Nuns host gnarly surfing contest in NJ - NYPOST.com

Nuns host gnarly surfing contest in NJ - NYPOST.com

Long Beach Has it All

While I might sometimes prefer the waves at Gilgo and Tobay, Long Beach remains my favorite surf "place."


Long Beach has it all, and then some

It's where I first re-learned to surf 30 years after my first time on a board in England. And if you spend much time there, it'll grow on you

But it's the easy-going mood, ambience, vibrant beach life, and the escape from long islands urban density, as you drive through the wetlands around the Loop Parkway, with the vistas of water and wildlife in every direction, that warms my heart each time I go back to LB for a session.
if you are a dog, you might like to experience Long Beach from an open roadster. This smart pooch knows the drill--no jumping out, but he's old and chillaxed.
Winter, Spring or Fall, and occasional dawn patrol in summer weekend mornings or late summer evenings.
Getting there is half the beauty


And yesterday was one of the latter — hootin' and hollerin' surf till every lumen of nautical twilight had expired, and there was just no more light on the water to see the "incoming".

That's how good Hurricane Danielle's perfect-sized 3.3 foot swell was. Shouldering jetty-to-jetty overhead rides for the good guys, some fun smaller waves mixed in for those with less developed skills, like myself.
Point Lookout eastwards...
SCHMOOZE
Met Mustang Steve on the boardwalk, with his delightful family, Chuck who had just emerged dripping from the ocean, Lella, Shane and the new addition to the Mustang clan, Grace. There was papa John H. and Mama Barbara H., — a big post-session evening boardwalk schmooze.

Then on to Swingbelly's in the West End for a bit of barbecue, or so we thought.

Strike that -- no parking spots to be had, anywhere. Period. So circled back into town for dinner at Sutton Place. End to a perfect day.

BLACK SUMMER RAIN

Almost perfect, except Gordo made it "perfect-er." He was on a quest to track down one of his favorite Clapton songs — he couldn't remember its name, so we listened to my iTunes collection for 3.5 albums-worth until we came to "Black Summer Rain." That was it.

One of my faves too. Gordon was honed in on the keyboard playing in particular. That album (No Reason To Cry) is off the hook with Hammond organ and Fender Rhodes electric piano brilliance from the likes of Billy Preston, Dick Sims, Ahlby Galuten and divine inspiration making for a perfect mix of instrumentation and arrangement.

• Black Summer Rain by Eric Clapton

More Eric Clapton music on iLike

Recorded at the The Band's Shangri-La studio.
No Reason to Cry

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_Reason_to_Cry

H-Park gets some Storm action

Well there was Frank, Adrian, Marty, Leonardo, Rich S., Upwind Mike, Zev and his friend, Terminator Bruce, Ira, Jeannie, Ally, Joe Rocco, Eileen, a couple from Searingtown NY I've never sailed with before, and more people, whose names escape me, due to my apparent early-onset senility (amongst other non-optimally functioning body parts -- arm in spasm driving back, nice, aargh!!). I gotta get back to the acupuncturist, but that's another story.

There was also a lot of wind, and a lot of rain. It was much reminiscent of an October day last year, when the same perps showed up including Leonardo the German Shepherd, to enjoy the day's south easterly offerings.

Lot of folk absolutely cruising, killer speed jibing. Ramps and Heck-waves a plenty. East South East, when it goes off has a decent fetch, so there's some decent rolling and a tumbling to be had.

Rich amid all the mayhem was trying to nail his 360 jibes and getting mighty close -- let me know if you got 'er done, Rich.


Just a whole crew of H-Park folks showed, despite the intermittent deluges, to get completely blasted and extremely soggy, but satiated with the full on dosage of windmachine on steroids. As a bonus, there was a good hour and a half of rain-free sailing mixed in there. But we did practically swim out of the place.

Loved the new (used) RRD CD Wave. Took a little getting used to 225 cm of short and stubbyness, but once I'd figured out how to get it going, it was fun, fun, fun. Gotta admit I was very dubious about the concept, but it "not arf bad."

Why, well I was worried it was going to be too "freestyle," but it was an all-round pleasure. Won't win any speeding tickets with it, but, it's got the fun factor.

It hangs in there very well in good wind, and it seems to want bumpy, lumpy water more than I'd expect for a 99L board, but is still substantially more float in the tail — but not in a bad way — than the AHD 262 Power Wave to stand on, jibe on, so not a duplicate in that respect. Phew!

