Creating More Waterfront Opportunities

Well the boat is currently for sale for $1,000,000.00. Fundraise, Buy it, and bring it to the waterfront.

http://www.hammacher.com/Product/12127?promo=search

I saw this traverse the Black Rock channel during Family Fishing Day -- the Ferry bascule bridge lifted for it. That's one sweet boat!

"Just the other day someone told me about a great concept called a Boat Share. Buffalo has a Car Share and a Bike Share is on the way... but I digress."

There is a boat share of sorts, the Sail Buffalo sailing club. The annual fee is significantly more than Buffalo CarShare, but also significantly less than buying your own sailboat.

I don't know anything about the program other than the fact that it exists (I don't sail, myself).

http://www.sail-buffalo.com/sailing-club

I feel like many Buffalonians forget that we're a Great Lakes town and that we have so much water around us. I completely agree - give people a way to get out on the water without having to drop thousands on a boat.

The view of downtown from a boat in the lake is breathtaking (as cheesy as that sounds).

Has anyone gone scuba diving in Lake Erie? What is the experience like?
If it was a good one, I could see dive boats leaving from the Buffalo waterfront.

As a Naval Park Volunteer, I'd like to point out a few things:

1) The Naval Park is currently enjoying yet another banner year of rentals for the Little Rock's fantail and internal spaces for private events, so you already can sit out there and enjoy an evening with just a little advance planning!

2) I cant imagine the Little Rock being used as a cafe for everyone who wanders by and wants a sandwich and a drink. I doubt I'm the only one either. It's a memorial to her own crew, Cruiser sailors and Veterans alike. Not the place for a cafe. Now that Liberty Hound is there, there's no need to degrade the ship in that manner.

3) Drinking and the ships do not mix. Aside from the fact that they are museums and already consuming a considerable amount of efforts of paid staff and volunteers to maintain, they are also filled with steep stairs, sharp edges and trip hazards. Not a good place to be wandering around with a glass bottle of beer or a cocktail in your hand.

4) There are surprisingly few surplus vessels put up for sale by the US Government with allowances made for their re-use. Most are sold with the express condition that they be scrapped. The GSA does sell USCG and occasional USN boats which could be converted for passenger use, but these boats are usually in a heavily stripped or damaged condition at the time of sale.

5) Starting a pleasure cruise operation is no small operation. In addition to the vessel, which you need to have a USCG inspection for, you need several USCG licensed operators and crewmen to man it. All will likely need TWIC cards. Startup costs alone just to get to the point of being ready to accept passenger #1 can easily climb into the tens of thousands of dollars.

6) Liberty Hound's current location was not dead space, it was the Park's conference room and exhibition space.

Just my nickle minus three pennies.

Wow. This brought back a memory for me. When I was a kid (1960's) I had a distant relative who owned a restaurant on the bay side in Ocean City, NJ. It was called ''Chris' Restaurant''...Anyway, he was a boat nut and owned several PT boats, docked aside the restaurant. If you were dining at his restaurant, he would take you for a ride. He took great delight in slowly navigating his way out of the bay, and once he hit the ocean swells, he would head the boat directly into the waves and then hammer the throttle. The experience was sort of like riding the Coney Island Cyclone, but wetter. I distinctly remember my poor soaked mom, stumbling off Chris' boat, soaking wet, and she turned and said to my dad, "Well, at least we did that BEFORE dinner''.

The waterfront sure could use a boat ride that is both scenic and FUN. Going 15 knots on the water is hardly a thrill ride.
One cool way to experience the lake and the scenery of the the waterfront would be on a speedboat ride, one similar to those offered in NYC at Pier 83 on the Hudson. A fast yet scenic boat ride on a hot day with a very good chance of getting wet would attract a great number of families and, dare I say, tourists.
It goes about 45 MPH, and boy is it fun!

Here's a Picture

Watch out! I hear that's the same boat that torpedoed Cleveland! :P