The Mast-Head: Quiet Time
A longtime member the Star staff who had a moderately bad day on Monday asked rhetorically whether someone could really go through a day at this time of year here without running into some kind of annoyance or obstacle. Short of never leaving the house or hiding out at work from dawn to after dark, at some point we all have to come into contact with the juggernaut that is the South Fork in high season.
For example, the other day, I thought I’d avoid the inevitable frustration of driving into East Hampton Village to go to the bank by taking the time to walk there from the office. But then, fording Main Street at the crosswalk near Huntting Lane, I took a little chin music — as the baseball term for a close, inside pitch goes — from an irrigation company truck whose driver neglected to stop. Crossing back was okay, but I had to walk a slalom course around two other pedestrians peering at their smartphones.
As things worked out, however, I did get a little quiet time that evening, running my powerboat around from the house to its slip in Three Mile Harbor. Lisa and the kids were at various places and I would not be needed for driving duty until 8 p.m. I had an infrequent hour and a half with absolutely nothing to do.
After lifting the anchor and stowing it on the 24-foot lobster boat, I floated on the wind awhile before even starting the motor, then ran roughly northwest toward Cartwright Island. I slowed where the incoming tide piled up on the shoals, where a day before I had seen two immature sooty terns, ararity here, picking at leaping bait. They had moved on.
There was one other boat in sight, fishing, from the looks of it, near Cartwright. I headed off to the north, catching and releasing a small bluefish in Cherry Harbor. After that, I kept the motor off and just sat.
Even on a still evening, like this was, you don’t hear much that far out in the bay. Sound carries, but once beyond a mile from the mainland, all you hear are the birds, the wind, and the slap of small waves against the hull. Had I not had to meet Lisa for a ride back to my car at the office, and then to collect one of the kids at a friend’s house, I might have stayed there all night.