CapnRon47,
That is some centerboard at 2 tons! Thanks for the great photos.
I have gone down the East River twice and back up once in the last 5 years on different boats. Each trip I planned the tides and current timing myself. It is really not that hairy if you get the currents/timing right. The most unnerving part of the trip can be the commercial traffic (tugs w/barges etc) in the tight parts of the channel (monitor
vhf channel 13). All weather permitting of course.