Waves of Strength Gets Stellar Waves; Potential for Open Space in Ship Bottom; Barbie’s Pink Milkshake Brings Ted Cruz to the Yard

By Jon Coen | on August 03, 2023

ACCESSIBLE ADVENTURE: Saturday’s surf was firing on the outside, as some 150 volunteers helped give children with special needs an adaptive surfing experience. (Photo by Jack Bushko)

Chances are that you’ve enjoyed something Barbie themed this week on LBI – some kind of pink milkshake, cupcake, ice cream or something else to celebrate this summer’s blockbuster that has earned Warner Brothers $775 million globally.

Late the other night, I sucked down a pink Barbie milkshake that someone left in the freezer. Not bad.

I haven’t seen the doll movie, partially because I couldn’t care less and partially because I don’t have a daughter – whom I would gladly take over to the Manahawkin Regal theater, if she wanted to see it. I won’t likely ever see that movie, despite how dreamy Ryan Gosling is.

I do imagine that somewhere in this country is a subset of Gen X men who have been eagerly anticipating the release of this film. And they will all gather with their like-minded friends, maybe wear something pink, and go see the Barbie movie among the little girls whom you see paddling out and charging summer waves on pink boards. You can call it strange, but I don’t judge them. Two guys going surfing in a blizzard are much bigger weirdos. And good for that adult Barbie fan. I really hope they enjoy it. That’s also three fewer people with complicated coffee orders in front of us in line to get a quick lunch on the Island.

But for me and everyone I know, male or female, we’re in the heat of the summer. We have several jobs and several summer side hustles, while trying to fit in surf sessions, a little clamming, watching LIT tournaments, venturing to a punk show and volunteering at awesome events where our community comes together. Plus, it has barely rained this summer. Add all that together and there’s really no way I am driving out by the Parkway to sit in a movie theater.

But you know who did have time to watch it?

Texas tough guy Ted Cruz.

Cruz literally suggests that Warner Brothers studio has been infiltrated by Chinese spies who worked propaganda into a film about a doll that will lead to the downfall of the American empire. Not just Ted, but a bunch of other grown-ass manly men who were very offended by this Greta Gerwig-directed film. Male rights activist and commentator Ben Shapiro made a 43-minute-long video that breaks down the whole film.

Because the best part of this whole thing is that in the middle of summer, when every dude in America can be on the beach, on a boat, mounting a horse, climbing a mountain, trekking across the Rockies, heading offshore for pelagic fish, spending time with his family or hanging those big, plastic testicles from their trailer hitches, these guys not only had time to go see the new Barbie movie but can’t wait to tell us about it.

WAVES OF STRENGTH: Last week, I wrote about how inspiring the Jetty Coquina and Litteneck Jams were. Well, this week, I want to talk about how inspiring it was to watch many of those same inspiring ladies and kids spend this past Saturday at the same beach, helping super-inspiring children with special needs to catch waves at the Waves of Strength event.

SMILE AND WAVE: Little surfer Madelyn Ristaino, 8, of Union Beach, with the help of a volunteer surfer, is given the gift of pure stoke during the Waves of Strength event. (Photo by Jack Reynolds)

This event, now in its fifth year, got 125 kids into the water. And all this happened during a window of really good waves.

“The 150 volunteers showed up and put smiles on the kids’ faces while the best waves of the summer rolled in. It was one of those summer days every surfer dreams of – chest high, reeling and warm water,” Rob Simek told me the day after the event. It was the largest to date.

“It was like God said, ‘You can choose to surf or help the kids.’ An army of surfers chose to pass the stoke on to the kids. There were countless smiles and high fives, wave after wave. We couldn’t do this without them. They make the world a better place.”

There are tons of great organizations that do wonderful things for children with disabilities. Beyond the ones that fund medical solutions or access, there are plenty of nonprofits that give kids an opportunity to participate in different activities through the summer. And there are countless volunteers who take kids to baseball games, amusement parks and other places where a child with challenges can enjoy what we take for granted.

TAKES A VILLAGE: Scores of volunteer surfers set aside their jaded dispositions to make the Waves of Strength event possible to pass on the joy of riding to those with special needs. (Photo by Jack Reynolds)

But while they make huge impacts, most doctors working on cures, charity fundraisers or volunteers on a field trip don’t understand the ocean as innately as surfers do. Therefore, those who spend their summer, or the whole year, in the waves are uniquely equipped to give kids that experience – to understand how the waves work enough to push them in, keep the board from nosediving and navigate the whitewater.

