*Note: this was first written in July, when the first sentence was more accurate than it is now, amid a flat spell.

You know,the surf sure has been pretty good around here lately. It’s been so good, in fact, that you might find yourself thinking that New Jersey is actually a good place to be a surfer. These swells we’re having now, like any good run of waves, can lull you into some sense that the Jersey Juice can be as sweet as whatever nectar ol’ Poseiden squeezes out in more exotic locales.  And then, you travel.  

And that is when you realize how much New Jersey surf sucks.

 It happens every time I travel. I get off the plane, sleepless, frenzied, in whatever surf trip destination I’ve chosen, and catch my first wave. And the first thing that always hits me is – wow. This is what it’s REALLY supposed to be like. Big waves. Long waves. Waves that hold up and peel and let you do things to them. Not just beachbreak sandbar waves that you mainly just outrun, but groundswells, waves you can live with for a while, play with, practice on, sit in barrels wide enough to lay out a picnic blanket and stop for lunch.

 I’m not saying that we should not be proud. Au contraire, Jersey surfers. Proud we should be. 

But what we in New Jersey should be proud of is not how good our surf gets. What we should be proud of is ourselves, how good we are despite it, and all how we surf on – despite of how truly bad it is here. It’s not just the finicky waves or our lack of reefs and points. It’s the crowds, the rat race, the soul-sucking lifestyle, the pollution, the beach badge laws, the cold, the flat spells, the all around suckitude of it all.

All of that is what creates the other main thought that pops into my head every time I’m sitting in a lineup in some other exotic locale.  And that’s how downright EASY it is to be a surfer in other places — places like Puerto Rico or California, or Carolina, or, or, you name it.  

Often when I’m there, I look around at the people in the water and wonder to myself: “how many of these people would still be in the water if they lived in Jersey?” 

Not many, I think.  And that’s why we should be proud. We should be proud that we surf through all the crap we surf through. 

 We should be proud every time we hear a California wuss call 55 degree water “cold.” We should be proud when people laugh at our bureaucratic beach badge laws, our lifeguard blackballs, our history of pollution. Our finicky surf, our hit and run swells, our wave-killing geography, our cold winters, our high property taxes and cost of living that keeps us working, working working when we should be surfing, surfing, surfing.  

But we surf through it all. And THAT - that spirit -  is the real Jersey Juice. It’s not in the water. It’s running through our veins, bro. It’s in us. It is us. Be proud of that.