Waterfront Wednesdays

The Hudson Sloop Club would like to thank everyone involved with Waterfront Wednesdays. We were proud to participate in collaboration with the Schooner Apollonia to offer free sailing to our community this summer. The Apollonia’s crew did an amazing job providing safe, social distanced sails on the Hudson river with a focus on increased accessibility. The program was funded by the City of Hudson Tourism Board and it was a huge success. We look forward to doing it again next year, see you on the river!

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The Hudson Sloop Club is proud to announce that construction has begun on the long awaited Everett Nack Estuary Education Center.

 
Sloop Club stalwart Sam Merrett with GC Jason Wyckoff after receiving key components of the Nack Center.

Sloop Club stalwart Sam Merrett with GC Jason Wyckoff after receiving key components of the Nack Center.

The beginning pieces have been put in place for the Everett Nack Estuary Education Center (ENEEC or Nack Center), with an anticipated opening in summer 2019.

The Nack Center is being constructed by the Hudson Sloop Club, in partnership with the City of Hudson. It is funded by a grant from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. The General Contractor is Jason Wyckoff and the architect is Liam Turkle.

The Nack Center will be a community resource open to the public, a “plug and play” location for educational and environmental organizations and river-related programming.The Nack Center is designed to offer hands on and experiential displays and activities, and will host visiting environmental educators and scientists. The Nack Center will also serve as a riverfront information center for community members and visitors to Hudson. A small aquarium, regularly stocked with local marine life, will be a visual centerpiece, alongside wildlife and habitat displays. River data about tides, temperature, turbidity, and other factors will be on display on real time screens. The Center will have a learning library of books and resources about the River’s ecology, and history, and information about local boat rentals, tours, and other recreational opportunities. The facility will be equipped with technology for water quality monitoring and recording, for seine netting, and with shared fishing gear and tackle. A full cycle estuary viewing station will include a digital microscope connected to a computer and projector for large scale viewing. The Nack Center will be a resource for local scientists, students and researchers, enabling access to valuable ecological data and a flexible space for interpretive learning.

The facility’s location at Hudson’s waterfront will place this dynamic environmental and educational resource directly in the heart of an urban community. The Nack Center will be within walking distance from the City’s public housing and shopping district, and directly located off public transit lines stretching from NYC to Montreal. This unique location will make the Nack Center accessible and visible from land and the river, will allow it to serve not only the residents of Hudson in all of their diversity, but also partner organizations, school groups and tourists from the greater Hudson Valley and beyond.

Our first event of 2019 will be the Riverkeeper Sweep on Saturday, May 4th from 10am-2pm. We will meet at Henry Hudson Riverfront Park in Hudson at 10am and walk over to the Nack Center site for the cleanup. We ask all Sweep volunteers to wear sturdy boots and clothing that can get dirty, and to bring a hat, sunscreen, water bottle, and snacks. We look forward to seeing you there and showing you the progress on the Nack Center!

 

Riverkeeper Sweep at the Nack Center site

Come down to the future site of the Nack Center to learn more about the project and help clean up the site. Bring your work gloves, boots and long sleeves to the Hudson Waterfront between noon and 3pm. We will be landscaping and cleaning up garbage …

Come down to the future site of the Nack Center to learn more about the project and help clean up the site. Bring your work gloves, boots and long sleeves to the Hudson Waterfront between noon and 3pm. We will be landscaping and cleaning up garbage and debris but also taking time to show people around the site, talking about Nack Center and the next steps in its development. All participants(of age) get a ticket for a free beer at Crossroads Brewery in Athens. Park in the gravel parking lot at the Hudson Waterfront park and follow signs to the Nack Center.

WE GOT SHAD!

They were almost too small to see but luckily we had microscopes.

We would like to thank Chris Nack and Family for giving us an amazing workshop at the Hudson Waterfront.  We caught larval shad from right off the docks in Hudson and put them under microscopes to see what they looked like up close and personal…

We would like to thank Chris Nack and Family for giving us an amazing workshop at the Hudson Waterfront.  We caught larval shad from right off the docks in Hudson and put them under microscopes to see what they looked like up close and personal. There was a great turn-out, and everyone learned a huge amount about shad in the Hudson River.

The event was sponsored by New York Sea Grant, Virginia Sea Grant, the Hudson River Foundation and SUNY ESF. Thanks so much to everyone who helped put this great event together and to everyone who came out.

The loss of the Riverloft

On the morning of Wednesday, January 18th, we learned that The Riverloft building at 59 N. Front St. was burning. The building, which was recently donated to our community partners and friends at Kite's Nest, also housed all of the Sloop Club's mate…

On the morning of Wednesday, January 18th, we learned that The Riverloft building at 59 N. Front St. was burning. The building, which was recently donated to our community partners and friends at Kite's Nest, also housed all of the Sloop Club's materials and supplies. The fire destroyed the entire building and everything in it. The building was completely demolished by the end of the day. Kite's Nest and The Hudson Sloop Club suffered deep, material losses, but we are so grateful that no one was harmed, and no lives were lost in the fire.

We are so saddened for Kite's Nest, whose dreams for the future were deeply invested in their plans for the building and the site at 59 N. Front St. We will do all we can to support them as they begin to imagine new ideas and make plans for the future. Our organizations will continue to work together to rebuild, and grow stronger.

In the midst of this disaster, we are so grateful to the firefighters, police, and the first responders who fought the fire throughout the night, morning and into the evening, keeping our community safe. We want to thank the more than one hundred firefighters from Hudson, Greenport, Stottville, Claverack and Catskill who worked so hard to contain and fight this fire, as well as the Mayor, the DPW, the Hudson City Police Department and the State Fire Investigators that spent hours and hours at the building.

We also want to thank the many, many community members that reached out to The Hudson Sloop Club throughout the day on Wednesday, and in the past few days to offer their support, we are so grateful to live and work in this amazing community.

We are processing and evaluating this loss, connecting with our partners at Kite’s Nest, and throughout this community and we will be in touch with future plans for rebuilding. Thank you for your ongoing generosity and support.