Surfing NYC: Waves in the concrete jungle

I eagerly check the surf forecast on Surfline.com tonight. It's looking perfect for Long Island and Brooklyn tomorrow. I go to bed dreaming of beach break barrels and awake at 5 a.m., well before the sun. Since I live on 12^th Street and First Avenue, I walk to the L train on 14^th Street and hop over the Eighth Avenue, where I wait patiently with my surfboard and wetsuit for the A train to arrive.

You'd be surprised at some of the looks you get when you are traversing the New York City subway with a surfboard. People ask me all the time what I am carrying, and I usually say "airplane wing." Awkward looks commence, and after that they leave me alone. Some people know, though, and they nod or they catch your eye. You can see that they wish they were you instead of heading downtown to work.

The train comes and I get on. It takes us past Canal Street, Fulton Street and into Brooklyn. Past Jay Street and Borough Hall; past Lafayette Avenue, Broadway Junction, Euclid Avenue, the Aqueduct, Howard Beach and the JFK AirTrain to the Broad Channel, where I get off and wait for the shuttle to take me to 90^th Street and Rockaway Beach, where I hope the surf will be as good as predicted.

The shuttle creaks to a stop, then moseys across the second half of Jamaica Bay and deposits me a few blocks from the ocean. I walk past some dilapidated buildings, tenements, NYHA apartment complexes and little beach cottages in just a few short steps. I cross Shore Front Parkway and climb up onto the boardwalk. I can barely see the jetty right off the beach but I know the surf is firing. I throw on my wetsuit and toss my backpack into the sand under the walkway. It is 4-6 feet and offshore and perfect. I know now that the hour and a half trek from the East Village in Manhattan to Rockaway Beach in Brooklyn has definitely been worth it.

The sun is just coming up as I make into the lineup and turn and catch my first wave. Another Manhattanite is paddling out and gives me a modest hoot for encouragement. I see 10 other people preparing to paddle out as I drop into this beautiful wave. This is surfing in New York City.