SPORTS | Resilience Adventures

Resilience ADVENTURES

Paddlesports in Hoboken

Story and Photos by Daniel Israel

Hudson County residents may not see the Hudson River and think kayaking or boarding. However, the river is very much usable in those ways, and Resilience Adventures offers access to the wonderful water amenity right in Hoboken’s backyard. According to Noelle Thurlow, the Pier 13-based business sometimes goes by Resilience Paddlesports in addition to Resilience Adventures. But it’s about more than just paddling or athletics, Resilience Adventures also focuses on the environment. Thurlow is the director and one of the guides and educators. She said Resilience

Adventures began in Hoboken in 2014. It all started as a pilot program in 2013 after Hurricane Sandy. “I felt like people needed to reconnect in a healthy way with the water. I wanted to help our urban population be able to be outside getting healthy exercise on the water, but also build an understanding about climate change and the ecosystem of the Hudson River,” Thurlow said. They offer paddleboarding and kayaking. They have options for kayaks including those you can sit inside and those you can sit on top. Resilience Adventures offers lessons and tours along the Hudson River. The paddlesports also offer a unique opportunity for fitness in a calming and beautiful environment.

Daniel Israel

Daniel Israel

Daniel Israel

Jeremy Roche

Daniel Israel

Daniel Israel

Those interested in joining can obtain everything from a one-time session to a monthly pass. For those invested in paddlesports on the Hudson, a season pass is available. “For adults who are local, they can come and paddle every day if they want. We also have family programs and youth programs. We have after-school and summer camps, and specific youth programs that focus on both paddling skills and environmental education.” And unique to the Hudson is its incredible urban views of the New York City skyline. The steel skyscrapers tower over the Hudson River estuary just east of Hoboken, providing a serene yet stimulating area to experience nature. “Everybody makes fun of New Jersey from New York, but we have the perfect view of Manhattan,” Thurlow said. “It’s just a beautiful place to paddle and it still is a robust ecosystem. There’s a lot of biodiversity and the water quality is good enough that we can dip in the water, although maybe not after a heavy rain. Otherwise, it’s a beautiful and fun way to spend a day or an afternoon or an hour.”

Fun for all ages and skill levels

Resilience Adventures is for adults of all skill levels, but there are plenty of opportunities for all ages, especially youth. The experience is overall very environmentally educational, and offers a prime chance to teach local children about biodiversity where they live. “People think there’s nothing living in the water. I like to tell kids these are our neighbors that are living here, let’s explore. We go and try to actually find things and identify them. We’re actually

keeping a tally. We have over 85 different species that we’ve identified. It allows them hands-on, in-the-water experience. We have hip waders, nets and traps and we do catch and release.” Kids can paddle their way on the Hudson through field trips or after-school and summer programs. “We work with schools to offer hands-on science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) field trips for schools. Then we have other programs like after-school or in the summer that combine paddling and the environmental education.” The field trips are coordinated through schools, but for after-school and summer programs, kids can sign up individually, as a group or club. And for older youth, Resilience Adventures has internships available. “We have internships with students from High Tech High School,” Thurlow said. “We generally draw from their AP Environmental Science students. All of our interns have come from there. Some of them really like to focus on the physical skill of paddling, so they have trained up to be better guides. On the other hand, some have had a stronger focus on teaching environmental education and facilitating workshops for the kids.” The educational opportunities also contribute to actual scientific research. Resilience Adventures offers participants a chance to get involved in “citizen science.” “Our programs with youth, they’re not just doing these activities, they’re actually collecting valuable data for research projects,” Thurlow said. “So we have a waterquality project, a biodiversity project, and then this summer, we’re partnering with

the New York and New Jersey Baykeeper to set up oyster habitats for juvenile oysters.”

The water-quality project has been monitoring the quality of the river to make safety decisions about swimming in it as well as for data collection. The biodiversity project involves documenting and tracking the number of species that live in the area, which Thurlow noted there was zero documentation on the New Jersey side of the river prior to their efforts. And the oyster habitat project will obviously provide a place to live for that wildlife in the river.

On the banks of the old Hudson 07030 Hoboken conducted the interview on a kayak on the river with Thurlow and Roche. They guided our journalist through embayments in between the piers on the coast of Hoboken. While they could have ventured out into the estuary of the Hudson River between Manhattan and Hoboken, the currents were too intense for a newcomer. Thus, those seeking to paddle must schedule a guided tour from a schedule of select times. “Right here, the water is considered brackish. It’s part salty, part fresh. And an estuary is an important place for juvenile species, they spend years here as they grow. It’s also a migratory route for different fish and birds. Even though the estuary is urbanized all around it, it’s still functioning in that way. And the more that we can do to enhance, support and conserve it, the better the estuary will be for humans as well.”

Daniel Israel

Courtesy of Daniel Israel

Noelle Thurlow

Daniel Israel

Daniel Israel

Jeremy Roche is another guide and educator. His excellent mustache and flowing hair have often earned him the name “Paddleboard Jesus” by those who frequent the business. Roche added: “It’s not just about preservation, it’s about restoration as well. It’s not just about keeping this how it is, it’s to make it better than it was the day before. So every day we make a positive change, even if it’s a little.” Resilience Adventures goes beyond being a fun opportunity for adults and families, but also for people living with disabilities. From the physically disabled, to those who are living with special needs,

paddling on the water is a very accessible activity. “This one child was completely nonverbal,” Roche said. “It took about a half an hour of just patience and being calm to help him in the boat. But as soon as he got in, you had to see the look on his face and how much of a difference it made for him and how happy it was. It’s not something they would get to experience with a lot of other people. It’s really rewarding as a job to know that you’re not just making a difference in the environment, but also making a difference in these people’s lives and providing opportunities that are hard to find elsewhere.”

Fun, educational and environmentally friendly

For Thurlow and Roche, it is not so much a job but a passion. They and the rest of the staff at Resilience Adventures are both in it for the love of the local environment and the community. In the future, Resilience Adventures hopes to become a nonprofit. It is in the process of applying to do so. “All of our adult lessons, tours, corporate programs and other things that we run that are full fee, they help to support our youth programs and our community science projects. All of those programs for youth are low cost or no cost at all, so that helps to sustain them. And we’re in the process of becoming a 501(c)(3),” Thurlow said. Overall, Resilience Adventures is seeking to connect the community with the river in their backyard. They continue to meet with local residents, organizations and more to not only protect and enhance the river, but educate and provide recreational opportunities on the Hudson River right in Hoboken’s back yard. “It’s about getting people to understand and connect with the water, so hopefully they’ll want to take care of it and want to conserve it. Sometimes people will visit nature outside of where they live, and they’ll come to think of nature as being far away. But in reality, there is nature right in their backyards in the form of the Hudson River. That’s exactly why we started this place. It’s place-based environmental education combined with adventure and recreation. Hopefully, that combination will make people want to take care of this place. It’s magnificent and right outside the door.” — 07030