WINDSURFING. 3

Windsurfing sites on Long Island
Reach and jibe, reach and jibe; is that all you want out of life?
This list is of my favorite spots for windsurfing on Long Island, New York. It is not very complete but covers all wind directions.

Send me your descriptions and I can add them to this file.

Links for current wind info:
The current New York Coastal Marine Forcast. Subtract 5 knots from wind speed predictions and add 5 hours to times of predicted changes.
Current conditions, including Smith Orient Point
Interactive local buoy reports.
Other sites:
The number of windsurfing www sites keeps exponentiating; thus, I have given up trying to link to them all. Many can be found from the Yahoo list pointed to below. I believe mine was the first on the Web and Andrew's the second.

Michael Alex's map of windsurfing sites on LI. This is much more up to date than mine, which hasn't been updated for a while.
Andrew Condon's windsurfing home page (Link broken. I keep it here for historical reasons. It was the second windsurfing page on the net.)
The Yahoo list of windsurfing WWW servers.
World Windsurfing Directory.
Windsurfpassion.com
Some nice pictures from Islip by Kenny Nevor.
Rentals and lessons: Windsurfing Hamptons, 1686 N. Highway (Rt. 27), Southampton, 631-283-WIND, rents equipment and gives lessons. (If you know of other rental places on the Island, let me know and I will list them here.)
Link to rec.windsurfing
Link to alt.surfing
(you will need to have an NNTPSERVER set up for the above news links to work)

Map to Moriches Bay sites. Red squares mark places to try.

Map to Peconic Bay sites (south side). (These maps courtesy courtesy of the US Census Bureau.)

Belleview Park, Center Moriches
Go east on Montauk Highway about 3/4 mile from downtown Center Moriches. Turn south on Belleview Ave. and drive to the end. Best winds are from S to W; particularly the SW flows that come just before a cold front arrives. Parking is free all year and the rigging area is a nice mowed lawn. At low tide you should wade out past the sand bar about 100 yards off shore before starting. In the summer there can be considerable boat traffic in the channel about a half a mile out. Across the bay there are some nice flats behind Fire Island. Pay attention to the currents if you go near the inlet, which is a couple of miles SE. Weed fins are a necessity in the summer and early fall. This place is also called Webbie's; can anyone tell me the history of the name?

Hart's Cove, East Moriches Coast Guard Station
From Montauk Highway, go south on Atlantic Ave. from the only light in East Moriches. After about 3/4 mile turn left on Moriches Island Road. When it ends at the water the launching area is on your right. You enter off of the access road to the Coast Guard Station. Best winds are from NE to SSE. The SE flow can be outstanding here during a storm. Here is a picture of the launch area, and one of the rigging area. While I have seen up to perhaps a dozen sailers here at one time, other times it is less crowded.

On a SW wind and an outgoing tide, try sailing in the channel between the point and East Bird Island. This may involve a short walk out to the point, but you'll have outstanding conditions all to yourself.

Parking is free here all year. The state has just installed a new parking lot which should help relieve deterioration of the rigging area due to the 92-93 storms and people driving on the grass. The shore here retreated about 20 feet during those storms.

This is also a popular spot for jetskis, it being a reasonably short run to the inlet and the ocean.

Shore Road, Remsenburg
From South Country Road take Shore Road south to the end. Free parking all year. Best winds are S to W. Can be rather shallow at low tide. Lots of boat traffic in the channel in the summer. This is directly across from the new inlet which opened in 92-93 and since sealed. Watch for the next new inlet to form a bit further west, behind Swan Island about halfway between this site and the Coast Guard Station.

Cold Spring Road, Southhampton
Going east on Sunrise continue past where limited access ends to Shrubland Road and turn north. After about 1/2 mile turn left on Cold Spring Road to the end. Park on the east side of the road at least 150 feet from the water. Good on any kind of north wind. Excellent on a NW just after a cold front goes through. The Peconic Bay is fairly wide here so there can be a lot of big chop. It is often described as a "mogul field." Some good nearby spots are by Sebonac Inlet and at the ends of East or West Landing Roads on either side of Squires Pond.

West Meadow Beach, Stony Brook
From Lawrence T. Hoff:
Nichols Road North to rt 25a. Left at light, right at next light onto quaker path. Follow the signs to WMB. Great in a N/NW (when the south shore is sheltered by the island). Free parking. Paved lot. No weeds. Sound-sized waves break ~100 yds. from the beach. Sound sized = bigger than Peconic or Great South Bay, smaller than Atlantic.

From Gwyn P. Williams:
One of the most popular places on LI to sail is West Meadow beach - into the Sound. There are usually 20 or more boards there each afternoon when there is wind. I suppose the most popular spot is near Sand City near Northport, but I have never been there. Also there is a good place in the Bay in Shirley. Good sailing,

Napeague Harbor
I've never sailed there myself, but have gotten lots of raves about the place.
From D.J. Molny:
Napeague Bay is a good-size body of water on the south fork, between the towns of Napeague and Montauk. It is almost a lake, connected to Great Peconic bay [Gardiners Bay] by a small strait at its northern end.

The good sailing is all in the northern half of the bay. The south end of the bay is shallow, somewhat weedy, and has some small boats moored there. Boat traffic is virtually non-existent.

The best winds are from the south or southwest off the ocean. The local geography seems to cause a venturi, cranking a 15-knot breeze up to 25 or so. Southerly breezes are cross-onshore, and southerlies are cross-shore or cross-offshore. Westerly winds are offshore from the launch site, but fairly sailable. Northwesterlies are cross-offshore on port tack.

The bottom is sandy. The bay is heated by the sun, and hence quite salty. It's shallow enough that you can stand in most places, especially if the tide's out.

There is very little chop in the bay. On a really cranking day, you might see 6-12 inches... just enough to launch if you try hard. It's a good place for speed runs, jibing practice, and waterstarting.