How it does in 6.0, I don't know yet, but I'm looking forward to it a lot more, now. Frank -- double thanks for sail swap, you're so kind!!

Yeah, we got wind alright.


Sure there were some holes/lulls, but switching between 4.7 and 5.3 worked for me. Or switching boards and sails mix and match style. Haven't sailed the 4.7 on the AHD 262 Power Wave with a 9.5" fin in a long time. When the wind machine
cranked up, was a long-missed treat, there were even, wait for it, some, well, steep breaking swells in a few places.

Frank was testing the outer limits of and Ezzy 5.5 and killing it, and heaven knows what Bruce was on -- I'm scared to ask. But these are both gentlemen who I've seen explode masts — Frank at Stehli and Bruce at W. Meadow, going far beyond the words "powered up."

Figured some folk had to be on the ocean, so looking forward to some tales of "victory at sea" (VAS) from those peeps.

For such a cruddy day -there was a procession of cigarette boats/powerboats. At least they were coming from windward, so with a bit of luck you could hear them well in advance.

Craftswomanship personified, and then some

Eva The Board Lady

Her repairs go from the disaster to the sublime.

Above, vacuum-bagging in progress on a trashed Hamilton SUP that she made good as new, including the painted hibiscus design, pinstriping, the works.

Announcement from Eva....

"My shop is now closed, so that I can dedicate the next couple of years to teaching others about the fine art of Epoxy board repair.
Have vacuum pump -will travel!"

Frank, if you're checking this out -- this is for you!

There's a full gallery of step by step repairs that boggle the mind.

A Swan at Heckscher's sailboat/windsurfing launch

OK so the terrible cell-phone photos have got to go! (another one from last week).

This photo is as blurry as they get, but I snapped it just for it's relative rarity: the white blob on the water, slightly offshore, is actually a swan. Don't see these too often swimming in the salt water off Heckscher, on a weekend, with all the sail craft usually buzzing around the place.

Dallas Cowboys, in New York ... whatever next?

P/U trucks with Cowboys logos, in a suburban Long Island street.

OK I like the truck, but the football team you can keep.

Whatever next?! You know the next thing you'll find is a Texas Roadhouse on Hempstead Turnpike. Oh, wait, there's that already, too.

http://www.texasroadhouse.com/store-sites/restaurant-detail/ny-east-meadow/

several of 'em. NTTAWWT. I love Texas brisket, u name it.

Learning to Fly

...is a great song by the Foo Fighters. Robby is learning that a windsurf sail is like a plane's wing which, in turn, is like a bird's wing, and all three can be helpful if you should wish to fly. One requires a ticket, an airport a pilot or a pilot's training and a plane. The other requires feathers and a completely different DNA set. Windsurfing is by far the most feasible of getting there more often for less expense, without feathers.

But learning to fly on water a.k.a. "Windsurfing" has a steep learning curve, even though I was once a certified instructor.

Still today, in his second session he succeded in getting uphauled in the maverick Heckscher chop that'll throw the best of them off.

One more session should do it and he'll be able to sail off. I said nothing about the necessary evil of tacking. Which well takes a few extra sessions to master.

God bless the catamarans that keep Heckscher sailing even on the supposedly light days. These guys were on edge today and booking it. We had the beach to ourselves mostly.

COOL BREEZE

How could Marg actually get cold, who knows, on a hot day, but the breeeze was a winner and just right for learning.

The gang and the "LBL" (Longboard & Bicycle Limousine) loaded for the sunset return trip.

Joe R. chilling for some impending sunset. While the wind almost went off but not quite, the sunset certainly delivered in amongst some spooky clouds.

Consolation Delectation, Food Security Task Force watchdog

Went to RM 4, 5, and 3, in the summer morning traffic. The skunk was in full force. Returned home, dry as a bone.

Went to the practice range later with Gordon, to refine techniques of skulling, topping and blading golf balls in all the wrong directions and trajectories, including some good ones ... and working up an appetite for barbecued sweet potatoes, grilled eggplant and smoked, grilled marinated salmon.

Lenny the Squid showed up to bear witness and serve as taste arbiter. He was closely watched by an independent food security task force named Koda (watchdog), to ensure sample sizes were within canine and human need parameters.

Oops, nearly forgot the Andouille Kielbasa which is exceptional. Spicy but irresistibly more-ish after just one bite. Who knew one Kielbasa had 8 servings. Come On! That's 4 max!!!

Serendipity - an interesting way to end a week

To surf or not to surf? I had been tossing up the idea of hitting the surf for a little much-needed relaxation, at LB. Per Mustang Steve, and the on-site cams, it was pounding, large and in-charge. Five foot of swell.

