Liquid Lines
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•July 13, 2016
Small Surf Is Way Better Than No Surf
Apparently, if you want to learn how to surf, LBI is the place. This summer, we’re seeing flyers, ads and postcards for surf instructions pretty much everywhere. There are surf lessons, SUP lessons…
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•July 6, 2016
Celebrating Straight Pride in Fabulous Fashion, 4th of July by the Numbers and Fun, Little Waves on the Island
I sure hope everyone is enjoying the incredible start to July. I am not sure if you are aware of this, but Gay Pride Month just came to an end. It happens to be kind of a big deal in New York City…
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•June 29, 2016
Seagull Pillows, a Big Win at the Cape to Cape and Fun Summer Surf
Have you noticed how many small businesses are popping up around the Island lately? All this local love! Hand made. Organic. And how many of them are putting back into our community? It’s awesome.
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•June 22, 2016
How About That Weekend? A Look at the Tropical Forecast, Replenishment Rundowns and Shapefest in Beach Haven
Most holidays, I find myself in the greeting card aisle, picking through what’s left of the inventory. Every Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day and Easter Sunday, it never fails. I wait until the last…
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•June 16, 2016
This Saturday’s Board Swap: Good Bartering, Good Laughs and Old Boards, Plus Surf Rundown and Busy Weekend
When I was a senior, a kid whom I surfed with brought a gun to school.
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•June 8, 2016
Yes, It Is Here, the Season of Wearing Trunks in the Ocean
Trunks. Boardshorts. Bathing suits. Bikinis. Baggies. Whatever you call them, whatever you wear, they make summer a whole lot more … “summer.”
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•June 2, 2016
LBI’s Best Nicknames From Sugar Bear to Stinkin’ Steve and Petey the Wrench.
“Yo, call Rainman and Dingus. Cumby’s is strobing. Uncle Ronnie’s been on it since dawn.”
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•May 25, 2016
Locals and Visitors: See Both Species in the Same Habitat This Weekend, Plus Bay Access in Cedars and Burying the Queen
If you want to understand the difference between locals and visitors to LBI, this is about the best time of the year for viewing both species in the same habitat. In fact, I’m even going to give you…
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•May 18, 2016
Weather Weirdness: Ironic 200th Anniversary of the Year with No Summer; Events Heating Up – Waves and Water, Not So Much
Well, I sure hope you’re as excited as we are to see the first Section2 of 2016. When the paper starts to fatten up and the sounds of pickleball return, you know the season is almost here. Businesses…
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•May 4, 2016
Thoughts from Atop the New Bridge and Paddling Through the Currents of Proposed Non-Motorized Bay Launch Fee
I’ll admit, I was kind of expecting a little more.
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•April 20, 2016
Is It the ‘End’ for the Best Surfer of All Time? Plus, Northerly Swells, Warming Trends and the Death of Beach Haven’s Jetties
I’ve thought about writing this column a few times over the years and frankly, I’m glad I waited. It may still be too early. In fact, I hope that at some point down the line, this turns out to all be…
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•April 6, 2016
Weather or Waves, Things Always Get Screwy in the Spring
In 1876, Mark Twain, aka Samuel Clemons, gave a speech at the New England Society’s annual dinner about the weather in the Northeast, which if we are not a part of, then very close to.
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•March 23, 2016
Celebrating a Victory for Our Ocean and Yet More Waves to Round Out Winter
I don’t know about you, but I slept a little easier the past week. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that we won’t be waking up one gorgeous summer morning to a sea of black crude lapping up…
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•March 8, 2016
Preserving Town Character and Pondering So Much Swell This Season
Given the current political circus big top, you may find it difficult to catch the stories that happen on the periphery, but there was some noise made lately about consolidating little New Jersey…
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•February 24, 2016
For a Somewhat Typical Winter, There Sure Is a Lot Happening ‘Round Here
Winter can be long and harsh here on LBI, and you might say these last few weeks have been typical. I called three year-round restaurants on Monday at lunch before finding one that was open. Our…
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•February 11, 2016
A Deadbeat to Make America Great Again and Plenty of Swell from an El Niño-Fueled Winter
This is New Jersey. We say what we mean. For anyone who has spent considerable time on the West Coast, you’ve borne witness to this phenomenon. Folks around the country, especially California, will…
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•January 27, 2016
Shaking Off the Blizzard of 2016 and the Bombing Surf That Came With It
Do you ever wonder what the rest of the world thinks when they watch the news about New Jersey?
