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A middle-aged Manhattan real estate executive, missing since the boat he and others were rowing crashed into a motorboat yesterday morning, is presumed to be dead. Jim Runsdorf and three friends, Edwin Joyce, Vincent Houston, and Jeff Ludwall, reguarly rowed around the upper tip of Manhattan. The NYPD hasn't pressed any charges against the driver of the boat, as the accident seems to have been an issue of visibility; his boat had the "required navigational lights," if not extra ones, and the driver passed a Breathalyzer test. Runsdorf had been sitting in the bow, and it's believed he drowned as he helped Joyce.
The NY Times described the dangerous relationship between rowers and boats in the waters:
The incident underscored the sometimes tense relationship between boaters with very different missions on a waterway that has become increasingly congested in recent years. Circle Line tour boats and tugboats lumber past the boathouse, as do cabin cruisers and, in the darkness before dawn, needle-like shells like the one the oarsmen were so carefully maneuvering.Other people associated with the Peter Sharp Boathouse, part of the NY Restoration Project, said motorboats simply go to fast.
Updated: The NY Rowing Association is looking for volunteers to help search for Runsdorf tomorrow morning.
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On behalf of all the other 41-year-olds out there, let me protest your characterization of 41 as "middle-aged," you whippersnapper, you!
Why are you saying that the rowers crashed into the motor boat? is that what really happened? original news stories said that the motorboat hit the rowers.
'Boaters with different missions' isn't just a problem uptown. Every night when I take the Staten Island Ferry home I'm convinced we are going to collide with one of the private ferry craft or one of the party cruise boats as they come speeding through the channels. I seem to remember reading a bit of history about how NYC banned private ferry service after a particularly horrible collision. Why do we have to wait for these awful accidents to happen before change is made? NYC needs to step up and regulate the waterways again.
what i don't get - why rowing needs to happen in the dark.
these guys were rowing before work. and generally, rowing early means calmer water. plus, you have the rest of the day to do other stuff. like work out on the rowing machine.
For that particular area, it also has a lot to do with tides and currents, which are surprisingly complex in the East, Hudson, and Harlem rivers. I kayak reguarly but have never bothered with those waterways simply because they're too congested. I do like the Gowanus Canal though.
Regulation of the waterway is very tricky -- it's a public feature and should remain publicly accessible and not just a venue for commercial traffic. This country is already too roped off, fenced off, and posted as it is. No one that paddles the Manhattan circuit does it without full knowledge of how dangerous it is. They should be allowed to make that choice for themselves, and not have it decided by a committee of bureaucrats. The drowning is tragic, but I'm willing to bet that the deceased would not want to see his death used as a case for restricting waterway access.