A paddleboarder wearing a backpack coolly cruised down the Hudson River while it was still clogged with chunks of ice on Friday — and witnesses couldn’t believe their own eyes when they spotted the unusual sight.
Eddie Freiberg, a 55-year-old real estate broker from Greenpoint, was showing an apartment to his clients on the Upper West Side when they spotted a figure seemingly floating in the middle of the Hudson.
“My client was like ‘Oh my God, look at that’!” Freiberg recounted.
Sure enough, a paddleboarder was making his way down the river — which was still icy in spots.
Freiberg said the man didn’t appear to be wearing a wetsuit and even had a backpack on.
He joked that maybe the man was “going to the Financial District for his job at Morgan Stanley.”
“It’s pretty wild. I’m born and raised in New York City, I’ve never seen anything like that on the Hudson,” Freiberg said.
The offbeat encounter unfortunately wasn’t impressive enough to help seal the deal with his clients, but he fondly reflected on the “fun, silly, wacky New York City moment.”
“He looked like he was a professional. I wasn’t nervous for him, like me paddleboarding anywhere. He was definitely an expert, and he was ahead of the ice,” Freiberg said.
“I hope he is out there every day,” he added.
The FDNY said they didn’t receive any calls relating to the paddleboarder. It’s unclear where he was heading.
The Hudson River was approximately 31 degrees on Friday, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Stunned viewers joked that the man’s creative commuting method was “still faster than the train.”
“And cheaper!” another added on X.
The mystery man on the Hudson isn’t the first New Yorker to brave the river in the dead of winter.
In 2018, Scott Holt, a self-described “struggling comedian” from Jersey City, hopped on his paddleboard and cut through the choppy waters to make a meeting in Manhattan.
Stefani Jackenthal, a former pro cyclist, started coasting on the waters every few weeks over the winter in 2021 to cope with the COVID-19 craziness. She said she heard “the Hudson calling me” and used the unconventional workout “to exhaust myself.”
