New North Cove Operators Look Ahead To First Season by Etta Sanders After 10 years of sailing from Battery Park City's North Cove, Michael Fortenbaugh knows the marina has yet to recover from Sept. 11. What it needs, he decided, is a "glamorous" makeover and more than a little star power. "And who's the most famous boater in America?" Fortenbaugh, the director of the North Cove-based Manhattan Sailing Club, asked himself. That would be Dennis Conner, he notes, a four-time winner of the America's Cup race. "He will be our figurehead," said Fortenbaugh. Last year Conner, a former Battery Park City resident, joined Fortenbaugh and two other partners to bid on the lease to operate the North Cove marina. After being picked by the Battery Park City Authority in January, their new company, The North Cove Marina Management is looking ahead to better times for the troubled facility. "We've been given an opportunity here," Fortenbaugh told the Battery Park City Committee of Community Board 1 on March 1. "My concern is in making it happen." Fortenbaugh said it could take years to rebuild the Cove's reputation as a premier stop for well-heeled world travelers. Immediate steps, he said, include reconfiguring the cove's docks to make more room for berthing mega-yachts and setting stricter rules for so-called "party boats" whose sometimes loud and unruly passengers make for unattractive neighbors to the boat owners who are looking for a "showcase" for their million dollar yachts. Fortenbaugh said he will monitor noise levels from the party boats himself and quiet them whenever necessary, but said there is no immediate plan for barring them from the cove. "For now, we need the revenue," he said. Board member Linda Belfer, who lives near the cove in Gateway Plaza, said she is no fan of the party boats and their passengers and fondly recalled a more genteel crowd coming ashore. "I once watched [a boat's crew] roll a red carpet out for an owner, and not only that, they brought out two trees to place at either end. I miss seeing that sort of glamour," she said. The marina suffered a serious decline in the three years after the World Trade Center attack. The number of boats that docked in the cove dropped by half, Fortenbaugh said. The company that managed it, Watermark Associates, was in financial trouble and in March 2003 the Battery Park City Parks Conservancy took it over. "It used to be a major stop in boat circles," Fortenbaugh said. "Some of those boats have not been stopping in the city. We need to get the glamour back to what it was before 9/11." When the sailing season begins this spring North Cove's new operators will see if Conner's high profile helps get the word out to yachters that Newport and St. Bart's may be nice but are no match for sailing past the Statue of Liberty and docking in Lower Manhattan. They also hope to attract smaller sailboats and historic boats. And until the marina reopens in May, anyone can come and race laser boats in the cove on Saturdays from 1 to 3 p.m. Use of the boats is free. (AA batteries not included.) Connor will be at North Cove for a June 2 ribbon cutting. In the meantime, the cove has had other notable visitors. Last month, harbor seals were spotted frolicking in it. Fortenbaugh also hopes to host a major boat show. He looks at what a boldface name did for another event in a nearby neighborhood. "If there was a Dennis Conner boat show," he said, "maybe that could be the waterfront equivalent of the Tribeca Film festival," he said.