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Some PortSide '09 acccomplishments:

We helped bring the Dutch "Flat Bottom Fleet" to Atlantic Basin; and with the NYC EDC, PortSide created a rousing event on Harbor Day.  Hundreds attended.

Working with NYC EDC, PortSide got two schooners, the Clipper City and the Shearwater, a winter berth in Atlantic Basin.  They will give free community sails next spring. More here

We partnered with the Red Hook Boaters and the Parks Department to bring a boat storage unit to Valentino Park, and will design the exterior graphics and interpretive panels for this "Boat Box."

We hosting tours of the tanker Mary A.Whalen for groups as diverse as college students and public housing residents.

We were a Yale Day of Service site, an international volunteer program.

We promoted Red Hook - and educated - by creating a Red Hook Visitors Guide.  We convinced the French magazine L'Express to feature Red Hook in a cover story on NYC destinations.  Read here

In Seattle, we found and bought most of the engine parts needed to restore the Whalen's engine.  We seek $1,500 to ship the final two engine cylinders that did not fit on the first truck.

Brian McCormick, a co-founder of the Brooklyn Greenway, joined our advisory board. 

Assembled Spaces, an architectural firm, joined our planning team. 

We are planning programs with a renowned monologist, a prominent Gilbert and Sullivan company, other artists and musicians, and a diverse array of boats that want to land at PortSide.

Photo Summary of 2009 coming soon.  Here are hits from years past:

Jan-Feb 2007:  The Whalen's first haul-out in 16 years; during coldest winter in 30. GMD did the work in the historic dry dock #1 at the Brooklyn Navy Yard.	Installing forward spudwell.	Carolina Salguero in winter fashion for 9 degrees
Progress on the interior 2007:   Office image #1.  High mountain man style in combined office-bunkroom during haul-out at GMD.  Note gourmet cooking on the space heater.	Office image #2 2007.   Painting the office in August.  Bye-bye peanut butter-colored bulkheads and overhead!	Office image #3.  Pursar Erica Reynolds on the job in October.
2007 H2O Arts Event #1: Puccini Opera in Red Hook Containerport.  Sell out crowds of 400+ a night.	2007 H2O Arts Event #1: lower outer deck serves as opera pit and main action occurs on raised center deck.	2007 H2O Arts Event #1: PortSide installs mini-museum in pier warehouse.  Crane plaques and building signs from now-demolished Todd Shipyard are a major component of this exhibit.
2nd annual Kayak Valet, the same weekend as the opera opened.  PortSide provides valets to watch the boats so paddlers can visit inland.	2007 H2O Arts Event #2:  Gabriel Cohen reading from his 3rd novel in GMD Shipyard's  Tailshaft and Valve Shop in November.	Operation Christmas Cheer
PortSide begins volunteer program Spring 2007:   John Weaver refurbishing a potbelly stove, part of the interim heating plant	Phil Marion of Erie Basin Bargeport re-installs the ship's wheel. It was kept off the boat until the PortSide office and shipkeeper were aboard and the boat is continuously staffed.  We took this precaution as the Whalen's builder's plaque and a sign on the fiddley deck were stolen in 2005.  Reward for their return; no questions asked.	Volunteer in her first hard hat, at GMD Shipyard.
Ship's cat Lulu in one cabin.	Operation Christmas Cheer	Relaxing after a Sunday volunteer day.