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•January 13, 2016
A Bunch of Crappy Resolutions for 2016 and Saying Farewell to the Longest Fall Ever
So, we’re two weeks into this new year and I have been actively keeping up with all my resolutions. Wanna hear about them?
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•December 16, 2015
Looking Back on Another Good Year of Waves, Good People, and Law for the Better
It was August, about 15 years ago. There was a southeast swell, a bit disorganized, but decent for summer. I was surfing early morning in Harvey Cedars with a few guys that I worked with in a…
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•December 2, 2015
If There Are Really Two Americas, That Glorious Holiday Weekend Proved it
Perhaps you have heard the saying that “there are two Americas.”
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•November 25, 2015
Jetty Clam Jam Fell on Weekday, But It Was a Good Call
Young kids and dogs roamed the beach under blue skies and unseasonably warm weather in Harvey Cedars. The waves were pumping; the music was playing. Friends and families sat on the beach and caught…
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•November 18, 2015
Falling Into a Nice Pattern of Autumn Waves and Resisting the ‘Athletic Leisurewear’ Trend
I can’t believe I’m doing this. Am I really doing this?
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•November 4, 2015
A So-So Swell Generated in the Most Unlikely of Places and a Look at Some Snow Gear
Well, this has been an interesting week, full of home runs, inspiring performances and a lot of emotion. And I couldn’t even tell you who was in the World Series.
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•October 21, 2015
Why Beach Access Issues Matter and a Fall That Is Falling Away
Two weeks ago in Liquid Lines, I reported on a situation in Deal, where the town was considering limiting parking on the streets nearest the beach to permit only from May to October. The kicker was…
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•October 7, 2015
A Couple of Stormy Weeks Behind Us That Could Have Been Much Worse, Plus the Impending Surf Cleanup
I know it sounds strange to say that after such a miserable run of weather events, with pretty much everyone in Southern Ocean County totally pissed off after the weekend, but our Island is still…
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•September 30, 2015
Trying Not to Use the Lord’s Name in Vain While the Pope Is in Town, Despite the Blustery Weather
The motion in the ocean, if not giving us a whole lot of clean surf, has certainly given us plenty to talk about over the past, well … let’s see, what is it,12 days now? And plenty to curse about.
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•September 23, 2015
Gearing Up for an Extended Nor’easter, Makers Made It and the Sand Sitch in Beach Haven
And just like that, the hammer fell on summer.
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•September 16, 2015
Photo Ops on the Wrong Side of History, Slatergate, Surprise Swell and Falling into Fun Times Ahead
Most surfers have a pretty keen interest in geography. When you’re on the constant search for better waves, more swell or less crowded water, you get to poring over maps. I’ve always been interested…
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•September 9, 2015
A September That Didn’t Start Out Very ‘Septemberish,’ Plus That Windy Labor Day Weekend, Bath Water Warm, and a Welcomed Fall
There’s a Four Seasons hotel in the Maldives, a nation of small islands in the Indian Ocean, that runs a very elite surfing event called the Maldives Surfing Championship Trophy. Each year, they…
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•September 2, 2015
Flowery Prose on Hurricane Swell, Plus a Look Back on a Pretty Good Summer
Thousands of miles away, warm, moist air forms over the ocean and rises, leaving a lack of pressure below it, which is replaced by cooler air that quickly warms and also rises. Now it’s a party. Cue…
