Liquid Lines
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•November 17, 2020
Important News Buried in Wild Year, More Tropic Topics and Famous Boards Visit LBI
(Light smattering of applause, some faint cheering through masks.)
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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 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 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 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 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 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 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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•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 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 12, 2020
Conspiracy Crazed Summer, Waves of Strength Spreads Good Vibes and the Calm Before the Storms
I found out that you can order a lab coat on Amazon for $14. Stethoscopes run from $25 to $80. Figure on another $17 for a pair of glasses that make you look smart. (Don’t really need the lenses.)
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•August 9, 2020
Quest for Coffee Brings Island to Its Knees, Wonderful Weekend Waves and a Hurricane We Can’t Pronounce
I will admit to being a little caught off guard by this hurricane whose name I still cannot pronounce (ees-ah-EE-ahs, from what I am told.) However, I am more caught off guard by the fact that folks…
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•July 27, 2020
Skills and Experience Gained Through Surfing Are Useless to the Rest of the World … Except in This Case
One of my friends has surf journals going back 15 years. He has recorded, charted and studied his observations of the ocean every day. Another friend wakes up early pretty much every morning, goes to…
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•July 9, 2020
Local Surf Gets Fun as Traffic Backs Up, Summer Heats Up
Your face is beet red. Your eyebrows bleached blond. You passed out exhausted the other night while there was still a faint pink hue in the sky. Your shoulders are sore from all the paddling, and…
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•July 2, 2020
Kids Who Lost Out On High School High Jinks Looking at a Wild Summer
I want to throw a fist bump, a shaka or some kind of elbow bash (“whatever you’re comfortable with,” as we say in 2020) to the teenagers who were riding waves on a big, inflatable rubber ducky on…
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•June 27, 2020
Are Warm Surf Temps the Best News? In 2020, You Take What You Can Get
OK, hold on to your hat – your ultra-tech full-brimmed vented fishing hat, Boston-style scallycap, Banana Republic straw fedora, Gillgan-style bucket hat, vintage-washed pastel crossed-oars cap or…
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•June 20, 2020
‘Al Fresco’ – Did Outdoor Seating Go From Outlawed to Welcomed in a Few Short Years?
Does anyone remember that little joint Ravioli & More in Ship Bottom? It closed about three years ago. Tiny place, like a shoebox. Maybe two dozen people could sit in there at a time. Almost felt…
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•June 11, 2020
Decade’s Worth of Unusual Events in Single Week; Try to Keep Up
Last Wednesday, a personal weather station on a Brant Beach home recorded a 101-mph gust of wind. Beach Haven had an official weather station recording of 93 mph. It took down limbs and entire trees…
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•June 3, 2020
How Do You Write a Surf Column When the World Is Ablaze?
It’s usually a pretty good month around here, as we enjoy an energetic bustle between the long months of late winter that seem to get later each year and the full blast of summer. Waves arrive to…
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•May 21, 2020
The Other Effect of the Pandemic and an Early Tropical Storm
A pandemic, a tropical storm and a summer holiday weekend walk into a bar ….
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•April 16, 2020
How to Fit in With the Locals If You’re Second-Home Quarantining, Plus Surf and Beach Closure Ethics in Time of Crisis
I don’t know why everyone is making such a big deal about a shortage of gloves. As far as I can see, they are all over. Just go grab a pair off the street, out of the parking lot or off the beach. I…
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•April 2, 2020
Pandemic and Perspectives: Surfing Intertwined With Virus and Social Responsibility
Have you gotten this email yet? Subject: COVID 19 UPDATE
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•March 19, 2020
The Great Quarantine of 2020: Living in the Age of Misinformation
Well, it has been quite a week. And whenever we have one of these weeks that changes the course of history we sure do learn a lot.
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•March 5, 2020
Don’t Get Bamboozled or Run Amuck in March, Cold War Waiting Period Begins
www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0wGaY22tyQ&feature=youtu.be
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•February 22, 2020
Do We Need Dramatic Digital Detox Vacations, or Can We Just Turn Off Our Phones?
Sometimes I don’t know how I would write my column if it weren’t for stupid marketing emails. From motorized surfboard fins to something called “Bosom Culture Boob Glue,” I’ve used press releases…
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•February 5, 2020
Sunday Surfs, Mild Temps and All the Hubbub Over a Gay Curriculum
I have a feeling this week’s intro is going to make me some enemies. Funny how that happens when you’re on the side of love and understanding.
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•January 22, 2020
Correcting a Very Unwintry Winter of Warm-Day Swells
I know there were some folks grumbling about this winter’s lack of … winter.
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•January 8, 2020
Liquid Lines’ Off The Wall Predictions for 2020 and Beyond
Happy New Year and welcome to the first Liquid Lines of the new decade. Just a warning: I may have a hard time adjusting to the ’20s, being as I’m still stuck in the well, the ’90s in my head.Black…
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•December 11, 2019
Wrapping Up 2019: How Many Miles Did You Surf?
Well, it seems the holidays are certainly racing up on us right now. Has anyone else thought of using their CVS receipts to trim the tree?
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•November 27, 2019
A Motorized Fin Could Make Surf Paddling Easier, But What’s the Point?
Earlier this month I got a promotional email from a fledgling company called Boost Surfing. Now to be honest, my first thought was a strange connection to Boost!, the super-sweet soft drink that came…
