The Waves Are Just a Cab Ride Away: Your Guide to Sailing in New York City

What residents know, but visitors often forget, is that New York’s Financial District hosts a wealth of ways to get out onto the frothy waters that surround the island of Manhattan. Downtown workers can leave the office, walk to the docks, trade the briefcase for a cocktail, and climb aboard.

Now, unless you own your own boat, nobody’s going to let you captain a ship without any help. (No matter how many Lasers or FJs you sailed at summer camp, these boats are $50,000+ pieces of delicate machinery.) Instead, each charter boat has at least one sailor aboard who will actually raise the mainsail, lower the boom, unfurl the spinnaker, and act out any other lingo you might have picked up from Captains Courageous. You and your friends get to sit back, enjoy the view, and do your best not to get any of the East River in your mouth.