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Home of the wave: Where to paddleboard, jet ski and kite surf in NYC

Tens of thousands of New Yorkers take to the water every day and rarely get to enjoy it any more than from the Staten Island Ferry. But the more adventurous among us can’t wait to shed work suits for wetsuits and live the city life aquatic. We hit the water to try some paddleboarding (recently popular with celebs such as Bruce Springsteen and Ireland Baldwin), wave running (a k a Jet Skiing) and the extreme wave-shredding sport of kitesurfing. After diving in — the Hudson River, the Atlantic Ocean and Gravesend Bay, Brooklyn — we gauge the difficulty level of each water sport to find the right one for you.

Instructor Sean Marr (above, in stripes), who's paddleboarded his way around the world, gives lessons in the Hudson to a couple of New Yorkers.

Instructor Sean Marr (above, in stripes), who’s paddleboarded his way around the world, gives lessons in the Hudson to a couple of New Yorkers.
(David Rosenzweig)

Bouncing over waves at 50 mph is liberating, says Donnelly.

Bouncing over waves at 50 mph is liberating, says Donnelly.
(Christian Johnston)

With the majestic Verrazano Bridge rising in the background, Donnelly holds on for dear life in his brave attempt at kite-surfing.

With the majestic Verrazano Bridge rising in the background, Donnelly holds on for dear life in his brave attempt at kite-surfing.
(Zandy Mangold)

On the safety of land, kite-man Andrew Svetily (right) shows Donnelly how to steer.

On the safety of land, kite-man Andrew Svetily (right) shows Donnelly how to steer.
(Zandy Mangold)

Stand-up paddleboarding on the Hudson River

The hardest part of paddleboarding, I quickly learn, is taming your wobbly knees so that you can stay on the board. Luckily, not wanting to fall into the Hudson and get a mouthful of New Jersey runoff is a great incentive to master this right away.

We practice right off New York Kayak Co.’s dock at Pier 40, when the wake from passing ships bounces off the seawall and creates some stormy seas, tossing my board around like a toyboat in a kid’s bath (and causing me to fall off).

But before we even get wet, we spend about 30 minutes getting the rundown on the equipment and strap on life jackets (safety first, even in this mellower sport).

Instructor Sean Marr, 27, of Washington Heights, who has the lean build of a surfer and has paddleboarded around the world, shows us the 10-foot longboard, which is wider and sturdier than a traditional surfing longboard, making standing easier. He demonstrates how to scoop the curved end of the paddle through the water for maximum push.

From there, we launch right in. Like the dawn of man, you start off low on the board before inching up on your knees, then into a squatting position and finally reaching full extended glory of a conquering human. Just achieving that is exhilarating — and I haven’t even paddled yet.

To paddleboard, you have to keep your lower arm straight and twist your body while rowing. This awkward positioning leads to my first plunge into the murky waters about five minutes in. I climb back up (which is not hard to do, even holding a paddle); Marr corrects my posture, bending my knees a bit.

“The knees are shock absorbers,” he says.

Shock more efficiently absorbed, it only takes about 30 minutes to feel steady. By then our small group is following Marr around an obstacle course of buoys and boats next to the pier, my board gliding smoothly along the surface of the water.

Marr says he gets a mix of athleticism and Zen reflection out of the sport. The Zen part of it I pick up right away: paddling along the river away from the hustle and bustle of Manhattan. The skyline of the Financial District off to the side provides a serene sort of magic.

Info: The New York Kayak Co. — 40 N. River Piers, at Houston and West streets, Suite 10 — offers several two-hour beginner classes throughout the week for $100. More advanced tours that go along the Hudson River are available, too. nykayak.com

Difficulty: Ate a few mouthfuls of Hudson, but got confident quickly.

Waverunner riding on the Atlantic Ocean

Coney Island native Anthony Stallone used to build furniture for a living until one day, out of frustration with the job, he quit and hopped on his Jet Ski to clear his head. Then the idea hit him: Why not turn his 15-year hobby into a business?

“You’re out on the ocean, it’s just you, the ocean, Mother Nature and as fast as the machine goes,” Stallone, 41, says. “There’s no horns honking. It just clears your head.”