As I’ve written many times, surfing is a mostly selfish pursuit. But sharing it with someone who has some kind of hurdles in life is a great way to give back – almost a requisite for anyone who is healthy and fortunate enough to make surfing a part of their life.

I give a lot of credit to Rob and Lisa Simek, founders of Waves of Strength, as well as their friends and family. There are at least a dozen organizations that offer a surf experience for veterans, at-risk youth, paraplegics, and children with all sorts of challenges that happen in New Jersey each summer. But they’ve built a phenomenal nonprofit on LBI, raising money and giving some of these families a much-needed day at the beach. Watching a kid who struggles sitting on a board or standing up while gliding forward is about as stoked as you can get. And surfers, who can be a jaded bunch, seem to put all of that aside every year, coming out and showing these families so much positivity.

Simek also mentioned there are still some Waves of Strength T-shirts and wax for anyone who wants them. You can send a message to @wavesofstregth on Insta.

“I want to give a special thanks to all donors and sponsors,” said Simek. “Our main event sponsor was Surf City Marina. The food was donated by Maristella’s Luncheonette, the Mermaid Room and Agnello’s Market.”

GETTING AFTER IT: Unknown surfer in the pocket on last weekend’s south swell. (Photo by Marc Halikas)

WAVES OF CONSISTENCY: I’m not quite sure what was better, the waves on Saturday or the cool, dry air that came in behind Saturday night’s front. The surf was pretty unreal, but the relief from the unrelenting humidity was pretty nice as well. Good surfing conditions are nice, but so are good sleeping conditions. We’ll take those low dew points any day.

The summer of 2023 has yet to see a head-high wave, so by that metric, we can’t really call it an amazing season. But, there’s still another month, and this summer has kept us satisfied with plenty of ridable surf and pretty warm water.

As for the water temp thing, I want to take full responsibility for not having better prepared everyone for that little upwelling event we had late last week. The ocean was 75 before it took a noted plummet to 64 on Saturday. I wasn’t aware the south wind would blow so hard like that for so long. At any rate, it wasn’t terrible. And when the beach and streets are that hot, a good cool-down isn’t the worst thing in the world. Moreover, it’s nothing like that icy summer water of 2022. As of Monday, the water was still chilly. The more-easterly winds we’re having now should warm it back up, but beware a similar upwelling by Friday.

There weren’t any named storms or strange southern hemisphere swells in the water this week, but that sticky, gross hot weather pattern was at least good for some decent south swell, thanks to interaction with that Bermuda high-pressure system that takes over in the summer.

The run of surf began Friday morning with some knee- to waist-high longboard waves, fun until the south wind blew it out. But that same south wind helped build up the surf all day, and Saturday morning was easily one of the best days of the summer.

Dawn patrol wasn’t too good, on account of the early high tide. But as the tide drained, there were solid waist- to chest-high lines with shoulder-high sets in straight offshore winds. Sometimes these swells look good on paper but wind up having a funk. For that mid-morning through early-afternoon stretch on Saturday, it was almost flawless summer surf out there. The water was chilly, but nothing to complain about with a light wetsuit or top.

The forecast called for the wind to possibly switch back and forth in the afternoon, but unfortunately, it went south again and shredded the surf. The incoming tide certainly didn’t help for the evening. Then that front came through Saturday night with a few spritzes of rain, a dramatic sunset and a rainbow for good measure.

Sunday was interesting but never came together all that great. The way the front came through, there was more north than northwest in the wind, which created that side-hatch on the face, making it really tough to surf, even though there was still plenty of swell. The wind turned to a lighter east midday, giving us the best conditions. The swell was waning, but the loggers made quick work of it. Hard winds in the evening pretty much blew it out for the day.

GIRL POWER: Steff Mags pushing down the line last weekend. (Photo by Marc Halikas)

Monday morning was small, but again, once that tide drained out, we had super-clean little lines. The wind stayed pretty light most of the day.

WAVES OF POTENTIAL: There seems to be a good chance that we will have waves, but mostly onshore winds to end the work week. I highly recommend checking the surf if we get a northeast blow. If there’s enough size, these swells can serve up some punchy against-the-grain rights. That’s mostly for shortboarders as logs don’t fit too well in the chop. The southeast blows are mostly junk.

