NJ Surfing Trailblazers Set To Reunite

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Original Kiernan Surfers Popularized The Sport On The Jersey Shore

By Jay Cook
The year 1965 changed the way surfing was viewed on the Jersey Shore.
Picture the scene: empty Volkswagen Bugs and Ford Woody Wagons lined down Kiernan Boulevard in Long Branch, as their passengers move in waves to Kiernan Beach, which would become the most prolific break for New Jersey surfing. Bonfires, music and surfboards are equally scattered across the beach as surfers, both young and old, share their one beloved hobby.
To the generation of surfers who became familiar with this scene summer after summer, the Kiernan Surfing Association was a treasured second home.
“It’s an iconic surf spot, and has been for 50 years,” said Gary Germain of Rumson, president of the New Jersey Surfing Hall of Fame.


Nearly 50 members of Kiernan Surfing Association met last year on Sept. 19 at the Kiernan site. This gathering led to talks with the park system about a plaque for Kiernan. Photo courtesy Carter McCoy
Nearly 50 members of Kiernan Surfing Association met last year on Sept. 19 at the Kiernan site. This gathering led to talks with the park system about a plaque for Kiernan.
Photo courtesy Carter McCoy

He is also one of the “Original 100” members of Kiernan, who started surfing at the Long Branch beach which is now part of Seven Presidents Oceanfront Park.
“I joined at about 13-years-old; I used to hitch rides down with friends and members who were old enough to take me,” he said. “Had to do some extra yard work to get the 15 bucks or 20 bucks to join that year.”
Kiernan Surfing Association, which lasted from 1965 through 1972 and averaged about 100 members per year, will be honored on its 50th anniversary later this month by the Monmouth County Park System.

Scott Thompson surfing at Kiernan Beach, Long Branch. Photo courtesy S. Thompson
Scott Thompson surfing at Kiernan Beach, Long Branch.
Photo courtesy S. Thompson

“They know how important the surf community is to recreational support for the area and taking care of the environment, and the stewardship that’s required to make that all happen,” said Kiernan member Scott Thompson of Red Bank.
Starting Sept. 23, Kiernan members from around the country will paddle back to the spot where they first fell in love with surfing, for a two-day event commemorating the club’s rich history during its lifespan.
On Friday evening, members will gather at Canyon Pass Provisions in Fair Haven to spend the night around a campfire and reminisce on the old days at Kiernan.
The next morning, Thompson expects anywhere between 100 to 175 people to meet at the old site for the unveiling of a plaque dedicated to the Kiernan Surfing Association by the Monmouth County Park System.
A memorial service for members who have passed on will also take place in the form of a paddle-out.
“It made a mark for a generation of young people in Monmouth County, that they could go to and remember when they were young and what was going on back then,” said Ted Geiser, one of Kiernan’s founding members.

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According to Kiernan Surfing Association, this was the first official sign for the surfing club, placed right near the entrance.
Photo courtesy KSA

In the 1960s, surfing at the Jersey Shore was stigmatized as a hobby for derelicts, groups of guys and gals who had nothing better to do than hang out around the beach.
Local surfers did not have a surf spot of their own; they had to either race to the shore early in the morning before lifeguard shifts began, or wait until dusk when those same lifeguards went home for the night, just to get some alone time in the water without being harassed.
Thanks to Geiser and his father, who worked as an attorney, local surfers were finally awarded the opportunity to have their own beach.
“We met with the owner of the beach, George Savoth, and he drew up some paperwork, where we would form an association, Kiernan Surfing Association, and he would lease the beach to us as a group,” Geiser said.

A view of what Kiernan Beach looked like from the end of Kiernan Boulevard. The iconic pilings which made the surf so great can be seen near the water’s edge. Photo courtesy KSA
A view of what Kiernan Beach looked like from the end of Kiernan Boulevard. The iconic pilings which made the surf so great can be seen near the water’s edge. Photo courtesy KSA

The stretch of beach which soon became the Kiernan Surfing Association was alongside a family beach club, White Sands Beach Club. Savoth, the owner of White Sands, did not have an issue with surfers; he just wanted protection in the event of an injury.
“We had an annual membership of about $20 a year, and with about 100 surfers a year, it would cover the insurance for the guy,” said Geiser.
Included in that agreement, the Kiernan surfers would have to lifeguard the beach, along with policing it; that dealt with making sure uninsured swimmers would not get into the water.
That specific stretch of beach was also a key component to the creation of Kiernan.
The combination of jetties created by the Army Corps of Engineers and leftover wooden pilings “formed a natural preservation of sand there that made a natural surf break, a very large area where the waves would break farther out,” Geiser said.
Just a few minute’s walk away from Kiernan Surfing Association was the Monmouth Beach Surf Shop, the headquarters
 of the Weber Surf Team. Consisting of other New Jersey Surfing Hall of Famers, including Vince Troenic and Charlie Kunes, that area of Long Branch beach became a hotbed for competitive surfing.
Former Seaside Park resident Greg Mesanko, who is also an NJ Surfing Hall of Famer himself, spearheaded the team from Seaside Heights that came to face Weber Surf Team.
“Casino Pier and the Manasquan Inlet have the same kind of history, but Kiernan was totally the king of that,” he said of Kiernan’s allure.
Mesanko turned a love of surfing into a career, as he is the current owner of the Billabong store located at The Grove West in Shrewsbury. Before that, he was the man in charge at Grog’s Surf Palace’s three locations: Seaside Park, Toms River and Point Pleasant Beach.
He compared the surfing culture at Kiernan to another movement happening just down Ocean Avenue.
“What was going on in the water was similar to the Asbury Park music scene at the same time. It wouldn’t be a stretch to see Bruce Springsteen or Clarence Clemons at the beach or in one of the surf shops.”

Kiernan Beach, September 13, 2016
Kiernan Beach, September 13, 2016. Photo by Anthony V. Cosentino

“The surfing scene at that point in time, and the music, was the fabric that held it all together,” Germain said.
Kiernan Surfing Association also represented an escape for many during the Vietnam War and possible conscription for of-age boys.
“It was more than surfing, because what was going on in the country at the time, a very tumultuous time with the Vietnam War,” said Geiser. “It was a good place for kids to go; we could have been in worse situations than going surfing, and that’s what we did.”
Kiernan was the key driving force behind a true movement on the Jersey Shore.
“I think one of the greatest phrases about surfing is that the best surfer in the water is the person having the most fun; that was true for all of us in the ‘70s, regardless of our age or our ability,” Germain said. “We just had a lot of fun hanging out together doing something that we loved.”
This story was originally published in the Sept. 15-22 edition of The Two River Times.
Pick up a copy of the Two River Times at Canyon Pass Provisions in Fair Haven, at the reunion Saturday at Kiernan Beach.