Rockaway Republicans Sail for Bush

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August 27, 2004: Tom Lynch, a local New York sailboater and President of the Rockaway Republicans, a Queens based Republican organization, announced today that his group will be placing a sail boat on the Hudson River on Monday, August 30th to fly a banner in honor of President George W. Bush as the Republican national convention opens in New York City.

The vessel, banner flying, is expected to arrive at the mouth of the Hudson near Wall Street at about 9:00 am and sail upriver to rendezvous at the Intrepid. It will then return to the Wall Street area by mid-day, with the ebb tide, and sail out into New York harbor, still flying the Bush-Cheney in '04 banner, past the Brooklyn coastline, around Coney Island into Jamaica Bay.

Lynch notes that the banner was made especially for the convention by Paul Ohana, an Israeli immigrant and citizen who is strongly supportive of the President. Mr. Ohana personally made the banner and donated it to the Rockaway Republicans for this purpose. Lynch said that the Rockaway Republicans expect to repeat this maneuver every day for the four days the Republicans are in New York City, weather and wind permitting.

The Rockaway Republicans are a newly formed group whose immediate goal is to express the appreciation of local people for the president's response in the aftermath of the attacks of September 11th, 2001 and to assist in his re-election effort. Members of the newly formed club include lifelong Republicans as well as many local Democrats who recently switched their party affiliations in order to support the President in this tight election year race.

On July 15, 2004, Lynch and his group held a Party for the President as part of a larger, nationwide effort at  the Belle Harbor Yacht Club in Rockaway, Queens and attracted over 140 attendees including Sopranos actor Tony "Paulie Walnutsâ€� Sirico. Other attendees included former Republican senatorial contender Michael Benjamin of Brooklyn and Gerard Cronin, the Republican candidate challenging Anthony Wiener, a Brooklyn Democrat, in this year's Congressional race. A second party in the Rockaway area is planned for Sept.2^nd on the night President accepts the Republican nomination. 

Coverage of the "Bush Boat," as it sails up the Hudson with its banner for the President unfurled, is best done by helicopter or from a riverside vantage along the route. If photos of the boat on the river are planned, notify us so that we can arrange a good position for media cameras consistent with the expected time of passage.