Dunewood is a small beach community in the western end of

Fire Island Fire Island is the large center island of the outer barrier islands parallel to the South Shore of Long Island, in the U.S. state of New York. Occasionally, the name is used to refer collectively to not only the central island, but also Long ...

New York State New York, officially the State of New York, is a state in the Northeastern United States. It is often called New York State to distinguish it from its largest city, New York City. With a total area of , New York is the 27th-largest U.S. stat ...

. With about 100 homes originally all built on an identical floor plan,Dunewood
(from the Fire Island website) While the community specifically does not market itself to tourists and short-term renters, it is a popular location for long-term residents, and properties are rarely for sale. The community has only very limited facilities, and while during summertime, it shares a doctor with nearby Fair Harbor, during other times of the year, serious medical cases have to be

medevac Medical evacuation, often shortened to medevac or medivac, is the timely and efficient movement and en route care provided by medical personnel to wounded being evacuated from a battlefield, to injured patients being evacuated from the scene of a ...

ed by helicopter. Sunfish rigged for sailing

Dunewood, like many neighboring communities, suffers from

coastal erosion Coastal erosion is the loss or displacement of land, or the long-term removal of sediment and rocks along the coastline due to the action of waves, currents, tides, wind-driven water, waterborne ice, or other impacts of storms. The landward ...

, which the community in the early 2000s was attempting to control via

beach replenishment Beach nourishment (also referred to as beach renourishment, beach replenishment, or sand replenishment) describes a process by which sediment, usually sand, lost through longshore drift or erosion is replaced from other sources. A wider beach can ...

, the sand replacement funded by taxes levied through each community's erosion control district. Environmental concerns have however hindered similar projects on Fire Island for decades.

Dunewood Yacht Club

The Dunewood Yacht Club
(DYC website) (DYC) is a staple of Dunewood and of the larger

community. It offers a long tradition of

sailing Sailing employs the wind—acting on sails, wingsails or kites—to propel a craft on the surface of the ''water'' (sailing ship, sailboat, raft, windsurfer, or kitesurfer), on ''ice'' (iceboat) or on ''land'' (land yacht) over a chosen cour ...

instruction for a wide range of ages and all skill levels. The Yacht Club offers instruction on Sunfish sailing dinghies. After passing a swim test, students are assigned to a specific class based on age.

References

External links

Dunewood, Fire IslandFire Island Travel GuideFire Island on FacebookDunewood Yacht Club
Fire Island, New York Islip (town), New York Beaches of Suffolk County, New York Hamlets in Suffolk County, New York Populated coastal places in New York (state) {{SuffolkCountyNY-geo-stub