Filmmaker At Work Documenting South Jersey Surfing Culture

“We, of the state that will never get any respect. We, who bear the coolness of the forever uncool. The chip on our shoulders of those with forever something to prove.”

Bruce Springsteen uttered those words in his acceptance speech to the New Jersey Hall of Fame. And the "coolness of the forever uncool" is something the South Jersey surfing communities know well.

Filmmaker David McCarty aims to highlight that world in his surf documentary "Jersey Bros." McCarty said Springsteen’s words are a mantra for his project.

“There’s a real misconception about what it’s like to be a Jersey surfer,” McCarty said. While New Jersey surfing has never received much respect from the larger surfing community, its surfers embody a unique culture, he said.

They deal with inconsistent surf and cold winter water. They are part of a multi-generational crew that hails from all walks of life. They ride as well and love the sport as much as any Hawaiian or Californian surfer.

McCarty emphasizes that his film is about surfers, not surfing. It isn’t about exotic locales, big-names surfers and surf sponsors. While McCarty respects and enjoys such films, he says they are a “fantasy” and do not showcase the reality of being an every-day surfer:

“Most people aren’t sponsored. Most people aren’t professional surfers. Most people have jobs and if they are real dedicated then that’s their second job. They do it when they can. They do it whenever they can.”

"Jersey Bros." is just as much about the 70-year-old surfer who remembers when surfing first picked up at the Jersey Shore, as it is about the 18-year-old whose surf time has yet to compete with a job and a family.

McCarty began surfing about 12 years ago when his youngest son wanted to try the sport. He bought his son a used board at Surfers Supplies in Ocean City and realized that in order to keep an eye on his 7-year-old, he’d have to buy one, too. He became hooked.

But it wasn’t until 2009, when McCarty knew he wanted to make a documentary, that "Jersey Bros." began to take shape. McCarty was also excited to shoot the project with a new camera, the Canon 5DMII, a still camera that shoots high-definition video.

The project started with building contacts: finding surfers, finding shapers and finding surf-shop owners. Sometimes, he stumbled upon cool subjects, such as Mike and Kevin DeWald, a father-son surfing duo that he discovered while filming ice on the pipes at 110th Street in Stone Harbor. It was 16 degrees in January.

“It wasn’t even knee-high,” McCarty said, “But they felt like they needed to get in the water … It wasn’t about big surf or epic waves, it was about having fun.”

McCarty said most of his subjects are just ordinary people, with jobs and families, who just can’t get enough of the sport. Some have encouraged McCarty to expand his project to North Jersey surf spots, but he has decided to contain his projects to South Jersey, focusing on beach towns from Cape May to Atlantic City. Ocean City will play a key role in his film.

“The fact of the matter is you can’t do a film about South Jersey surfing without talking about Ocean City,” McCarty said. “You’ve got a wealth of really talented surfers, great breaks and a really strong culture.”

"Jersey Bros." is a self-financed, self-edited one-man show and McCarty is unsure of a finishing date. He has the challenge of finding time to shoot his movie when he is not working as a partner at an international advertising agency. Still his full-time job puts his side project in perspective. Though he’s traveled all over the world, McCarty continues to be impressed with the Jersey Shore.

“It’s not Caribbean blue water, but I’ll take our beaches any day.”

Three questions for filmmaker David McCarty:

Favorite Surf Movie: My favorite surf movie would be "Step Into Liquid" … I think there was some inspiration for me there. They showed Laird Hamilton coming down a 40-foot face but then they also showed these guys surfing the Great Lakes or surfing behind tankers in the Gulf of Mexico … I liked the idea that they showed that everything wasn’t about big names.

Most Memorable Wave: Well, the best ride I’ve had in recent experience wasn’t in New Jersey (laughs). We were in Mexico last year. There was a nice clean wave. It broke consistently in the same place, and it was the first time that I had this really long ride, going up and down, just hootin’ and hollerin’ and having a ball. It’s different than how hard we have to work sometimes for a wave in Jersey. You have just as much fun, but you don’t get that long ride. But … the first time I was really able to get up and make that turn down the face of the wave. You’re not riding whitewater and you’re not just fumbling around. The first time you actually make that turn you’re like, ‘This is what its about. This is what everyone gets so stoked about.’ That’s a cool feeling.

Favorite S.J. Spot To Surf: 110th Street (Stone Harbor) is where we hang out during the day. It gets crowded. It’s pretty family-oriented, so it's fun. I know everybody. It’s very comfortable … But me and a bunch of the guys that I surf with get up early and then we tend to be in Strathmere or Avalon. So I think we tend to do more surfing on 20th Street in Avalon than anywhere else. If we are going to spend a day at the beach with our wives and girlfriends, then we go where everyone’s families are. It’s a tent-city set-up with all the old guys sitting under umbrellas—no one wants to get skin cancer. We’ve all got big straw hats on and lots of sunscreen.

Check out:

Jersey Bros. on Facebook

Jersey Bros. website

Jersey Bros. trailer

Jersey Bros: The Portraits