Our story

It all started in 2008 when Tom Potter, Bill Orme, Rob Buchanan, Charlie O’Donnell, and a few others brought borrowed boats and human-powered boating to Dumbo Cove. With a rickety cart, volunteers transported eight boats along cobblestone streets to the launch point on Main Street.

In 2009, discussions began with Brooklyn Bridge Park to bring a human-powered boating program to the park permanently.

The next year, the Brooklyn Bridge Park Boathouse was officially founded, and with the help of the Brooklyn Bridge Park Conservancy, the boathouse was able to purchase two dozen boats. We ran our first official program on July 18, 2010.

The summer of 2013 was a milestone for us, as we began launching from our floating dock at Pier 2. The floating dock was the result of a collaboration between the Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance, the Brooklyn Bridge Park Corporation, the Brooklyn Bridge Park Conservancy, and City Council Member Stephen Levin. That year also saw the start of our free kayak polo program.

In 2018, we moved our boats from the temporary storage containers into storage spaces on Piers 2 and 4. We also moved kayak polo to Pier 4, which allowed us to add a third programming day at Pier 2. In addition, in 2018 we set a new record of over 7,000 paddlers in a single season.