpster, which was then carted away so that a necropsy could be conducted before it was buried.
In March 2010, a young humpback whale became stranded on an East
Hampton beach. Despite attempts to save the animal, it was eventually
euthanized.
Check back on Saturday for more information, as it becomes available.
