Southold Town Police Marine Units responded Saturday to a call of two jet skiers in distress in the Peconic Bay between New Suffolk and Robins Island, according to a Southold Town police press release.
The two Southampton residents were able to reach the beach in New Suffolk without police assistance, police said.
Officers found that the jet ski had been stranded after its engine failed, police said.
No injuries were reported.
DIANE BONDAREFF/INVISION FOR THE NATIONAL AUDUBON SOCIETY/AP IMAGES PHOTO | Louis Bacon, center, is presented the Audubon Medal Jan. 17 and is joined on stage by (from left) Paul Tudor Jones, Holt Thrasher and David Yarnold.
Robins Island owner Louis Moore Bacon III was feted by the National Audubon Society for his conservation work at a gala at the Plaza Hotel in Manhattan Jan. 17.
Mr. Bacon received the Audubon Medal, one of the highest honors in conservation, for his work preserving bird habitat on the 434-acre island and Cow Neck Farm in Southampton and restoring Clifton Point in the Bahamas and Springer’s Point on North Carolina’s Outer Banks.
Mr. Bacon recently helped the New Suffolk Waterfront Fund preserve its three-acres site adjacent to the New Suffolk docks where he keeps the boats used to access Robins Island.
“It is a wonderful honor to receive the Audubon Medal from the National Audubon Society, which for more than a century has fought tirelessly to protect and preserve our natural resources and environment for future generations,” Mr. Bacon said at the event. “Much like the conservationists who previously have received the Audubon Medal, including Stewart Udall, Rachel Carson and Ted Turner, I realize that this recognition cannot be a cause to rest, but a spur to continue our work.”
RANDEE DADONNA FILE PHOTO | A view of the property Robins Island owner Louis Moore Bacon will take title of.
The billionaire who owns Robins Island has provided a private stimulus package to the New Suffolk Waterfront Fund in the final days before the group’s $1.5 million mortgage was due.
With key financing from Louis Moore Bacon and a state grant, the mortgage has been paid in full. Mr. Bacon, a hedge fund manager who purchased the 434-acre island out of bankruptcy in 1988, will take title to the southernmost acre of waterfront to construct a boat shed and a small parking area. Mr. Bacon currently owns the land on either side of a town boat ramp. The one acre is adjacent to the building serving as a base for the island’s support staff. The property fronting Peconic Bay includes a small inlet used to berth several boats, including a Vietnam War-era landing craft.
In a press release issued Tuesday, the waterfront fund said Mr. Bacon’s company, Robins Island Holdings LLC, “will work with the Peconic Land Trust, ensuring the property’s maintenance, preservation and scenic views in perpetuity.”
The fund was established in 2005 by New Suffolk citizens to preserve 3.4 acres overlooking Cutchogue Harbor. The remaining 2.4 acres, including the former Galley Ho restaurant, a historic barn, a community garden and a portion of the beach on the south side of the site, will stay under the waterfront fund’s control.
Fund officials did not disclose the financial details of the agreement, but did say in the release that “the generous support of Robins Island Holdings LLC, combined with a grant from NYS Department of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, allows the Waterfront Fund to pay off its mortgage and devote its energies toward long-anticipated improvements and renovations on the property.”
The land, formerly the site of a boat yard and a restaurant, was purchased by the Peconic Land Trust in 2007 during the time the waterfront fund became a nonprofit organization and began to raise the $2.4 million needed to acquire the property.
After raising $1.5 million on its own and receiving a $1.5 million loan from The Conservation Fund, a national preservation group, the fund took title to the property in December 2010. The deadline for repaying the loan was this June. The group recently received a $400,000 grant from the state parks department, leaving an outstanding balance of $1.1 million.
Members of the waterfront fund declined to comment on the deal beyond a prepared statement from chairwoman Barbara Schnitzler, which said, “The board is grateful for Mr. Bacon’s generous, continuing support of this project.
“We are so pleased that our acquisition fundraising is behind us,” the statement continued, “and we can get to work creating the community asset that so many people have supported, financially and through their volunteer efforts.”
Mr. Bacon, founder of Moore Capital Management, is quoted as saying he considers it “a privilege to participate in this outstanding community preservation project working with The New Suffolk Waterfront Fund and Peconic Land Trust. Together, we have crafted a long-term solution to a threatened property and developed a viable conservation alternative which both preserves and protects a critical viewshed for the residents of New Suffolk and the North Fork. This collaboration is a continued expansion of ongoing private, public and nonprofit efforts that are becoming the template for preservation in the future.”
According to the waterfront fund’s website, their plans now include moving forward “with the rehabilitation of the north portion in line with the vision we have long held, which includes a community center/snack bar, transient dockage, a small marina, recognition of our maritime history, etc.”
Friday’s high winds promised prime conditions for windsurfing in Peconic Bay, but the gusts proved too much for a 68-year-old man who after failing to return to the beach was rescued by police on the sandspit on the northern end of Robins Island and then treated by the Cutchogue Fire Department for exposure.
Police said the man, John Vanderwolf of Center Moriches , did not require hospitalization.
When the man did not return to the beach in New Suffolk friends called 911, but as sometimes occurs with cell phone service in that area, the call went to to the Southampton town police, said Southold Chief Martin Flatley. After a Suffolk County Police helicopter located the man at about 12:22 p.m., Southampton bay constables picked him up and brought him back to New Suffolk, where he was treated by the fire department’s rescue squad.
“Anytime someone is in the water this time of year the fire departments checks them out for exposure,” Chief Flatley said. The man, who was wearing a full wetsuit, had no other health issues.
The chief said conditions on the water were “extremely rough.” Southampton police clocked the wind out of the southwest at 25 mph with gusts up to 45. Seas were 4 to 7 feet and the water temperature at about 40 degrees. Mr. Vanderwolf’s windsurf board was not recovered.
The Coast Guard also assisted in the search.