The big story this week will be the tropical Invest 97L that has inched up from the equator. As The SandPaper went to publish, this was on its way to becoming a tropical depression with a chance of becoming Tropical Storm Emily, our fifth named storm of the year.

Now, while we always appreciate a storm that doesn’t make landfall, we could use this one to come a little closer to our coast. But so long as we’re not sitting in bridge traffic evacuating the Island, we will take it.

We should start seeing some of the forerunners of this swell arrive on Wednesday. The problem late week is that we’re going to have another couple of days of those horrid south winds, fortunately not as hot as last week, but it won’t do our wave quality any favors. It should certainly help to build the swell and break up the long-period tropical energy. Everything will hinge around when the front comes through, but at some point this weekend, the surf should get very good.

OPEN SPACE: Imagine a world where a town sees the value in procuring land that is for sale and protecting it for the public instead of developing it into investment homes that get used three months out of the year.

That magical land could be Ship Bottom.

Long Beach Township and Barnegat Light already have an open space tax that puts a few dollars in the piggy bank for when one such property might become available. Folks in Beach Haven narrowly voted it down a few years back.

At last week’s Ship Bottom borough meeting, Mayor Huelsenbeck proposed adding the choice of an open space tax to the ballot for this November’s election, which was met with mostly positive support from his council with one “I could be talked into it” attitude.

If this was to make the ballot and folks were to vote for it, the town would add a penny to the tax rate. I needed this explained to me, too, but your property value assessment is different than a real estate assessment, so essentially if your house is worth about $1 million on the market, which near every property on the Island now is, you would pay about $70 a year more in taxes. The town could pool that money and put a down payment on a big site, then use any variation of state grants to pay off the rest.

As per the town of Ship Bottom: “The townwide average assessment is around $670,000 so on a house valued at that assessed value, a penny would mean $67.00 in open space taxes that would be levied to the homeowner. The Open Space Tax would be itemized on the bill. The money would accumulate in an open space trust fund until such time as the Borough would decide how the money will be utilized within the Borough’s Open Space Plan created by the Borough’s Open Space Committee. Grants may come into play if they are available. There also are sometimes opportunities to partner with non-profit groups.”

The result could be a park or other open public space that we could all use, instead of seeing it become condos or identical houses that help a developer purchase another helicopter or whatever the hell those guys do with all the money they’ve made here in the last decade.

I would support this anywhere on LBI. I have no doubt that some people who own property worth $1 million in a beach town will complain about their taxes being raised, even slightly. So, just for the fun of it, I made a list of what $70 would get you in Ship Bottom.

• Six packs of candy sushi and a theater box of Jelly Belly jellybeans.

• One pastry platter and a regular coffee.

• One pair of name brand surf trunks.

• Three burgers with three orders of fries and three milkshakes.

• One seasonal beach badge and one weekly beach badge.

• One appetizer and a steak from a hotel restaurant.

It really seems like the benefits outweigh the cost. There will be a special Ship Bottom meeting on Aug. 9 at borough hall.

HEADLONG INTO AUGUST: Somehow, it’s August. We may be on track to have the fastest summer ever. And while anyone who’s around even part time after the big Labor Day blowout is very much looking forward to Local Summer, we’ll all be doing our best to make the most of regular old summer.

PICKIN’, PADDLIN’: Stop in South-End Surf ’N Paddle Tuesday nights for free ukulele lessons.

Tonight (Wednesday) Jetty, Olokai and Farias host the Land & Sea Luau at the Farias Ship Bottom store, 4-8 p.m., that will include a smoked pig, Hawaiian shave ice and roasted oysters. This is open to the public, and all are encouraged to wear their best luau attire.

Next Monday, Des & The Swagmatics return to Bird & Betty’s for Surf Night presented by Farias at 9 p.m. This one is supported by Volcom, so expect some very cool giveaways.

Tuesday nights are now ukulele lessons at South-End Surf ’N Paddle taught by team rider and surf instructor Hansen O’Connor. This is free and open to anyone who wants to learn a song. No experienced required.

Alliance for a Living Ocean has its 15th annual LBI Longboard Classic on Aug. 12. All of the slots are full for the men’s, kids and tandem divisions. There are a few spots left for the women’s if any females are interested. This is one of the most fun days of the year for many families, and it’s free to attend, even if you’re not surfing.

August has a way of reminding us that summer’s days are numbered. Go get in the water. Go bodysurfing.

Go crazy.

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