Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By admin on November 30, 2021

Buses move at a glacial pace, empty taxis are an endangered species, Ubers cost a million bucks, biking is like wheeled circus combat, and the subway turns into a water park when it rains. Maybe private aquatic travel isnt so crazy? Corey Orazem, the thirty-year-old owner of Jersey Jet Ski, thinks the future is a world in which office workers Jet-Ski to their jobs. Say goodbye to gridlock and road rage (and perhaps to a general sense of environmental responsibility).

Currently, New York City regulations make it illegal to park a Jet Ski along most of the shoreline without a special permit. But Orazem has been talking with legislators in New Jersey about updating its laws, and he hopes to convince New York, too. One warmish Saturday, Orazem jumped on a Jet Ski at one of the rental shops he owns, on the Hudson River in Jersey City, to begin his own commute: he would be zipping around the citys waterways to scout potential places where he could establish boat slips. Once you have that liberty on a Ski, its so enthralling, he said. Who wouldnt want to transport themselves like that?

First stop was North Cove Marina, at Brookfield Place, in the financial districta mile as the crow flies, two minutes and fifty seconds as the jet skis. No need for coffee on this commute. The Hudson slapping your face will suffice.

Orazem puttered into the marina. Easy as that, he said. Youre at the front door of the World Trade Center. Two security guards on the promenade began yelling at him; he swept noisily out. Next stop: Pier 25 Marina, in Tribeca, a three-minute ride. At the pier, Orazem poked around, fantasizing about the changes he would introduce. He explained how it would work: before embarking, commuters would zip themselves into dry suits, large rubber onesies that scuba diversever the vanguard of fashionsometimes use. You can wear your work clothes underneath and pop the neckpiece on, he said, referring to a rubber collar. Special boots come with the suit. Gloves are optional. Waterproof backpacks would protect briefcases and purses. Upon landing, a commuter could walk to work in the dry suit or change at, say, a gym. Better yet, a lot of the times, marinas have showers, Orazem said. In the true capitalistic world, you keep all your work clothes there. Annual membership for use of a slip and a changing facility: How about two or three thousand dollars a year?

A young man in a dinghy approached Orazem and told him that the marina was privately owned. Over the summer, we had a lot of people on Jet Skis from New Jersey jumping over the fence, he said.

Orazem seized the opportunity: Do you think that if there were slips here for people to keep Jet Skis, something organized

Thats what I was thinking, the man said. His name was Binh, and he told Orazem that hed unsuccessfully applied for a job at his company. (I liked Binh, Orazem said later. Hes definitely going to work for me.)

Orazem bought his first Jet Ski in 2016, when he was living on Staten Island, where he grew up, and was dating a dental technician who worked in Chelsea. The Ski, he found, offered a solution to the unbridgeable distances of interborough relationships. He instructed his girlfriend to hop over a fence at Chelsea Piers after her shift. I would throw up a waterproof bag, she would put all her stuff in it, Id throw her a life jacket, shed hop down, and we would blast right back, he said. (They split up a year later.)

On to Brooklyn. Orazem rounded the tip of Manhattan. A Staten Island ferry honked authoritatively. Sea levels rose. He reached Wallabout Channel, near Williamsburg, and pointed to barren banks along the water. This whole canal is literally perfect, he said. He noticed buses nearby with Hebrew lettering. Orazem runs Jet Ski tours, and he has many Hasidic clients. Ive never met people who are more motivated to come out in groups and go Jet-Skiing than the Hasids, he said. Sometimes I have to pull a yarmulke out of a Jet Ski propeller, but its no problem.

He pushed north, to Greenpoint. Fresh ideas were percolating. Jet Ski taxis. A courier service. He whizzed off and said, Forget Uber Eats.

Originally posted here:

If You Jet-Skied to Work, Youd Be Home by Now! - The New Yorker

Category: Hasidic
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