The Staten Island Ferry had a "hard landing" on Wednesday, July 1st. This time I was not on the 7:00 p.m. (or 6:45) ferry, but I was on the water. I was on a samba party boat. Interestingly enough, I was also on the water during the crash of 2003, in a water taxi from Jersey City coming back to Manhattan from visiting a client for work. It was very windy that day, so I thought the wind had blown the boat into the cement wall.
On Wednesday, 10-12 people suffered minor injuries, the worst being a dislocated elbow. How much do you want to bet the person with the dislocated elbow was on the stairs, flights, or landings while the boat was docking? $2.50.
The fact that the power can go out upon landing is a little scary, but since the last incident, it seems the SI ferry crew was very prepared and able to turn this into a very minor incident. My favorite coverage of the crash was from the New York Post article, mostly because they interviewed the snack vendor/barkeep, my new favorite guy on the ferry.
Another passenger interviewed said "A crew member came on the PA system about 25 seconds before impact and said, 'Passengers, hold on! Passengers, hold on!' " 25 seconds is a pretty good lead time to get yourself off the stairs and braced for impact. Good job, ferry crew.
The verdict: I'm still sitting on the main deck.
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