The Peconic Puffin Windsurfing Blog

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.)