By Andreea Waters Photo February 1, 2019

It’s Not Hard To Reach

Whiskey Weather, January 4, 2018, Rockaway Beach, NY, Surfer: Jordan Griska
Spring Fever, March 9, 2013, Rockaway Beach, NY. Surfer: Luke Allen
"Surfing is madenning. Yin and yang to extremes. Towns and countries. Locals and Vals. Summertime zoos and lonesome winters. Solo side missions and Instagram blowouts. Fake aloha spirits and shakes that are really a punch in the face. Drop-ins and hassles and stink eyes. Closeouts, onshore, and black balls. Poser fashion cunts in $120 board shorts. Way too much yin. Not enough yang. I fucking hate it. But I keep putting up with all the crap for those fleeting moments of awful bliss." (from Surf NYC) Tony Farmer, Storm Surfer, December 9, 2014 Rockaway Beach, NY
Times Square of surfing, 90th Street in Rockaway Beach. Yes, you can hitch a ride on the A-Train and surf in the city. Just like New York City, one of the most populous urban agglomerations and the culture capital of the world, the city surfer is everyone. It’s New York, a wealth of humanity and it is brilliant. Surfing Line Up, Rockaway Beach, NY, Aug 13, 2017
@kookoftheday, Rockaway Beach, NY, August 13, 2017
New Yorkers have been known for decades as a pane unto themselves. The photo of the purple-wetsuited surfer jogging by as another tries an ‘air’ in the background tweaks the norm of black wetsuits and uncrowded surf usually seen in magazines. Vividly abnormal, it murmurs strange breed these parts.” Derek Hynd (from Surf NYC), September 18, 2014 Lido Beach, NY, Surfer: Thaddeus O’Neil
90th Street, September 6, 2012. Rockaway Beach, NY
Nor’Easter, December 9, 2014, Rockaway Beach, NY, Surfer: Tony Farmer
Hurricane Hermine, September 5, 2016, Rockaway Beach, NY
Grayson Bomb Cyclone, January 4, 2018, Rockaway Beach, NY, Surfer: Russ Dungan

Photography by Andreea Waters

On a foggy, cold Friday in May 2012, I discovered Rockaway Beach. Driving over the bridge onto the peninsula put me in another world. Surrounded by concrete, dark shadows, and whispering winds, I wondered, who surfs here? While living in New York surfing stole my eyes and lured my photography to the beach. The idea of being an insider, photographing these transient moments and the desire to experience it was my sexy daydream.

May 25, 2012, Rockaway Beach, NY

New York surfing is mad. There is nothing easy about it. The waves are inconsistent, surf breaks are hard to access, winter brings the best waves and it is brutally cold. It takes a certain person to surf in the city. Surfing is a foreign language that one has to learn, as a photographer I had to immerse myself in the culture and the way of life to understand ocean and surfer—the beauty in the madness.

Johnny, July 29, 2018, Rockaway Beach, NY

In February 2016, Andreea Waters released her photography book titled, Surf NYC —a visual story and celebration of the unique spirit of New York’s ocean community.

Tags

NYC Rockaway Surf