Montauk Pioneer - April 17, 2009

My good friend, Steve Picken (a true Bonacker whose dad, Jeff Picken, works as a charter boat fishing captain in Montauk), came out from New York City last weekend from his work as a Staten Island Ferry Captain, and we decided to go sailing.

We found ourselves in the middle of Gardiner's Bay, talking about life, under a strong wind in my Dad's 25-foot O'Day sailboat, which we got two years ago and named "Serenity Now."

In Gardiner's Bay, Steve and I were feeling the sailing rush. Anybody that sails knows what I am talking about. There was a steady and strong wind. The boat was heeled over to one side and occasionally spray would crash over the bow while Steve was adjusting and readjusting the jib and the mainsail so that we would hit warp speed. We were headed northeast, pointed directly at Gardiner's Island - it was just perfect. God only gives you so many days like this on a sailboat. Steve used to be on the sailing team at school, which brought my sailboat to a whole other level. The boat was reacting to us the way a dog reacts around a dog person. Everything was humming. I was certain that the bow of "Serenity Now" was wearing a smile.

It was about seven thirty and we were flying as the sun started to set. Gardiner's Bay began to turn into the magical colors that so many artists here have come to appreciate. How could we possibly head back?

"Steve, we should just keep sailing."

"I know man, this is awesome. Where do you want to go?"

"Let's just go east and we'll figure it out. How about Montauk?"

"How are we going to get back?"

"We'll figure it out."

And just like that, a forty-minute sail turned into a weekend. We decided to head South of Gardiner's Island, head around the Shoals of Cartwright Island, then keep going east until we hit Montauk, hoping to beat the sunset. No Garmin navigation system on my boat, just a beat up chart.

As we saw the breakwater of the underwater islands, so famous for causing one shipwreck after another, we headed due south to get around them. I looked at the white windmill on Gardiner's Island. "Dude, there must be something offbeat about that island. They have no police there, you can do whatever you want."

"I hear they shoot at you if you try to land there," Steve said.

I picked up my binoculars and checked out the windmill and open fields. "Imagine if I saw a murder right now? How crazy would that be?"

"That would make a good movie. Two guys sailing off an island, the only witnesses to a murder?"

BOOM! We heard off in the distance.

Okay, I'm kidding, we didn't hear that, but that would have been crazy.

With the light getting pretty dim, we were having trouble seeing the end of the shoals. And I saw fear in Steve's eyes.

"Are we all right, Steve?"

"I think so, we'll turn her east now. Looks like we are at the end."

We started heading east and without warning, I looked to the South and saw a small patch of breakwater appear with an island under it. "Oh, crap" we were headed into the shoals.

Steve and I both knew it and within thirty seconds, I started to hear the bump of the ground hit the keel. "My baby!" I cried. And then I began to repeat, "Serenity Now," over and over again as I barreled into the cabin and cranked up the keel. I really didn't want to be one of those idiots who runs aground at Cartwright in Amagansett. I held my breath.

"I think we're through!" Steve yelled.

Right when he said that, I saw a bolt of lightning to the North and some storm clouds. We were heading north now to catch a beeline shot to Montauk, using the same excellent angle to go southeast. It was getting pretty dark, so I whipped out the nautical chart to look for directional markers. There was one off Napeague and one off Lake Montauk. But I couldn't tell where anything was with all the lights on the coast. It was then Steve prompted one of the coolest parts of the trip. "What does it say next to the marker on the chart?"

"It says Mo A," I said, having no idea where Steve was going with this.

"Okay, look for a light that blinks once quick and then once long. That's Morse code for 'A'."

We found our heading, marked our compass in case we hit some fog and headed for Montauk. The rest of the way we sang lyrics to Eminem songs we both knew. We got to Montauk, still with the sails up, going directly in front of Gosman's like super heroes. This is a rare thing that people seldom do in Montauk, according to Steve, so we were feeling pretty pumped.

We docked at Uihlein's Marina with intentions of leaving late that night, but ended up telling our story, with a lot of embellishment (I think at one point, we were telling people we had just sailed from Cuba) while drinking pint after pint of Bass beer at The Dock Restaurant and were in no condition to sail back. We ended up getting a ride from my girlfriend to my place at Ditch Plains.

The next day, Henry Uihlein was not too happy about a sailboat showing up unannounced in the middle of the night at his marina the day that his fishing tournament, The Montauk Mercury Grand Slam, started. I felt pretty guilty about it, so I left the next morning in a hurry and promised I'd make it up to him. I had to get back anyway, because I needed to deliver restocks of Dan's Papers in East Hampton and Southampton. Anybody up for some jet skiing at Uihlein's?