Certainly a lot more than I'd dealt with in a while, and too much for my fallowed skills, and the stiff and wretched state of my back and skills at the time (despite a Celebrex capsule), so I'd ruled surfing out already, by that point.

Harrington

SUMMONS

And that's about when, at 4:45 pm Friday, I was summoned to the conference room, on the admin, marketing and sales side of the house.

Now since I'd ruled out surfing, I figured I might as well use some quiet time to get some pages read, or work on a particularly challenging government/military benefits budget cutting story. I was likely going to be busy with one or other of those things until 7, anyway.

FRIDAY, THE DARK SIDE

Friday, around here, however, has on occasion, been a darkly portentous time for some, akin to an ill-fated appearance on the Apprentice.

Ask not for whom the bells tolls who have been called to late Friday meetings and exited not in quite the same state of employment as they entered.

So I made sure the cell-phone was indeed deactivated (according to the rules), puckered up and went in.

FAMILIAR FACES

One of the guests in the meeting looked a little familiar, and the other — no name on this guest as a resulting story is in press terms completely "unofficial" until it's published — I was well acquainted with, from a semi-chance meeting during a press assignment at Ramstein AB, Germany, a year ago, and again at another chance encounter at a conference in Dallas, in March.

Oddly, the first guest had been on my mind this morning, as I drove to work, listening to a CBS radio report on retail trends. Pat Farnak was proclaiming the business news with her typical semi-spin and I was again wondering how much of Farnak/CBS I could take as fact, and how much as hype, serving who-knows-who? I've heard stories there before, only to find they are way off-base. But that aside, I wondered if the trend in question was one that the first guest had gotten a piece of.

SERENDIPITOUSNESS

It is truly mind-boggling, the serendipity of thinking about a particular person in the morning, and having them turn up in your offices to your surprise, that same day.

The other guest, I could soon discern was an entrepreneur and business partner, not an associate, of the first guest. But since I'd only seen the Shark Tank twice before the series last ended, I did not recognize, nor could put a name to his face. You might do better. But the answer was:

http://kevinharrington.tv/

COME LISTEN TO THIS

This was more of a "come and listen to this" session from the Publisher's point of view, rather than an unscheduled interview.

And there was a much to listen to, and a great deal of detail to digest, so even though I was introduced, it was not until an hour later that I knew the more complete picture of what and who I might be writing about.

REAL DEAL

As an editor and writer, it's interesting to see the real deal pitch men at work and in conversation, my boss included. They had come to get his take on the subject, and the pros and cons and pitfalls to avoid. And to smartly pre-empt and clear up the possibility of misunderstood motives finding their way via the wrong channels to the press. Now that is smart. Get the right story out there from your POV, before the 3rd-party twisted version comes in via the grapevine, as it surely will. The bigger the story, the more important it is to pre-brief.

That said, it was a rare privilege to see and hear how fluid the minds of such accomplished businessmen are in talking up and down the variables of the environment they are working with, doing what comes naturally to them. I marvel, but then I'm on the editorial side, and the closed doors view is something I only get to be privvy to, a few times a year.

Suffice it to say, down the road after a few interviews are completed, it's slated to be a story for the marketplace I cover, elsewhere in print (not on this blog).

SATURDAY OUT of THE QUESTION (OoTQ)

Back to the surf ... after all this is an "outdoors" blog.

Saturday a.m. was quite OoTQ — I'd missed two nights of sleep already and wasn't in any way disposed to setting the alarm for 5 hours sleep and 5 am. (You have teenagers and going to bed early is not a realistic option on Friday unless they happen not to be night owls.)

The chance of surf was quickly fading toward the risky window where dropping swell meet rising wind.

And that's pretty close to where it wound up — no man's land.

A 9 a.m. trip to Robert Moses to view incredible calm, but also incredible flatness, and rapidly surging crowds of beachgoers in search of the perfect beach day.

Not my scene. If there's no surf, I'd sooner do something else, or go home — and do something else. If I'm going to sit on a beach in the sun (not likely), out of politeness, there better be a breeze at least.

3 WAVES

Turned out Saturday a.m. was when the three waves came and went. Blink and you missed it. "You schnooze you lose." It was cool, refreshing, and worth the trip, according to Chuck.

But, it's unusual what can happen in place of a surf session sometimes.

OK enough indoors crap for one weekend. Time to take Gordo out to the golf practice range. There's some swing tweakage to be done.