Coney Island Mermaid Parade

Is tomorrow (Saturday) at 2pm!

Ambrose and Ederle, like peanut butter and jelly

NYT August 6, 1926

Historical piece on Gertrude Ederle

Tales from the Ambrose Channel

West Bank Lighthouse

Location: Ambrose Channel, New York

West Bank Lighthouse became active on New Year’s Day, 1901 and was raised to 70 feet in 1906 to align with the Staten Island Light. Two more stories were added in 1907. From Lighthouse Friends comes a tale of legendary lighthouse keeper, Ed Burge, the first keeper of the light, and his dog.

Burge brought a small fox terrier puppy with him when he arrived at the newly built West Bank Lighthouse. Like his owner, the lighthouse life quickly got into the dog’s blood, and he refused to live anywhere else. In a 1924 magazine interview, Burge talked about his dog:

“You couldn’t get that dog to live ashore. Sometimes when I took him with me after supplies, he’d run down to the edge of the water and look out toward the light, and whine. If the light dimmed at night, or the fog signals stopped, he’d bark and tear around. He recognized a lot of boats, too, and would bark to the tugs he knew. I used to tie a flag to his tail, and he’d run out onto the gallery and wave signals. He always slept outside on the gallery, no matter how stormy it was, and watched the light and the boats. He was a lot of company. When I was transferred to Elm Tree I brought him ashore with me, but he wouldn’t live here. He was homesick, so I had to take him out and give him to the new keeper on the West Bank. He lived on the offshore lights for eleven years. Then the keeper brought him ashore, and he died in three days.”

The lighthouse was also crashed into by a vessel being towed by a tug, just three days after Christmas in 1908. The Carrie Winslow ripped the railings off the lighthouse and broke the glass. The tugboat company was held liable for the damage, which was $1200. However, Burge was kind of put out into the nor’easter by the fact it was his bedroom that got destroyed.

“She tore out one side of the tower, ripped free and drifted on, leaving that gale pouring through my bedroom. Nope, I didn’t do anything heroic. A man can’t be much of a hero without his pants. I just saw that the pup was all right and the light burning, and that the barkentine hadn’t sunk, and hunted another room that wasn’t busted wide open.”

Fun with Butterfly

WSJ has a great article about swimming open water distance butterly

This is right up my alley....a few more months with Igor, and I think I'll be ready to tackle this!

Time is running out

Sign up online for Grimaldo's Mile! Sunday, June 27th 2010, 7:30am

The race course is 1 mile straight line swim, parallel to shore. Start is at Coney Island at Stillwell Ave and finish is at Brighton Beach by the Shorefront Y at Coney Island Ave. Course will be marked by bouys. Water temperature is expected to be 62 ~ 67 F.

Download your form and mail it in today!

Sign up today

Take advantage of the early bird rate and sign up before May 31st for the Aquarium 1 mile and 5k! You can register either at active, or download the form at the CIBBOWS website.
It's really a good time! Mark your calendar:
Saturday, August 7th 2010, 7:00am

The 5K race runs parallel to shore with turn arounds at the Coney Island Pier and the end of Brighton Beach. The 1Mile race runs parallel to shore with a turn around at the Coney Island Pier. Both 5K and 1Mile races start and finish in front of the NY Aquarium in Coney Island.

I wonder if he pre-registered for the Brooklyn Bridge swim?

Over the past few days, dolphins have been photographed swimming in the polluted Newtown Creek and the East River. The Fire Department provided Gothamist with additional images of the aquatic mammals captured by Bill Hannon of FDNY Marine Company 6. Despite some scary police scanner dispatches about an "animal rescue" involving a dolphin near the Brooklyn Navy Yard yesterday afternoon, the Post reports the dolphin—which was last seen in the waters off of Kent Street—appears to be doing just fine. Rob DiGiovanni, director of the Riverhead Foundation for Marine Research and Preservation, told the tabloid: "At this point right now, it seems the animal is free swimming and doesn't seem to be in need of assistance."

as reported by the Gothamist--By Ben Muessig in News on March 5, 2010 12:14 PM
photos:Bill Hannan of FDNY Marine Company 6