Things To Do In Huntington

A colorful creature soars high above Rocky Point's coastline. Its rainbow sail lifts, dips, and turns over sandy beaches and a blue ocean that stretches as far as the eye can see. The gliders in question belong to GMI Paragliding School, which makes its home along Rocky Point, a site insured by the United States Hang Gliding Paragliding Association. The school’s skilled instructor introduces beginners to the basics of paragliding, which include ground control, monitoring the weather, theory, and techniques to avoid attracting amorous vultures. After mastering beginner skills, new flyers can join Long Island Paragliding Club to pursue dreams of someday touching the sky’s ceiling.

A new graduate of Martin van Breems' Basic Keelboat course out on his first sail was pounded by driving rain and battered by winds raging at almost 35 miles per hour, but he kept his cool. When his fellow sailors found him, his jib was rolled, his main was reefed, and Breems recalls that it, "felt pretty darn good to see him doing exactly what he should have done in difficult conditions, instead of panicking."

Founded in 1986, Sound Sailing Center’s expert sailors introduce students to the Sound during their professional-quality classes. Their instruction philosophy ensures the proper learning environment for each student with classes that span several days with fewer students per class and a fleet equipped for single-handed sailing. The center also offers a variety of membership options.

During the Big Apple Beatdown, an all-day roller-derby tournament hosted by the New York Shock Exchange, spectators arrive to the rink with chairs under their arms to watch six notable MRDA teams battle for the National Champion title. Bouts begin at 10 a.m. with the Dallas Deception taking on the Magic City Misfits in a storm of skates, helmets, and trampled 10-gallon hats. Other teams battling for supremacy include the St. Louis GateKeepers, Puget Sound Derby Outcasts, and Pioneer Valley Dirty Dozen. A special women’s game will also be held featuring the Long Island Roller Rebels taking on the Jersey Shore Roller Girls. The championship bout commences at 7:30 p.m., and the day ends with a presentation of medals at 9:15 p.m., where one team is deemed the victor. Matches occur on two separate tracks, allowing smooth transitions between bouts and enough time for padded pros to finish a game of Connect the Bruises.

• For $60, you get two 90-minute group tennis lessons (a $120 value). • For $110, you get two 60-minute private tennis lessons (a $220 value).

Film fanatics flock to Cinema Arts Centre to get their fix of foreign, independent, and other hard-to-find flicks. Upcoming attractions include Mao's Last Dancer, Australian filmmaker Bruce Beresford’s inspirational story about a young ballet dancer's climb from poverty to international stardom; Get Low, inspired by the true story of Felix “Bush” Breazeale, and starring Robert Duvall, Sissy Spacek, and Bill Murray; and Mesrine: Killer Instinct and Mesrine: Public Enemy #1, a thrilling two-part snapshot of France’s most famous gangster, as well as a story about 101 freckled puppies dodging a cruel women in a fur coat. Pair your celluloid eyeball feast with some freshly popped organic popcorn doused with all-natural butter and a fountain soda infused with the fizzy essence of imported giggles.

Helmed by the tag-team duo of a New York Times best-selling author and former creative director of New York's Lincoln Center, Pulitzer & Panetta Writing & Art Studio molds artistic minds of any age with workshops that keep the right side of the brain firing on all synapses.