David Siskind | Sunday, 27 September 2026
Last Sunday, my daughter, son-in-law and I dropped down to the dock behind grandpa’s house on Block Island’s Great Salt Pond. The kids were battening down the hatches and checking the moorings before the n’or easter which is just now beginning to hammer the East Cost. They used a block and tackle rig to slide the day-sailer onto its “dry dock” on the beach. Their sloop and summertime home, Apple Butter, remained moored one hundred yards off shore, forlornly, stripped of its sails and buttoned up until they motor it over to the mainland after the storm. The mooring was riding low and Joel voiced his intention to dive-down and un-kink its anchor chain in the morning Monday. Better him than me. He’s a contractor/carpenter and, having spent many formative years on Block Island, is a real waterman. Also his building skills, vision, and energy impress me to no end. Check out the dome in the FP cover pic. While the kids worked, I indulged myself walking the half-moon beach looking for cruising stripers. I also walked a few neighboring docks covering visible channel edges a few yards off shore. I cast around the clock. The wind was kicking up as the weather began to move in and I got to practice and test my accuracy and distance. No fish showed interest but I like my chances chasing reds in Louisiana later next week.
More Clubs - I’m convinced that Rickard, last week, was spot-on regarding the rotator cuff and its minimal contribution to the force required to create a cast. And I’m heartened and feel validated by his link to the Best Rotator Cuff Exercise. This is very similar to the heavy club shield cast and reverse shield cast movement. The only difference I can see is that the dumbbell movement lowers the load, fully extending the working arm, while the shield cast ends in the “order position” - the working arm bent at 90 degrees. Doing this with a club looks like it might be safer than with light dumbbells and to my eye directly trains the muscles that engage at the end of a forward cast. Training the shield cast and the inside circle enable learning the inside mill which echoes the entire casting movement from the ground up. You can see this clearly in this Mill Prep video. I still haven’t gone up in weight. Soon.
I’m loving the club work. As I practice, just as in casting, I am finding new subtleties moving from internal to external cues and back to internal. I’m feeling my toes on the floor and feeling the effects of weight shift and of hip and shoulder rotation on the optimal application of force on the club handle. The primary impact on my casting so far is a visceral understanding of what it means and feels like to point the elbow to target and, I believe, my timing and direct application of force have improved.
Meanwhile on 42nd Street - Trump's speech to the UN General Assembly was jarring, even after 10 years of exposure to his hyperbole. He is clearly insane, surrounded by a clown car cabinet who will never invoke the 25th and a congress that will never impeach and remove. He’s doing so much damage. The world will never be the same. Maybe something good will arise but this is dangerous in so many ways. He is capable of anything. The world has to stop hoping anything internal will restrain him. Dream on. Be ready. I wish I knew how.
Keep Hope Alive,
David Siskind