Making waves in the Rockaways: Surfers defend their turf

Nearly every week for five years, Shawn Herman tested the water off Rockaway Beach for Enterococcus, a bacterium originating in fecal matter that often causes severe illnesses. He would arrive at the beach early in the morning, long before the lifeguards took their posts. The only people he'd see in the water were diehards in wetsuits, looking to catch waves with their 7-foot fiberglass boards.

Herman would always go to the same spot near Beach 90th Street and collect water samples in five sterilized vials, into each of which he would add a droplet of Enterolert, a chemical used to detect Enterrococcus. After incubating the samples for 24 hours, he would examine them beside an ultraviolet light. If a vial glowed a bright, brilliant blue, it meant that the sample was infected. When all five vials glowed, as they often did in the summer months between 2002 and 2005, the water probably contained high levels of bacteria.

"In the end," Herman explained, "it became obvious that once the water passed a particular [temperature] threshold, and stayed above that threshold for a particular time, that's when you saw high levels of bacteria."

But despite the regularity of his schedule and the precision of his methods, Herman did not have the authority to close a beach if he found high levels of bacteria in the water. This is because he is not an employee of the United States Environmental Protection Agency or the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation. Shawn Herman is a surfer.

Herman, a 40-year-old marketing and communications specialist, was just one volunteer in a nationwide "Blue Water Task Force" organized by the Surfrider Foundation. Surfrider began in 1984 as a small group of surfers in Malibu, California; today the foundation has more than 50,000 members in 80 American chapters, clearly demonstrating a new trend on surf beaches throughout the country.

From Ridgemont High’s resident surfer-dude Jeff Spicoli (“All I need is some tasty waves, a cool buzz, and I’m fine”) to "Point Break’s" Buddhist bank robber Bodhi (“Feel what the wave is doing, then accept its energy”), surfing is most often depicted as a drug-addled youth culture, seasoned with a pinch of Eastern mysticism. But older surfers with an activist bent — and full-time jobs — are increasingly prominent, from coast to coast.

The Long Beach, California Surfrider chapter is leading an effort to restore the harbor's natural shore by removing an artificial breakwater originally built to protect a naval shipyard that closed in 1997. Throughout Florida, Surfrider members are working to expand access to the state's beaches. On the Rockaways, many surfers are currently advocating for an extension of New York State's 5-cent deposit on beer and soda containers to include bottled water. Surfrider's New York City chapter is also coordinating opposition to the proposed construction of a liquefied natural gas facility off the city's coast.

As Chris Wade, Surfrider's New York City chapter chair, put it, "You can’t be a surfer and not be a passionate person, and that passion is increasingly translated into environmental action—literally around the world."

Wade has become a familiar presence on Rockaway's beaches. He was an active participant at surf-related events held in mid-June, directing Surfrider's volunteers with confidence and authority. A clue as to where he'd picked up the disciplined leadership skills was provided by the tattoo on his arm: a bulldog baring its teeth, and the acronym "U.S.M.C."

Between 1984 and 1988, Wade served in the United States Marine Corps as an enlisted solider; from 1994 to 1999, he was an infantry and operations officer. After leaving the Marines, Wade enrolled in Duke University's master's program in history. He moved to New York City in 2002, and became an English teacher. "I hate New York and I was trying to make my peace with it," Wade said. "So, I thought, 'At least there's an ocean!' " He decided to try surfing, picking up a board for the first time at the age of 35.

Wade, now 42 and a personal trainer, began his involvement with Surfrider by organizing local teenagers to clean up Rockaway's beaches. Last year, he was elected chair of Surfrider's New York City chapter. His duties as chair included organizing Surfrider's International Surfing Day event on June 20. The event's centerpiece was a noon "paddle out," during which Wade and other surfers rode their boards out into the water and unfurled a banner that garnered applause among many of those watching from the beach.

The banner read "NO LNG," a reference to the proposal to build an 86-acre island 13 miles off the coast of Rockaway Beach to receive, store and regasify liquified natural gas ("LNG"). The project, called Safe Harbor Energy, was initiated by a privately-held energy company called the Atlantic Sea Island Group. While it is still early in the development and approval process, opposition to the proposal — which opponents refer to as "Insanity Island" — has grown steadily, especially among Rockaway's surfers.

At first, many surfers were concerned that the island would create a "wave shadow" and disrupt surf conditions, but they soon realized that this was extremely unlikely. "I’ve occasionally heard surfers say that," Wade said, "and they’re immediately corrected." Wade is more concerned about the island's potential environmental impact, especially given the "modest improvements" that he and others have noted recently in New York's seaside ecosystem.

Among those improvements is the return of harbor seals to New York's shores in 2001 after a decades-long absence, something that surfers were among the first to notice. Steffen Zellinger, a 50-year-old Surfrider member who works as a video archivist for MTV Networks, remembers the first time he encountered a harbor seal on Rockaway: "I remember for sure I was in rubber, like serious rubber: 4/3 at least," he said. Zellinger was referring to the wetsuit he was wearing at the time, 4 millimeters thick at the torso, and 3 millimeters at the limbs. Suits that thick are only worn when water temperatures drop into the 50s, as they often do in the fall and winter—peak season for seals, but decidedly off-season for recreational beachgoers.

Unlike city residents who come to Rockaway a handful of times a summer and spend a few minutes in the water, surfers are in the water year-round, and often for hours at a time. "I would say that surfers are like canaries in the coal mine," Wade said. "They’re really connected to the ocean environment."

According to Wade, the biggest improvement that surfers have noticed has been to water quality. In recent years, Surfrider's testing showed a dramatic drop in the Enteroccocus level of the water near Rockaway's shores. "Even after rain storms, the readings were coming back 'Green,' 'Green,' 'Green,' " Wade said. As a result, Surfrider's New York City chapter decided to suspend water testing in late 2007.

As Wade noted, surfers are often quiet about their hobby: they don't want more people to come out and crowd their beaches. However, Wade said, "When their environment is threatened, they speak with one voice."