Life is What Happens
By Lisa Zaslow Segelman
My husband and I raised our kids with more than a dropper-full of reality. As much as they loved their hobbies and dreamed of playing center field for the Yankees or Phillies, we suggested they choose a more realistic, yet still satisfying path; one that would make a living.
For local surfer Mark Neustadter, combining a living and a life in surfing proved to be a challenge. From a young age, the Margate native (see Senior Surfing Dudes, Sept. 5 edition of Shore Local) always knew that he wanted to “do what he loved,” but how do you make a living out of catching waves?
At a well-attended event at Ventnor Coffee last Wednesday evening as part of a Surfrider Foundation meeting, Neustadter shared his surfing life story and his contributions as a photographer to a book titled, “I Heard There Were No Waves in New Jersey: Surfing on the Jersey Shore 1888-1984,” by Danny Dimauro and Johan Kugelberg.
The coffee table book, which came out in March, has been described as a “love letter to the beaches and boardwalks of the Jersey Shore,” and the first visual history of the much-loved surf culture on the southern New Jersey coast.
“The book is an eye-opener because people don’t necessarily think of New Jersey as a hot spot to surf,” said Neustadter. “Hawaii and California have always had top surfing billing in the U.S., but the reality is that a surfing culture developed in N.J., and other areas of the East Coast, that has had a measurable impact on the history of the sport.”
According to Surfline, a comprehensive source for New Jersey surf reports and surf cams, New Jersey gets a bad rap when it comes to surfing, but their position is that if you can tap into a good hurricane swell 500 to 1,000 miles offshore, a good day of surfing awaits, even in New Jersey.
There are stats to back that viewpoint. According to Statista, an online data gathering platform, New Jersey is one of the top states in the country for surfing. Behind California with 403 surf spots, Hawaii with 267, and Florida with 155, New Jersey comes in fourth with a whopping 82 surf spots dotting its 130 miles of coastline.
Unlike in other states, riding waves off the Jersey Shore isn’t for the faint of heart. In these waters, good waves are less consistent, but the weather has a harsher temperament, and wave forecasting can be unpredictable.
“I Heard There Were No Waves in New Jersey: Surfing on the Jersey Shore 1888-1984” includes photos from the New Jersey Surf Museum, the New Jersey Surfing Hall of Fame, plus photos from private collections like Neustadter’s.
Neustadter was inducted into the New Jersey Surfing Hall of Fame in 2017 and this past January he was inducted into the East Coast Surfing Hall of Fame for his contributions to helping the industry reach the level of popularity it enjoys today. “It was such an honor to be included,” said Mark.
For Neustadter, becoming a proficient surfer on the Jersey Shore presented opportunities and challenges.
“My whole life changed when we moved to an oceanfront house in Margate at Fredericksburg Avenue and the Beach when I was 8 years old,” said Neustadter. “Suddenly my backyard was the ocean and the beach.”
At 10-11 years old, before Neustadter and his friends had their own boards, the older kids would lend them their surfboards. As a way to show his appreciation, Neustadter convinced his parents to let his friends store their boards at his house.
“My parents got me my own board and my friend Dan Mittleman’s parents gifted me a Super 8 film camera,” Neustadter said. Childhood friend Lou Solomon asked for the same bar mitzvah gift, which panned out as to this day, both still surf, sometimes together.
Once Neustadter wrote his thank you note for the surfboard, he surfed, surfed, and surfed. He began winning competitions and photographing his friends engaged in the sport.
Neustadter’s love of surfing took a professional turn early on when he joined the Reef Surf Shop Team, one of the best teams on the East Coast. He got a job at the Reef Surf Shop and realized he excelled at sales.
Between school, work at the shop and surfing during his free time, Neustadter placed second two years in a row at the Eastern Surfing Association Championship at Cape Hatteras, N.C., in the Juniors Division, and at the U.S. Championship in Huntington Beach, Calif., in 1972 and 1973, where he took third place.
In his youth, Neustadter was also a factory team sponsored rider with Challenger East Surfboards, and later on met Jim Jenks, the founder of Op (Ocean Pacific), and Bill Yerkes who owned Sundek. These legends helped guide him to his future career.
In his first action sports job after college, Neustadter established, developed and pioneered Rip Curl USA, where he managed sales, marketing and advertising, working with team riders and future World Champs Tom Carroll, Wayne “Rabbit” Bartholomew and Tom Curren. Mark’s career in surfing had officially begun. In the mid-1980s Neustadter started his own sales agency based in Margate which served customers from Miami to Maine.
Surfing, photography and sales all blended to define the next 50 years of his life. In the warm and much-loved environment of Ventnor Coffee, Neustadter gathered with more than 30 surfing aficionados, many of whom knew each other well.
Abraham Paskowitz, a member of the legendary Paskowitz surfing family who ran a West Coast surf camp for decades, was in attendance. Currently the managing director of Isurus, a wetsuit company, Paskowitz said he came all the way from California to support the lecture and book-signing. “I like the book, and I like cold water! It sells wetsuits,” said Paskowitz.
During his talk, Neustadter took the group through photos that included surfer Dan Mittleman’s Absecon Island surfing photos from the ’60s and his own photos from the ’70s and ’80s.
“The authors began the book project six or seven years ago,” said Mittleman. “Many of these surfers have passed away. I contributed to the book because I wanted their families to see the photos of their parents and friends and share my sense of nostalgia.”
Neustadter was able to identify all of the people in his photos, from world famous surfers to local surfers whom many in the audience remembered or knew.
Entertaining nicknames like “Dog,” “Flame,” “Buzzy,” and “Soup Bowl” and “The Sultan of Speed” were what us non-surfers expected to hear as surfing has one of the richest lingos of any sport, much of which has seeped into mainstream slang – think “Hang Ten,” “Hang Loose” and “Cowabunga,” which was the “Yahoo!” phrase of the early surfing days.
The book’s title, ”I Heard There Were No Waves in New Jersey: Surfing on the Jersey Shore 1888-1984,” is about the entire state, but it centers on Absecon Island. “It’s our story,” says Mark. “Of course locals here love the emphasis on their own surf.”
How can we not? Mark even formed a group in the 1970s called “The Steel Pier Surf Riders” who performed a couple of times a day next to the iconic and much-loved pier.
When he’s not surfing, Mark works as a Realtor at Soleil Sotheby’s International in Margate where the waves attract both surfers and non-surfers looking for a shore property. Like surfers, many have the dream of one day living near the ocean and the bay. You could make the case that the waves still help Mark make a living and a life.
Mark’s induction to the two Halls of Fame, and his photo contributions to the book aside, he’s most proud to be a member of the Absecon Island surfing community.
“We’re known for doing what we love, loving what we do, and for having too much fun. Who wouldn’t want to be a part of that?”
Lisa is an advertising copywriter (think ‘Madmen’ without the men), journalist and columnist. Claim to fame: Lou’s waitress for four teenage summers. For column comments, story ideas, or to get on her “quote” list for future columns: redshoeslzs@gmail.com
