Scoping Out the Local SUP Spot

Lifeguard "AC" heads back to finish up work at Manorhaven Beach Park on a "perfect sunset" evening.

Sometimes you've just got to leave work a little earlier if you want to take advantage of some of the reasons you chose to live in a certain place.

"Port" is a bay town. It's something I've taken for granted for years now, to the point that I've too often ignored its charms.

Originally I, and many others, had thought it would be a good place to windsurf, but as the winds proved weak and fickle here, and the water quality so-so, most of the windsurfing contingent abandoned the spot on favor of windier and cleaner waters. Sure some of us still live here, but few, if any of us, sail the bay these days; making a regular mockery of the cardinal rule "don't leave wind to find wind."

Prepare to embark or disembark. The XL windgear proves
its mettle as perfectly good flatwater SUP gear. Gotta love it.

But with the possibilities opened up by the SUP-ready qualities of our largest boards — a wide, 9'0" 170-liter Starboard Go and a light fast moderately wide 135 liter Randy French — and a couple of paddles — Gordy and I had what we needed to get out and bring some of that Cape Cod vacation SUP fun back home.

End of Day, driving home from the bay;
sunset by the Mill Pond.

So, one evening the urge ...

grabbed

me forcefully.

I'd been getting too familiar with the light of the editor's lamp, day-in, day out leaving work at 730, 8, 830 and even 9, and it was well past time for a little evening R&R. And ... the opportunity — the calmness made itself felt — to scope out the local bay to see if it had possibilities as a good SUP launch, presented itself.

Flat water, sea breeezes, choppy water, calm, and wind-whipped tempests — 'Em-Bay has them all, but definitely more of the easy-going paddle-worthy conditions rule its protected waters. You could almost think you were in Hawaii sometimes ... lol.

You could almost pretend you were in Hawaii.

The paddle was short but sweet. The water plenty murky, but good enough for the bunker fish, so more or less good enough for us. Definitely a decent place to grab an occasional paddle despite the boat traffic. Mission successful ... we have a SUP launch 5 minutes from home.