Difficult Concept (pic)

In the Vol. 19, #3 issue of The Surfer's Journal, there is an article titled "Jersey Before Foam". It's a recollection of surfing in New Jersey written by Gordon "Mike" Howes. I found this paragraph interesting...

"Duke & Blake

In the summer of 1937, my buddy Stretch Pohl and I went to see a surfing demonstration by Duke Kahanamoku and Tom Blake down at Atlantic City steel pier. Stretch was ten years older and had a car. There was a huge crowd and we did not get a chance to actually talk to Duke or Tom, but their surfing made a great impression on us. I always thought it possible to ride a surfboard on New Jersey's waves and their demonstration proved it. This was a somewhat difficult concept for many East Coasters to understand. Even in the 1960s my son still had people telling him it wasn't possible to surf in New Jersey."

As a Great Lakes surfer, those last couple sentences sound all too familair (not that we care). I wonder if, 50 years from now, we'll be saying "Even in the 2000s my son still had people telling him it wasn't possible to surf in the Midwest"?

Looks suspiciously like surfiing, no?

Brian Stabinger going left in Duluth, Minnesota. Photo: Bob Tema