Liberty Challenge Returns to Manhattan

New York Outrigger is excited to announce the 2013 Hawaiian Airlines Liberty Challenge will be held on Saturday, June 22nd in New York City. This year Liberty returns to its original home in Manhattan’s Hudson River Park. As the largest outrigger regatta on the East Coast, the Hawaiian Airlines Liberty Challenge attracts top teams from across the continental US, Hawaii, and around the globe. In 2012 Liberty became the first international regatta to be composed primarily of teams from beyond its regional paddling association. The opportunity to race in the busy waters of New York Harbor drew crews from Brazil, Canada, France, and Panama, along with domestic teams from Arizona, California, Florida and Hawaii. Racing in the Hawaiian Airlines Liberty Challenge provides an unparalleled exposure to the amazing waters surrounding New York City and is a celebration of our revitalized waterfront.

Seventeen years ago NYO’s founder, Roger Meyer, used a tugboat to bring a floating dock down the Hudson River to the dilapidated piers of Tribeca, thus beginning the regatta that would become the Hawaiian Airlines Liberty Challenge. This year Liberty returns to a revitalized Tribeca and newly reconstructed Pier 26. Liberty’s new home is the result of nearly two decades of efforts by the Hudson River Park Trust to transform five miles of New York City’s shoreline from abandoned commercial piers into a recreational waterfront greenspace. Additionally, the revitalized waterfont has influenced the redevelopment of adjoining neighborhoods, from Tribeca in lower Manhattan to Hell’s Kitchen in midtown. Arguably, not since Central Park opened in the mid nineteenth century has a greenspace so dramatically influenced the development of New York City.

New York Outrigger is proud of our long association with Hudson River Park and excited to introduce paddlers from around the world to the park we call home. The return of the Hawaiian Airlines Liberty Challenge to Tribeca is a celebration of the continuing efforts of the Hudson River Park Trust and others to revitalize the shorelines of New York and New Jersey. We hope you will join us on June 22nd to celebrate our city and its waterways!