Babylon to Oakdale

A Sail Tale

NOT a Sale Tail or: What I did one day during the summer of ’22

by Sam White, Photographs by Al White.

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

The water splashing up as i go over the seemingly endless waves

The water went on forever

I woke up at about seven in the morning getting ready for the regatta.

I got my things together and we were off. I couldn’t wait to get on the water.

On the drive there I was thinking about all the possible cases and all the way the races could go there.

We got there and unloaded my 9 foot white single handed boat off the trailer onto my cart. I rigged it and after a long wait we finally got in the water. The race was a windward leeward finish.

I won a couple and lost a couple, but i just wanted to sail.

After the races I went in and right back out to start my way back.

I was going to sail back from Babylon Yacht Club in West Islip to my boatyard in Oakdale. It was 13 miles downwind on a windy day.

I had my sailing coach/mentor Dan, and my dad in a motor boat that stayed around me.

I started out East towards the Robert Moses Bridge

When I went under the Bridge the color, lighting and texture of the water looked like a comic book page.

I sailed off on my own and Dan gave me lots of space, they were about a mile or more away.

I felt like I was alone out there and the bay belonged to me.

I was in control. There were 3-4 foot swells and I surfed them and went so fast. I wish I had recorded it, but that wouldn’t have done it justice.

It was amazing.

Though it was a gloomy day, I wouldn’t want it any other way. I stayed in the middle of the bay far away from the buoy line. When I surfed the waves I was unstoppable. When I got back, I put my boat away and sat there wishing it wasn’t over. But I knew there would be more things like this, and this was just the tip of the iceberg.

My special thanks to my guest contributors; Al White for all of the amazing photographs, and Sam White for his wonderful narration/memoir.…DanS