A Conversation with Surfrider NYC's Rob Bailey

Long Island Secret Spot.
Photo Courtesy: Surfrider/Long Island

By Chris Dixon

In the mid-1980's, after the devastating Hurricane Gloria struck the coast of New York, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers began to study ways that such damage could be prevented in the future. The result of that study is today an $800 million-plus dollar plan that encompasses the entire coast of Long Island. The plan spends the bulk of its renourishment, artificial dunes, seawalls, groins and repairs to existing structures. It is also very controversial.

One part of the plan deals with an ambitious plan to completely remake the beach at Long Beach. A very popular surfing area that boasts some of the deepest barrels on the east coast, Long Beach would be heavily altered. The plan in Long Beach, for example would cost around $86 million. It would call for a new dune 15 feet above sea level along the entire back of the beach. (The existing boardwalk that runs along LB is 17 feet high). This dune would be 25 feet wide at the top and a full 75 feet at the bottom. Additionally, a 110 foot wide berm would be created ten feet above sea level and the beach would be filled up with sand dredged from offshore. New groins would also be added, and old ones would be repaired.

But a great deal of the sand that would come from offshore is contaminated, and should all the proposed sand be dredged, there could be serious, lasting detriment to the surf spots of Long Beach. And this is just the tip of the Army Corps' vast undertaking.

To find out more about this project, we spoke with Rob Bailey, head of the New York City Chapter of Surfrider. He offered a glimpse of what's really going on out on "Lawng Island" and urged that other New York surfers get involved. Nothing less than the future of your beaches is at stake. Click below to read on...