"Chimneys" Downwind Run - Long Island, NY, USA

[Off-Shore]

Zoner Yuval and I headed out with one other crazy New York paddler on a new epic downwind run we’ve named “Chimneys”. Named because it starts at a the NorthPort Power Station, in Long Island, NY, USA which has 4 chimneys and in a westerly wind heads across the Smithtown Bay towards the two chimneys of Port Jefferson Power Station and finishes at West Meadow Beach some 10.5 miles / 17kms away. These chimneys make great landmarks and can be seen from miles away.

On this day though, the wind was SSW and we were blown south and ended up at the mouth of the Nissequogue River at Kings Park Bluff near the Old Dock Inn which was a 6.5 mile / 10.5km run.

Conditions were near perfect for us on a SICMaui F16v3, SIC Bullet 14v1 TWC and Blue Planet Bump Rider 14 x 27”.

When we ended up at the river mouth we had to make landfall and regroup. Boards lain on the beach unattended were blown away and the sand was being whipped up into a face and leg sandblaster. The river however looked perfect for an inland downwinder so we all mounted up and set off up the river for a 4.3mile / 7kms run which at least half was downwinding conditions, ending up near Smithtown where we stashed the boards and called an Uber to take us back to our launch vehicle.

We named the first run “Chimneys - Inner,” since it ran along the coast and did not reach West Meadow Beach as the regular Chimneys Run would have. We were amazed how mellow and fun the Nissequogue River Downwind part was and how beautiful and peaceful the winding upriver part was.

A great day had by all. Sadly the GoPro died before the end, but hope you enjoy.. Vid on its way..

[Night Wing]

Nice action shot pictures. Looking forward to seeing your video.

[Off-Shore]

Here is the vid...

https://youtu.be/BXURm36Sn0w
GoPro Hero 5 - Headmounted

[Luc Benac]

Another nice run, you guys will have trouble going back to work after so many good runs....
Can't imagine how nice it would be in a hot summer day.

[PabstSUP]

Looks fantastic - great looking run.  You guys seem to be mapping all of the NY Metro from a downwind perspective!  I definitely want to try to join you on one of these someday!

My usual run is right nearby my house in Oak Beach where I put in at Robert Moses and cross the Great South Bay towards Heckscher State Park on a SW or SSW wind, though it takes a little while for the fetch of the waves to make the bumps rideable.  Someday I'd love to do a run east or west across the bay parallel to Fire Island.

Seems that this run starts hot and heavy since there is plenty of open water for the windswell to build bumps before you start the run. One question though - you mention the wind being SSW - wouldn't that blow you across the Sound over to Connecticut? 

Cheers,

Dale

[Night Wing]

@ Off-Shore

Great video. Love those angry waves. 

Thanks for sharing the video. I truly enjoyed watching it.

[yugi]

Nice windy run guys.

...
 One question though - you mention the wind being SSW - wouldn't that blow you across the Sound over to Connecticut? 
...

I'm guessing it was NW ish. A classic fumble in quoting wind.

A funny thing about wind is that the orientation is named after where it come from, not the direction it is going. It's common to get it wrong by thinking wind direction would imply the direction it is going. But it is actually wind orientation we speak of.

Remember it by remembering that we speak of things the wind brings. Such as cold air, warm air, rain or "tidings". Even other things. Europe gets sand from the sahara in strong southerly (spring time) storms. It's quite striking on the snow.

Wind finder has tons of wind stations with reports so it is easy to look up a wind at a given day and time (for 7 last days).

Wind report for Asharoken from Sunday:
   https://www.windfinder.com/report/asharoken_the_neck/2017-11-19
   
Obviously more on the water. That wind station is likely a bit in the lee of the wind.

[PabstSUP]

One other question - seems like it might be even more fun to start the run at Eatons Neck Light.  Did you figure out whether or not it's possible to launch from there.  Maybe the folks at the Coast Guard station there might not look too kindly on Downwinding in rough conditions...

[Off-Shore]

Yugi. You are absolutely right. Somehow I managed to get it correct in the YouTube description but not in my post! It was NWW and the forecast was for Westerlies.

PabstSup. Would love you to join us when you can. Just PM me with your details and we can add you into our local downwind WhatsApp Group. We are probably going to slow down our "mapping" during these winter months, but the aim is to always try something new unless we know that a particular wind direction for that particular run is going to be epic. Where you are on the Ocean side would have probably have been better in those wind directions with longer runs / routes. Definitely we'd love to have a local show us the way!

We did look at trying to find a launch place nearer Eatons Neck Light. The road up the coast does run along the shore but having not scouted it physically, we just looked for the closest car park on Google Maps to it, and that was next to the Power Station. I am sure if the Coast Guard had seen us getting ready to launch they would have stopped us with questions, which would have been fine as we were well dressed and prepared for the cold, and conditions with life jackets, VHF radios and PLBs.

It should be noted we also use the 100 deg rule which is if the combined temperature of the water and air is over 100 deg if you are properly wetsuited up with good gloves and booties you should not be in the danger zone for hypothermia.. Below this, we probably would not have gone out in these conditions.

[JEG]

howling run!

[burchas]

Here is another short vid of the run from the Board POV

[gone_foiling]

Whoah, that was awesome. Looks like great conditions. Thanks for sharing, great music choice guys !

[burchas]

Whoah, that was awesome. Looks like great conditions. Thanks for sharing, great music choice guys !

Coming your way very soon gzasinets. Hope you have some good runs to share.

[Muskoka SUP]

Smokin'!  Glad you guys are getting some.  As always, thanks for sharing.

[Eagle]

Looked like fun!  The F16 looked to be the right tool for the job.