The Peconic Puffin Windsurfing Blog

Skunks and Puffins

The forecast seemed so promising.

Scott and I were at South Jamesport, willing the tiny whitecaps to become bigger whitecaps.  Didn't happen.  Some nice people installed a beach cleaning station (baskets to pick up garbage, a can to dump it in.).  I took a run with it, returning with a soda bottle, a plastic bag, and a couple pieces of paper.

On the phone George reported a breeze on the ocean but unfavorable water conditions.   Artie called with a promising theory of sunlight and wind shifts and a hope of wind at Sebonac Inlet, so off most of us went (George stayed by the ocean awaiting a wind report.)

At Sebonac it was more of the same.   Tiny whitecaps.  Good 7.0 conditions, argh.    A puffin flew by!   Then three more!  Not quite windsurfing but still pleasing to this editor.  (If siting puffins is your thing, Sebonac has been the best spot over the years.)   Cyrus (also spotted at SJ) showed up...he'd never sailed Sebonac.   Dilay arrived too.   I gave up (wife and house guest at home) but Dilay and Cyrus went for it, and got going for a brief while.

George wisely passed.

(Top:  The new clean-the-beach station.  Middle:  Dilay will not be dinied.   Bottom:  Cyrus' maiden voyage at Sebonac.  Sailing photos by Artie.)

 

West Meadow Fridge Session

Me I was on a plane flying from Europe to JFK.  We flew in straight east, so I knew it was still blowing straight west.  But catching it in the first frigid sesh of the year were George Pav, Artie, Chris, Rob and Steve...maybe others in 38 degrees (my cutoff is 40 unless there's blazing sun!)  We honor their bravery, and envy the sesh (it was still well within the Long Island Rule of 100). 

(Photo courtesy Ken the Kiter.  Reporting by Artie.)

 

Meschutt at High Tide is Just Fine

A sunny windy Sunday?  Yes please!    So what that the tide was high when the wind came.  Meschutt’s classic inside ramps may not have been there, but there was fun to be had outside, and some high speed sailing to boot.  With a slight wind hole near shore (5.7 inside, 4.7 outside) good times were shared by Chris, Frank, Dilay, Bruce, Artie, and your editor.  

I hadn’t sailed in six weeks, and just three sessions ago I was in a shorty, and as rust never sleeps, I sucked LOL.  Forgot the threading pattern for downhaul (Chris helped me out) and it took awhile to remember jibing.  Still much fun!

(Top:  Chasing Artie.  Bottom:  Bruce sets the rail...pic courtesy The Art of Windsurfing.)

The Beautiful Goodbye

Sunsets on the Little Peconic Bay have always been exquisite.   Yesterday we were blessed with a magnificent one as we gathered at low tide to scatter Steve's ashes on this bit of beach where so much happened.   About 50 feet behind everyone is the water where I first tried windsurfing, and the beach where Steve introduced himself to me.   100 feet inland from all of us is the site of Steve and Cindy's first (then second) house, where Sally and I got to spend precious years with their brand new daughters (also we windsurfed a heck of a lot!).  The dear friends, the core group of people who were the Peconic Puffins, back when this was a silly little newsletter 30 years ago.   Jay, Slo, Eileen, Nannette.   Jordan, Avery, Ivette, Ksusha.   I told the story of how when I learned about Steve's passing I came to this spot, just to stand here.   Eileen had done the same thing..we just arrived at different times.       

It was a beautiful gathering on a spot Steve loved.   It would have made him happy.

Postscript:   Steve was joined with the ashes of his favorite dog, Spooky.  Jordan and Avery shared the story of how he grudgingly came to love Spooky ("he's a good little dog" he was quoted as saying back in the day.)

Big Winds and a New Spot

Let every fall weekend be like this one.

Saturday 4.7 at East Landing.  The swell was rolling, the jumps and jibes off of them were sweet!   “Let’s come back tomorrow” everyone said.

But the winds came up…

Early word from Napeague was of sailors getting blown off the water.   Scott eyed East Landing and said it was too windy.  Too windy?  Okay I don’t want to rig three meters, so where do we go?  Longneck Boulevard!

Say what?

Word is that in days of yore this is where the likes of Scott and CD sailed.  Flanders    Joe and Shelley Christian and Sky Lily (Sky contemplating an Opti sesh), Chip from BK Artie Dilay Pav and more.   Guys were on 4.2’s-5.0’s, and it looked like gust lull gust, but this is where the action was, so rig!   The best among us headed up to Red Cedar Point, where Artie reported “Butter-smooth waist high swell and sick Port ramps.”  This would have been heaven for me, but I kooked the day (forgot to put 4.7 or warm wetsuit in the van). In the 20 years I’ve owned the van I’ve always been fully loaded with sails boards and neoprene.  But not yesterday.  Four runs on a 4.2 and 93 liter board left me miserable and cold  so I went home like a LOSER! LOL. 

I dreamed of buttersmooth waist high swell all night.

(Top:  Jonathan Ford launching at East Landing.  Bottom:  The view of Longneck beach.  Pics courtesy The Art of Windsurfing.)