Long Island Sound: Sailing the Salty J

An old friend stopped by recently while I was in Peekskill, NY, visiting my mom. Joe and I grew up in the same neighborhood and he was visiting his parents as well. Our conversation drifted to his Precision 21 Pocket Cruiser, which he loves sailing near his current home on the north shore of Long Island. He was bummed that the calendar had already flipped to August and he had yet to get the sailboat in the water for the season.

transporting sailboat
Transporting the Salty J from its winter storage

I offered my services to help him launch the boat during my stay in NY and a quick check of tides and weather found a brief window of opportunity to make it happen.

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Silvermine Ski Center to Bear Mountain Ski Jump Traverse

My previous Bear Mountain State Park experiences have included ice skating with the family during the winter holidays and a zoo trip here and there when my daughter was young. I’ve done limited hiking in the park and there are many miles of trails that I’ve yet to explore.

vintage ski brochure map
Vintage ski brochure map of Silvermine Ski Center and the Bear Mountain Ski Jump

Recently I had an opportunity to hike some of them while trying to link two sites steeped in New York ski history; the Silvermine Ski Center and the Bear Mountain Ski Jump. The map from a vintage ski brochure I purchased at a used bookstore made the two areas look so close to each other. I parked at the Silvermine Picnic Area, which was the location of the base area of the Silvermine Ski Center.

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Hudson Highlands: Breakneck Ridge and Bull Hill

Twenty-four hours before this ski tour began on February 26, I had no plans to ski in New York. I’d never skied in the Hudson Highlands, and I had never met my ski touring partner for the day, Ripitz a well-known character from the NYSkiBlog Forums.

ski bike
Rip’s Rig

In the fall, Rip and I spoke about meeting up for a hike, but winter came before we could make it work. On a whim, I reached out to see if he was open to skin up somewhere in Vermont.

He countered with skiing in the Hudson Highlands State Park instead and asked if I had my nordic skis with me (I did).

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