Down the stream, not gently

The gondola ride Greg Mohr is taking through New York this week isn’t the most exciting one he’s ever taken. That would have been in 1993, when the Newport Beach businessman proposed to his future wife on one of the classic Italian rowboats.

Still, as Mohr rows down the Hudson River on his way to the Columbus Day Parade in Manhattan, accompanied by a crew from America and Italy, it must rank at least as a close second.

“I tell you, it’s absolutely incredible to be doing this,” Mohr said by cellphone from the Hudson River Tuesday, where his six-man crew was on the second day of its six-day voyage.

Mohr, the founder and owner of Gondola Adventures in Newport Beach, makes a living offering luxury cruises to people seeking an exotic night out. On his current journey, however, he and his comrades are roughing it.

The Hudson River Gondola Expedition, which started in Albany Monday morning, is approaching New York City at a rate of about 25 miles a day. Sometimes, Mohr’s team has had to row into strong winds, but they’ve dug in their heels and kept on schedule.

When the boat finally docks, it will have a reward ahead: On Monday, a New York fire truck is scheduled to tow the gondola in the parade.

Mohr, the president of the Gondola Society of America, is the leader of the American team for the expedition. The three Italian rowers are led by Vittorio Orio, a gondolier from Venice who worked with Mohr to set up the voyage.

Their vessel, christened the Phoenix, is an authentic Venetian boat Gondola Adventures acquired four years ago.

It’s the first time Mohr has entered the Columbus Day Parade. According to Anne Diorio, his vice president of sales, the trip has already garnered so much media attention that the company is considering taking a voyage every year in the future. The publicity, she added, didn’t surprise her at all.

“The whole world seems to know Greg,” she said. “He’s just an unusual type of person.”

Visit Mohr’s weblog of his journey at www.gondolablog.blogspot.com.

MICHAEL MILLER may be reached at (714) 966-4617 or at [email protected].