Columns
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•October 22, 2020
Big News From the Meadowlands and Big Surf on the Way
I very specifically recall getting press releases early in my journalism career about this massive undertaking in North Jersey, a giant indoor ski facility/waterpark/entertainment venue and mall. I…
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•October 21, 2020
Worthy Word Tucked Away on Dusty Shelf; Eagle Numbers Take Flight Toward Former Greatness
It’s been an obsession of mine to seek out obsolete words that have become mummified from lack of usage. I’m not the only one exploring thusly; some folks have made an academic career out of looking…
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•October 21, 2020
Caught in a Death Trap
It is said by some that any publicity is good publicity, but in August and September 1959, Ocean County was hit with two tragedies that would not help bring the masses of tourists needed to support…
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•October 15, 2020
Kitefest Makes Splash in Ship Bottom; Here Come Winter Prognostications
Now, that was one headbanger of a be-peopled weekend on LBI. Folks came in waves to hit the beach and look toward the heavens, taking in kites of many colors, from entry-level rag-tailed models to…
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•October 15, 2020
Debate Fly Was Nothing to Locals, and a New Way of Sandy Thinking
After so many weeks of autumn surf glory, the Atlantic Ocean has been taking a breather. No, it hasn’t been six-days-of-cold-northwest-winds-in-January-style flat, but the faucet of fall magic slowed…
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•October 14, 2020
Women Head to Polls to Vote
Coming up on the election of 1920, Republican Warren G. Harding was opposing Democrat James Cox for the office of president, with the two major issues being prohibition of alcohol and whether the…
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•October 10, 2020
Weirdness 2020 Has Pompano, Pelicans Aplenty; No Country for Expired Flares
ONGOING WEIRDNESS 2020: Hookingly bizarre was Joe Handley’s huge pompano taken in Holgate on a tiny kingfish hook. They don’t belong here, at least not at the size this one arrived at: 3.24 pounds…
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•October 8, 2020
Saying Goodbye to Surfer Mag; Fall Swells, October Love
Last week Liquid Lines was all about good news. This week, someone dropped a burning bag on the front porch, and we have to decide whether to step on it, knowing what kind of gross stuff might be…
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•October 7, 2020
19th Amendment Goes Into Effect
One hundred years ago, the United States prepared for what many call the first modern election. The 19th Amendment had been ratified in August, allowing all American women for the first time the…
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•October 1, 2020
Epic Hurricane Teddy Swell and New Bag Ban Uplift for the Week
Hey, there’s good news to report! Bear in mind that good news in 2020 is fairly relative.
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•September 30, 2020
Even Icebergs Get the Blues; Looking for Some Classic Ladies
In one of the most bizarre findings in the history of both the planet and clothing, scientists recently discovered alarmingly large amounts of denim fiber have accumulated in the Arctic. You read…
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•September 30, 2020
Election Year 1920 – Sound Familiar?
Recently while surfing the internet, I found an interesting article by Christopher Klein with a thought-provoking opening: “Lashed by a squall of historical events over four harrowing years…
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•September 24, 2020
Time to Go Archaic With Hurricane Names; Mullet on Long Trip Home
It’s now Greek to everyone, speaking of the beyond-bizarre alphabetic twist 2020 has applied to even the Atlantic hurricane season. Never have there been so many named tropical cyclones arising so…
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•September 24, 2020
Lure of the Tropics, Weeks of Waves and Other Ramblings
By the time The SandPaper hits the big yellow boxes, we’re going to know if it’s boom or bust. But as I’m writing this, I don’t. And it’s either been a boom of historic surf proportions or a bust…
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•September 23, 2020
Trying to Salvage the S-5
In September 1920, the entire crew of the submarine S-5 was rescued from their submerged coffin off the coast of New Jersey with her commander, Charles M. Cook, being the last man to crawl through…
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•September 16, 2020
Tropics Cranking Out Storms Like We’ve Never Seen, Days of Swell on the Way
A quick observation from the post-truth era. There’s a political term that I am hearing being thrown about lately, something about “the silent majority.”
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•September 16, 2020
When the World’s Bugs Bug Out; Not a Hand Sign of the Times
I was forwarded a music-ish video that bugged the heck out of me – in a good way. It featured a collaboration between the Karajan Academy of the Berlin Philharmonic and the World Wide Fund for Nature…
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•September 16, 2020
Superhuman Effort Saves S-5 Crew
The submarine S-5 had sunk off the Jersey coast on September 1, 1920. Her captain, Charles M. Cooke, had been able to raise the stern so that it was above the water’s surface.
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•September 13, 2020
So You Want to Be a Year ’Rounder?; Knowing What’s Flooding Out There
Fall is readying to take on a whole different off-season Island look, possibly filled to the rafters with late-stayers. Having a slew of unseasonal people here is fine by me since I’m something of a…
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•September 10, 2020
Labor Day Without Waves, Sandbars Missing, Tropics Might Finally Deliver
Labor Day is perhaps my favorite holiday. Honoring those of who work hard is certainly a good reason for a holiday, especially around this glorified sandbar where the day happens to fall at the end…
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•September 9, 2020
Superhuman Effort Saves the Sub
In early September 1920, a life and death race against time was taking place in the Atlantic, about 50 miles southeast of Barnegat Light.
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•September 7, 2020
Coyotes Covering Island Ground; When No Tin Can Safe on the Beach
There’s a ton of talking points this week, from a Queen City coyote to ungodly itches to pinging tin cans in olden Island days.
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•September 3, 2020
Black Flies Make for Ideal Social Distancing Beaching, Going Soft Surfing to End Summer
Welcome to the annual “How the Heck Is It Labor Day Already?” column. If you are concerned about not being within germ-shot of people but still want to get some beach time this summer, I sure hope…
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•September 2, 2020
Will Help Be in Time?
In early September 1920, one of the great stories of the submarine service was playing out southeast of Barnegat Light.
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•August 31, 2020
Secret Seeds a Message From China; Sea Lice Maybe Blown Our Way
I was among the apparent many who received unsolicited mystery seeds from China. At first, I figured that I was simply big in China, since I annually pay that nation’s electric bill through my…
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•August 27, 2020
Live End of Summer to Fullest Before Uncertain Season; New Paddle Champ
You stand barefoot on the rocks, the bottom of your feet toughened to a calloused “summer feet” leather, as the warm summer sun sets and the juice of a ripe watermelon runs down your chin. You watch…
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•August 26, 2020
Desperate Measures to Survive
On Sept. 1, 1920, during a practice crash dive about 50 miles southeast of Barnegat Light, the submarine S-5 had flooded and plunged bow first to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. The commander of…
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•August 23, 2020
A Retrospective of the Most Classic Hurricane Season With Combo Swell and a Few Last Summer Events
I’ve been reminiscing a lot this summer, getting a bit nostalgic, you might say. And hey, can you blame anyone for thinking back to the past, whether it was your childhood, or just … February?
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•August 23, 2020
Raining Plankton and Jellyfish; Olden Days of Proper Tar Ball Protocols
FREAKIER STILL: Bear with me as I make one last mention of TS Isaias, the little storm that could. And it truly short-circuited our piece of the power grid and melted away any notion that we’re ready…
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•August 19, 2020
Crash Dive Goes Terribly Wrong
The submarine S-5 had left Boston on its maiden voyage on Aug. 30, 1920, under the command of Lt. Cmdr. Charles M. Cooke, who later told the Philadelphia Ledger, “We left Boston last Monday on what…
