Seen & Heard: Grand Banks Will Host a Pop-Up Shop

••• “I have an amazing guy staying with me who is preparing to row with a friend across the Atlantic unsupported to raise money for brian tumor research after his father died of this a couple of years ago,” emails Tribecan Griff Fairburn. The Ocean Valour 2015 rowers in question are Tom Rainey (“highly tuned firesnatch [who] delivers unbound energy to the oars,” per their website) and Lawrence Walters (who only just signed on after a back injury forced the other original rower out). Here’s more from Griff: “They are leaving from Battery Park (Liberty Marina) on 1st or 2nd May, depending on the weather and expect to take around two months, depending on the strength of the Gulf Stream (weak at the moment). Obvious hazards include shipping (starting with navigating NY Harbor), giant eddies, storms, sharks, severe physical exhaustion etc (1.7 million strokes is the guestimate), etc. There have only been 55 attempts to do this from west to east (3,800) miles, and less than half have succeeded.” As you can tell if you’ve been reading closely, they bring a refreshing irreverence to the task. A number of sponsors are offering help, but they could always use more support.

Lawrence Walters(L) and Tom Rainey (R) training in row boat ©Ocean Valour••• In totally unrelated boating news, the pilot house at Grand Banks will host a pop-up from Santa Barbara’s Mate Gallery, opening in June. (Grand Banks itself should open early-to-mid May.) I spend quite a bit of time in Santa Barbara—loooong story—and I had actually been telling myself I should hook up Grand Banks and Mate Gallery, because it was clear they’d dig each other. If you like the Grand Banks aesthetic, you’ll love Mate Gallery’s maritime-themed vintage stuff. It’s where I bought my “Maryland is for crabs” T-shirt, among many other treasures.

Mate Gallery courtesy Grand Banks••• More sorta-boat news! Reports of the death of the Concepts store on Hudson were greatly exaggerated, according to this picture the company posted on Instagram. (Thanks for the heads up, Jeff.) Damn, they spend a lot of money on that place!

courtesy Concepts••• Tribeca pops up at least twice in the Apple watch ad—er, I mean “film”—called “Us.” I find it pretty melancholy.

Apple watch ad••• I think we can all agree that it’s much more fun to watch two men try to beat each other to a pulp when you’re surrounded by people rooting along. Reserve a spot at Mudville for the big fight on May 2.

••• Change of venue for the May 12 Pen Parentis Literary Salon. It’ll be “in an elegant private library on the top floor of the historic New York Times Building at 41 Park Row. The event remains free and open to the public, but reservations are strongly recommended through the Pen Parentis website.” Wait, I just realized Sarah Pekkanen will be one of the authors reading! “She was my first and last girlfriend,” says my husband, Adam.

••• There’s only tree left standing on W. Broadway next to the Con Ed substation; the others got chopped down. They were dead, but still.

WBway trees

 

1 Comment

  1. Good for Ocean Valour! Where is liberty marina? Would like to support them. Thanks for including this story.

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