35-foot party boat caught fire<\/a> on the Bronx shoreline. The boat\u2019s 33-year-old captain was charged with drunk driving.<\/p>\nRecreational boat operators are considered under the influence if they register a BAC of 0.08% or higher. For commercial boaters, it\u2019s 0.04%.<\/p>\n
A man and woman on a jet ski passing through City Island Harbor on Aug. 9, 2025. James Keivom<\/p>\n
A jet skier waving a colorful flare during a NYC Pirates outing earlier this summer. Courtesy of @Princezee<\/p>\n
Bronx residents have complained about the raucous parties in the Long Island Sound lasting into the early hours of the morning all summer. Courtesy of @Princezee<\/p>\n
\u201cYou hear the loud music at 3 or 4 o\u2019clock in the morning,\u201d said Frederick Ramftl, president of the City Island Civic Association. \u201cThere are also parties on Eastchester Bay, not just by Hart Island, so it\u2019s all over the area here.\u201d<\/p>\n
One lifelong City Islander, who requested anonymity, has seen consistently troubling behavior from party boaters.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve seen them getting out of vans in thongs and mesh tops to board boats,\u201d the person told The Post.<\/p>\n
Residents and local officials want the presence of both the NYPD Harbor Unit and the United States Coast Guard around City Island beefed up to discourage the partying pirates.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy office is trying to work with the NYPD to fund an additional Harbor Unit for a patrol stationed up on the North Shore during the summer months,\u201d says Council Member Kristy Marmorato of the Bronx. \u201cWe still don\u2019t have confirmation from the police commissioner just yet.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mamorato said in April the \u201cNYC Pirates,\u201d a jet ski club responsible for some of the parties, met with her staff, the NYPD, New York State Liquor Authority, Environmental Conservation Police and the City Island Civic Association to discuss safety and quality-of-life concerns caused by the ragers on the water.\u00a0<\/p>\n
James Reichelt, the Pirates\u2019 leader, told The Post his group participates in events nationwide and they want to find common ground with the locals. Although Reichelt was not involved in the boat fire in June, he said he\u2019s tried to help calm activities on the water.<\/p>\n
James \u201cWhiteboy\u201d Reichelt, leader of the NYC Pirates, partying in the waters around Hart Island. Courtesy of James Reichelt<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m one of the guys who kind of created the whole party scene in New York and around City Island and get blamed for a lot of parties and [boat] tie-ups,\u201d says Reichelt, 39, of New Rochelle. \u201cSo, I try to help regulate some things on the water.\u201d<\/p>\n
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According to Reichelt, known by the nickname \u201cWhiteboy,\u201d the parties moved around Hart Island years ago when he said his group was chased out of more populated places.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt the City Island meeting, I saw elderly people and other people with newborns, and I wouldn\u2019t want my grandma to hear the music and not be able to sleep,\u201d Reichelt says. \u201cI kind of understand it when you put it in a certain way.\u201d<\/p>\n
Boat enforcement falls under the purview of the Coast Guard. City Islanders said the agency isn\u2019t doing enough.<\/p>\n
Boats passing through City Island Harbor near Hart Island on Aug. 9, 2025. James Keivom<\/p>\n
Boaters sailing by the Throgs Neck Bridge in City Island Harbor on Aug. 9, 2025. James Keivom<\/p>\n
Sheridan said the area needs \u201cmore law enforcement assistance from the Coast Guard, instead of looking the other way.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Coast Guard did not reply to a request for comment.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
The NYPD said it is doing its part to keep the waterways around City Island safe and sound.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe NYPD patrols the waterways within the New York City limits and enforces both municipal and state law through issuing summonses, making arrests, and impounding boats as necessary,\u201d an NYPD spokesperson told The Post. \u201cYear to date, Harbor Unit has issued 38 summonses to boaters, holding bad actors accountable.\u201d<\/p>\n
A boat passing through City Island Harbor late at night on Aug. 10, 2025. James Keivom<\/p>\n
For now, party boaters continue to drop anchor near the City Island shore, where one local shared on Facebook that they heard \u201cbass for the last 18 hours\u201d over Independence Day weekend. And in late June, dozens of jet skiers turned up for a so-called \u201cNYC Invasion\u201d event dubbed \u201cthe biggest water event of the year.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI have some courtesy for the people, and the NYPD doesn\u2019t want to get 200 calls, so I say turn the music down at least at 10 o\u2019clock,\u201d Reichelt said. \u201cNinety percent of the people will listen, but there\u2019s always going to be some knuckleheads who think they could do whatever they want.\u201d<\/p>\n
Boats playing loud music while sailing in the Long Island Sound near Hart Island on Aug. 9, 2025. Christopher Sadowski<\/p>\n
Despite spending nearly $10,000 annually to register and park his boat through the city Department of Parks & Recreation, Malcolm \u201cTommy\u201d Jones, 38, of New Rochelle, said the city should enforce laws but allow safe partying. \u00a0
<\/strong>\u201cI just want them to be fair all,\u201d Jones said. \u201cThey could designate areas where we could do our tie-ups, but\u00a0they make it very difficult sometimes for us to enjoy our boats.\u201d<\/p>\nZeeshan \u201cPrincezee\u201d Ali, a humorist with nearly 2 million YouTube subscribers, has been aboard boats and jet skis with the Pirates, capturing the scene on the water with a drone.
<\/strong>\u201cI don\u2019t see really a problem with it, I feel like it\u2019s just a community, like a yacht club,\u201d said Ali, 34, from Astoria. \u201cEverything is just so positive out there.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"These buccaneers are blasting more than just sea shanties. The waters off the Bronx have become an aquatic…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":192137,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,107362,107363,5248,405,403,5226,5225,22877,5228,5227,19608,13047,5305,67,586,132,5230,68,1154,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-192136","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-hart-island","10":"tag-long-island-sound","11":"tag-metro","12":"tag-new-york","13":"tag-new-york-city","14":"tag-newyork","15":"tag-newyorkcity","16":"tag-noise","17":"tag-ny","18":"tag-nyc","19":"tag-parties","20":"tag-quality-of-life","21":"tag-the-bronx","22":"tag-united-states","23":"tag-united-states-of-america","24":"tag-unitedstates","25":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","26":"tag-us","27":"tag-us-news","28":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115130526820324263","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192136","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=192136"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192136\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/192137"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=192136"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=192136"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=192136"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}