Classic Harbor Line will be starting new service out of Brooklyn Bridge Park Marina. Starting July 14, catch a 2-hour Sunset Sail on the Schooner Adirondack on Sunday or Tuesday evening or an Around Manhattan AIA tour aboard the Yacht Kingston on Sunday afternoon. Short harbor tours are also available Friday and Saturday for the family, the office or a little date night.

Of special note is a tour that will feature a special Brooklyn waterfront-inspired tour done in partnership with Turnstile Tours. Check out the Brooklyn Waterfront Tour: Past & Present every Saturday starting August 8th, 11 AM-1 PM aboard the 1920s style yacht Kingston. The Classic Harbor Line team is your host and Turnstile Tours is your guide. This series will feature a rotation of Brooklyn waterfront themes including: the past & present of Brooklyn’s industrial waterfront; the history and future of Brooklyn’s food production and distribution; and several other rich themes the drape this dynamic edge.

The Brooklyn Bridge Park Marina pick-up point is between Pier 5 & 4, near the end of Joralemon St. To purchase tickets for a Brooklyn departure, you must do so online in advance: www.sail-nyc.com, or call their ticketing agent Fareharbor: 212.913.9991. To book a private event with Classic Harbor Line from Brooklyn, please call their main office: 212.627.1825

PR Contact: Will Candis
[email protected]
212.244.6018

Do you love sushi? Do you love sailing? Do you love sunsets? I’m going out on a limb here and guessing you’re a fan of all three (we’re not friends anymore if you said no, sorry.) Guess what, this isn’t just a culinary fantasy — from now until September 21 Classic Harbor Line and Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto will offer a light-dinner sail on deck of one of New York’s newest schooners. 

I partook in the sail this past Wednesday and it was truly dreamy. We sailed past iconic landmarks such as Battery Park, Ellis Island and The Statue of Liberty. It was a beautiful and breezy escape from the hot concrete of the city. 

But let’s talk about the star of the show — the sushi. The menu includes a sampling of nine sushi pieces and one roll served in two platings and paired with four sake flights. Everything is served super fresh, stored in special coolers just one hour before the sail. 

If you want to snack on some of the highest grade sushi in the city, sip sake all while sailing down the Hudson River, you can buy tickets here.

Click to view image gallery

Our streets may be dense and green spaces few, but New Yorkers love to be outside. We host cocktail parties on fire escapes, casually inquire about alfresco seating in March bluster and risk legal infraction to picnic as we please. As summer temperatures tilt toward tropical, we are particularly inclined to eat, drink and be merry while sailing the high seas. (Or, y’know, bobbing on the East River.) Fortunately, a fleet of barge bars, culinary yachts and roving schooners has arrived on New York’s shores, giving nautically minded imbibers opportunities to drink up and ship out. Here are six places to set sail this summer.

Morimoto Sushi & Sake Sunset Yacht Cruise

Why it’s hot: This isn’t your Uncle Leon’s dinner cruise. Monday nights, a 105-foot schooner glides down the Hudson for two-hour sunset sails, providing peak skyline views and enviable hashtag opportunities. The biggest draw, however, is on-board menus by Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto, served alongside healthy pours of sake and champagne.

Must-try item: Haiku Gekkeikan sparkling sake, plus fresh cuts of fatty tuna hamachi and king salmon unagi. 

Insider tip: Morimoto sailings depart Chelsea, but a sister vessel, the 1920s-style yacht Kingston, is debuting in Brooklyn Bridge Park Marina this summer. Brooklyn waterfront tours start Saturday, June 20.

The details: Pier 62, Chelsea Piers, Manhattan; 212-913-9991

Have a romantic night – August 3

Need a fun summer date night? Set sail around New York Harbor on Monday nights with the Morimoto Sunset Sushi Cruise. Aboard the elegant schooner, America 2.0, you’ll get a sampling of sushi from Iron Chef Morimoto, paired with four sake flights and stellar sunset views of New York City. Chelsea Piers (Pier 62), Manhattan; www.sail-nyc.com

Around Manhattan Architecture Tour

Architecture equals history, Kyle Johnson told passengers on the 80-foot yacht the Manhattan as it chuffed past the curtain of skyscrapers filling our view. “Buildings are made to endure.”

During the nearly three-hour AIANY Around Manhattan Architecture Tour, Johnson explained the skyline through its buildings (and at times the lack of them) and the textures, colors and shapes that are the key to the island’s various eras of design.

“This tour gives you an overview of the entire city, which you can’t possibly do in two hours on foot,” said Johnson, an architect. “You can see the entirety of buildings.”

The tour, structured by the New York chapter of the American Institute of Architects, sails up the Hudson River (which Johnson is quick to point out is not a river, but a tidal estuary) before turning right at the northern tip of Manhattan. The guide lists 156 points of architectural interest, although at some point, I start classifying some structures as either “Neat” or “Who thought that was a good idea?”

The voyage south on the Harlem and East rivers passes under 19 to 20 bridges that provide access to Manhattan’s east side, including a few inventive swing and vertical lift bridges designed to allow passage for tall ships.

The route is similar to any number of circle-island boat tours, but with fewer passengers than most (plus snacks and Champagne) and with a more informed voice about a rapidly changing aspect of the city.

“Typically the city has turned its back to the waterfront because it was a working waterfront,” Johnson said. “The city now is engaging the waterfront; it’s now a place you go to recreate, to enjoy the views.”

Even within the past five years, dozens of new waterfront parks and projects appeared in areas that had been dilapidated industrial zones and rotting piers.

“You’re a lot more aware of the river,” Johnson said, “and you’re not only able to get a look at it, but use it and travel on it.”