In need of some headclearing, I showed up for an 8 a.m. tour with Jetty Jumpers, Stallone’s 5-year-old business in Sheepshead Bay.

I climb into a wetsuit the company provides and hop on the machine. The greatest thing about Jet Skis (these were actually WaveRunners, not Jet Ski brand watercraft) is they’re about as easy to drive as a gokart.

Stallone leads us slowly around the marina and out into the waters off Plum Beach, past the no-wake zone.

“Let’s rip,” he says, before squeezing his throttle. I have a hard time keeping up. The weight of the thing shifts wildly with every turn, and it’s hard to shake the feeling I’m about to tip over and bury myself in a trash colada at the bottom of the ocean. But he assures me staying balanced is all in the speed.

Once I take the turns faster, I’m more confident. Then the need for speed grabs me. On an open stretch of water, I jam down on the throttle, and rev it up to 50 mph. Spittle from the ocean flies in my face and the WaveRunner bounces high off some of the waves like some robot dolphin. It’s completely liberating; speeding on the forgiving water feels safer than risking it on the hard pavement of city streets.

Info: Jetty Jumpers offers several tours per day, starting at $150, from its launch at Venice Marina (3939 Emmons Ave., Sheepshead Bay) from March through October. The most popular one is a three-hour $375 tour that goes from Coney Island to the Statue of Liberty and many sites in between. jettyjumpers.com.

Difficulty: The machine does most of the work.

Kite-surfing on Gravesend Bay

At one point during my kite-surfing lesson, I look up at the 30-foot kite strapped to my chest as it quickly twists away from me in a gust of wind and think: “This is how I die, ripped through the air and impaled on the Verrazano Bridge.”

Luckily for me and hundreds of commuters that day, I was safe. While the kite flew away with stunning strength, dragging and twisting me through the water like ocean roadkill, I let go of the control bar and it crashed peacefully into the water.

We’re at the beach on the Gravesend Bay side of Sea Gate in Brooklyn, a stretch of sand that fills with friendly kite-surfers when the wind is blowing on shore.

Kite-surfing is not a sport for walk-ons. In fact, people who take the four-hour introductory class through ukite. pro usually don’t even get to try out the board. The instructor let me have a few runs at it, because I was really gifted. (Or because we wanted a picture of me getting dragged in the ocean, more likely.)

Half of the class I took with Andrey Svetliy, a 26-yearold instructor with bleach-blond hair who seemed to know everyone on the beach, was spent on dry land.

The sport dates back to the mid-’80s, when two French brothers were looking to develop better sails for boats. In the process, they created a whole new sport. It’s an amalgam of surfing and wind-surfing, with a touch of stunt-kiting. The whole operation is a bit bulky: you’re wearing a wetsuit, a life jacket and a harness that fit like an aquatic girdle.

But first, you have to get the hang of the kite. Svetliy unfolds a 6½-foot practice kite and shows me the basics on land. The kite has a handle, which you pull to make it dip left or right. It’s connected to a harness on your chest to allow for control, and so it doesn’t whip away into the horizon forever.

This part is essentially supersized stunt kite flying, and it’s not too hard to master. But once on the water, my confidence drips away. Most of that time is spent learning something called “body drift,” essentially sitting in the water with one hand controlling the bigger 30-foot kite, letting it pull you.

To actually try the board, Svetliy has me sit back in the water while keeping the kite steady — already a tricky proposition; I could hear the winds laughing at me as they kept changing — and slip my feet into the board’s straps.

I manage to stand up for about two seconds before faceplanting into the ocean. My dedication to beat this damn thing and actually get some surfing time convinced Svetliy to let me try a handful more times, but soon I had crashed the inflated kite enough that it was losing air, and we had to pack it in for the day.

Next time I’d be able to get it on the first try, I insist to Svetliy, who is nice enough to agree with my obviously misguided confidence.

Info: Group classes are taught several days a week, $200 for a four-hour lesson, either at Sea Gate or Plum Beach in Brooklyn. ukite.pro.

Difficulty: A few flashes of certain painful death.