The Peconic Puffin Windsurfing Blog

Joe's Beach

"Heckscher State Park, field seven" never rolled off the tongue particularly well.   Now it has a much better name:  Joe's Beach.   Ask any of Joe Rocco's friends and they'll tell you how to get there.  Or look it up on the Long Island Windsurfing Map.   I've sailed at Joe's Beach about fifteen times, and Joe was there every time, so the name sure works for me.

From his love Marianne:  "The memorial service will be at 10:00 a. m. this Saturday at Joe's Beach, formerly known as Heckscher State Park, field 7. If there is any chance of wind, please bring your gear and sail in his memory afterwards. Please bring lawn or other chairs for your comfort. Let's send Joe off in the way he would have wanted. Be prepared with your stories and memories and share with us."

Cool Maps

If you enjoy maps, check out this web site, which creates overlays of navigational maps with Google Earth.  Grab the sliders to adjust how much map versus Earth you see, and to fade the labels in and out.   The map here looks at the waters (the North Race) between New Suffolk and Robins Island...site of mad jibefests and the near demise of Peconic Jeff and your editor.

(Map website found on Messing About In Sailboats.)

Map: Long Island Windsurfing

Drag your cursor to move the map around.  Click on the "<<" in the upper right corner for a list of sailing sites..  Use the zoom control on the left side of the map to get a closer look.   Locations in purple are the principal launches that the Puffins (and most East End windsurfers) use.   I've begun listing best wind directions and some other basic details.  Jonathan Ford at Hampton Watersports is a great source of information on Long Island launches...give him a call (631-283-9463) if you need info that's not here.  So are the good people in the Yahoo LI Windsurfing forum (thank you Ely for the bulk of the info!)

If you sail from a spot that's not on the map, feel free to leave a comment with the details.  I've turned off the ability for people to automatically add, as I was receiving some unclear submissions.   Please do recommend new spots, though! 

If you want to add information for a launch that's already on the map, the map won't let you add it directly.  Either leave a comment below, or email the info to me and I'll add it ASAP.
Lastly, if you have a question about any of the launches leave a comment, and either I'll get back to you (if I have the answer) or I'll reach out to find someone who knows.   

Every one of these sailing spots can be tricky...even dangerous...in the wrong conditions, particularly the ocean launches.     I strongly recommend that you not sail any of these spots by yourself, and if you're new to a spot, don't sail without discussing the place with a knowledgable sailor who is already there.

The first time I ever surfed the web (circa 1994) a friend showed me Yahoo.   I entered "windsurfing long island" and was introduced to Mike Creutz' Windsurfing Sites on Long Island.   It's the original Long Island windsurfing web site, and I'm glad it's still around.