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The North Cove Marina endured a grave setback on 9/11, but is now once again a flourishing megayacht berthing place. Writer Scott Rose has the intriguing details.



On the afternoon of September 11, 2001, New York City firefighters Dan McWilliams, George Johnson, and Bill Eisengrein came walking by the North Cove Marina not far from the World Trade Center site. Yachts lay wasted as a result of the barbarity, yet Old Glory had survived aboard Shirley Dreifus and Spiros Kopelakis’ 130-foot Star of America. The firefighters manifested the resilient spirit of the city and the nation in our tragic hour by hoisting that flag at Ground Zero. A photo of their noble act became world famous the next day.

The monstrous, incomprehensible loss of life on 9/11 is of a different order of magnitude, obviously, than what Dreifus and Kopelakis suffered in seeing their yacht ruined, yet that too is part of the history of the attacks. As happened, the couple had also been running a charter yacht business – from offices in one of the Twin Towers.

Situated just west of the WTC, The North Cove Marina was originally built by the Mexican media magnate Emilio Azcárraga Milmo in 1989. It was the Big Apple’s first marina outfitted to accommodate large yachts. Milmo’s own 244-foot Eco called The North Cove home. Forbes’ The Highlander, a 151-foot beauty, took frequent corporate cruises from this base. ‘Monaco on the Hudson,’ as The North Cove was often called, became a place for the glitterati to see and be seen. Ivana Trump and Philippe Stark were sometimes yacht neighbors here, throwing lavish parties, bestowing additional glamour to the downtown cityscape.

In the aftermath of the attacks, The North Cove served as a rescue operations center. A main protagonist in organizing the efforts was Captain Greg Freitas. During the summer of 2001, he had been sailing the 80-foot schooner Adirondack out of the Chelsea Piers and on Saturdays operating a different craft, The Chelsea Screamer. That week, he had four charter trips around New York booked, and was set to defend his record-breaking performance in the Mayor’s Cup on the weekend.

Upon learning of the attacks, Captain Greg took The Chelsea Screamer downriver along with the boat’s owner. They saw the South Tower collapse, but even when they were closer to the scene and over VHF radio heard a warning that the North Tower was about to fall and all boats had to clear the area, they knew they would be needed and so bravely stayed. After the culmination of the horror and once able to enter The North Cove, Captain Greg worked tirelessly, evacuating people to New Jersey, setting up a “general store” for emergency workers, and even calming one hysterical man so well that the fellow wound up remaining and contributing to the rescues.  All told, Captain Greg pressed on working at the site until September 18, sleeping only a few hours each night. Among the many awards he later received was the Coast Guard’s Transportation 9/11 Medal. He appeared on The History Channel’s documentary The Day the Towers Fell. Charter yachtsmen simply do no come any finer than Captain Greg Freitas.

Captain Greg currently owns a day sail concession at Caneel Bay Resort on St. John, www.sailcaneel.com, and occasionally comes to New York to guest captain the Adirondack.

After 9/11, The North Cove had to be completely rebuilt; by the end of the long and expensive process, the original management company was in financial agony so could not carry out proper maintenance. Early in 2005, new management was found, chaired by Dennis Conner, aka Mr. America’s Cup; he cut the ribbon for the reopening ceremony on June 2.

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