“No Rules Out There”: Surfing in the Concrete Jungle
Five urbanites reflect on what it means to be a surfer, a New Yorker, and the fine balance between both monikers.
For surfers of the Big Apple, Rockaway Beach is Eden.
The commute is relatively straight-forward: for the car-less New Yorker, the beach is completely accessible by the A Train, with or without a 9-foot longboard. The surfing is best during hurricane season after the summer beach-going surge wanes to nil. It’s also the only beach in the historically water-sport-unfriendly metropolitan area where surfers don’t face fines for their practice, although it depends where you paddle out. Against the incongruous concrete backdrop of New York City, a storied history paints Rockaway as a niche pocket of pure escape from urban hum-drum.
Recently, an unprecedented chapter in the tome of surfing writ large — the era of the pandemic surfer has opened the door for newcomers who otherwise needed the time, the community, or the inspiration to truly drop in. Rockaway is no exception, although many will attest it is certainly a unique scene and poses distinct questions for what it means to be a surfer — especially in New York City.
Tyler Tripler and Kieran Ruf, 22 and 20, respectively, both work at Saturdays NYC, a surf and lifestyle store on Crosby Street in SoHo. Over pizza in the store’s backyard garden, they shared insights on surfing Rockaway. “Sometimes, shit can get wacky,” Tripler explains. “There’s no rules out there.”
Tripler began surfing in earnest just over two years ago, when he was still a student at New York University attending a program in Los Angeles. Ruf grew up near the beach in Santa Cruz, “a ten minute walk and a five minute drive,” he says, and started surfing when he was 9 years old. He and Tripler concur that Rockaway has an “opportunist culture,” although Tripler finds the sentiment isn’t always ideal. “It’s for better or for worse,’’ says Tripler. “You have to make due with what you have out there.
“You can get a lot of people all vying for the same wave.” After a bite of pizza, Tripler adds, “plus all the kooks dropping in on people,” with a chuckle.
Jonathan Zanger of Cherry Hill, New Jersey, fits the image of a practical, savvy New Yorker more than a Venice beach-goer, but he embodies that same, unmistakable passion. “I totally get why it’s been described as heroin,” he shares.
Zanger, 39, says he dove headfirst into surfing as a pandemic hobby, joining a friend in morning sessions on the Jersey shore. In the 18 months since he started, he’s been on two surfing trips to Sayulita, Mexico, and Costa Rica. “There’s so many beautiful, difficult things about surfing, then when it comes together, it just feels like magic,” he muses.
Zanger is a tax lawyer based in Manhattan with a flexible schedule, and a car, so he’s able to swing the morning trek to Rockaway easier than most 9-to-5ers. However, the commitment is not without hardship. “It’s hard to be a consistent surfer here for at least two reasons: The first is the fact the East Coast doesn’t get consistent surfable waves, and two, being you have to drive for an hour to get to the ocean,” he explains. “The inconsistency of swells means that it’s not like you can go every day.”
“It’s not like waves are just going to appear.”
For Fred Sao, planning his weekly schedule is just part of the whole package. “Sure, the trip is long, but once you get out there, the weather is beautiful,” Sao, 23, reasons. “If you love this shit, you’ll do it no matter what you have to do.”
Sao, from Boston, Mass., moved to South Korea after his freshman year at NYU to serve in the army. When the pandemic hit, he remained in South Korea and found work teaching at a surf shop. Sao had only surfed at Rockaway a handful of times prior.
Now, back in Manhattan, Sao reckons he’s back to square-one. “It was so much harder to catch waves and actually perform the way I thought I did.”
Still, Sao isn’t deterred. “I feel like I still have a long way to go,” he says, “but considering that I want to be doing this for the rest of my life, I think I’ll take it slow.”
Sao isn’t alone in dedicating more of his life to the ocean; Yuya Sasaki, 31, is also becoming more regular. “Especially since last year,” he explains, “I became so into it. I don’t know why. Maybe Covid.
“I was thinking about my life, about everything, and I just changed.”
Sasaki moved from Tokyo to New York in 2017. Surfing Rockaway, compared to his former spot in Kanagawa, is like night and day. “I think that nobody talked to me, even though there were 200 people,” he remembers. “Here, if I get some good waves, I get compliments.”
Sasaki is prepared to follow surfing wherever it may take him. “I want to change my lifestyle, based on surfing. Now I’m based on working, but maybe one day I can open my hair salon near the ocean,” he says, wistfully. “Then when I have free time, I’ll just go surfing during the day.”
Sasaki smiles, then shakes his head. “I’m pretty tired right now,” he admits. He has every right to be tired; he’s been up since four in the morning. “But already I’m thinking, ‘I’m going to go surfing tomorrow.’”
