Does anyone sometimes think New Jersey is overrated?

Overrated? I didn't even know we were rated. All the hype and stereotypes have kind of created a caricature of the entire state... over-emphasizing the parts that draw attention, both good and bad. Get a couple weeks of flat spell and everybody's dying to get out. Get a good run of swell and suddenly we're hyped. Somewhere in between is the truth. But I'll admit... on some days it's as good as it gets, and I wouldn't want to be anywhere else.

I guess it's just like everywhere else... it all comes down to local knowledge. Knowing where not to go is just as important as knowing where to go, and when.

 

Virginia's State motto is, "Hey, at least we're not New Jerksy. Welcome to Virginia, now go home!"

 

It doesn't get flat like anywhere else. It's MUCH worse. It's swell consistency can't be compared to out west. You can surf 5 days a week for months on end in awesome condition's in Hawaii or Cali. You can find uncrowded spots in those places. Southern cali has hundreds of miles of coastline. Hawaii is an island where the wind always offshore somewhere Yes trestles top named spots are crowded. NJ can go an entire summer with maybe 1 day of head high waves. Not exactly "endless summer" material.

It's extremely cold during the winter and early spring. So basically 5 months out of the year it sucks ass, unless you enjoy plunging in 38 degree water! Yes I know this board in flooded with east coast shredders. Bring on the hate!

Over-rated? Not by the general public. NJ isn't really known for surfing. It's all relative. It sucks compared to Hawaii, Southern cali, pr, costa ect., but it's not really a debate which is better anyway. NJ is really fun when it's "on". It's just not on that much and it's coastline is geographically uniform so only one wind direction is offshore. It also doesn't have a lot of wave variety. Basically just hollow beach barrels, which are fun of course, but No points ect.
Oh and jersey can get crazy crowded during the summer/early fall/late spring. EC is not this uncrowded place people make it out to be. Huge population centers nearby ensure crowds. As well as the fact that because it's flat so often, people are foaming that mouth ready for the next swell. Also, a lot of places don't have good sandbars

 

^^ good points. Compared to Del, MD and VA, Jersey is WAY better in terms of variability and wave quality.

 

Totally agree with that. MD/DEL sandbars are atrocious. Most of the coastline is just steep drop off shorepound.

 

i donno man ive seen delaware get way gnarlyer then ive ever seen jersey. Nothing like an overhead stand up barrel in knee deep water to make you understand the beauties of over-nourishing your beach.

 

Ever see Poverty in CM? Same type break. then you can drive a mile and get fat fun rollers, then a up the parkway and get something in between. You can't get that in DelMarVa and I surfed there for the better part of 20 years before going to NJ.

 

just be happy that NJ is taking the heat and the hype- and that the surf media is not blowing up your spot! Its getting crowded here in jersey- my normal spot has not broke regulary good in years- yet for one reason or another people seem to flock there and it gets super crowded and closing out while the next jetty will be peeling... oh well...
i would love to have the coast line of CT, RI, Mass NH ect... all we got is sand bars...

 

i do totally agree with the delmarva vs jersey debate- jersey is much better- hands down!

 

The thing that kills me about NJ is paying to walk onto a beach. I know, I know, it's always been this way so why change right? I know I know, "but it's for the communities". I just hate paying to walk onto a beach. NJ Shore towns are awesome, the people are really cool, and I wish I grew up down there (maybe if I did I would have a totally different opinion), but I just hate having to pay when the rest of the country minus NY allow free access for all. Just a principle thing for me. I lived on the west coast for 9 years and (yes there are jerks there too) but when I tell people you have to pay to walk on the beaches in NJ they can't believe it. For fairness, I also hate the toll roads, LOL. The other thing I can't stand is how lifeguards here will pull swimmers out of the water if there are any waves (not talking about surfing, just swimmers....sometimes I'd like to body surf with my chick who doesn't surf, but I've been called out of the water so many times on a "rough day" with knee-waist high swell that I start to wonder what's the point of even going to the beach on a nice day if you aren't going to be allowed in past your ankles. Out west anyone can go in anytime. That's why there's lifeguards. But otherwise, I have been all over the country and the world and NJ has some of the nicest beaches. With that said, I think everyone to some degree can agree with me...otherwise I think I am in for a good ol' swellinfo forum bashing. Let the bashing commence.

 

we're not angry & rude, we just don't feel the need to kowtow to every visitor's self-centered desire to do whatever the f**k they feel like, whether it disrespects the people who've built their lives in a town & the culture of said town. contrary to popular opinion, we don't need you. hell, we don't even WANT you. we TOLERATE you. for 3 months out of the year, we put up w/ your presence in our towns, then you spend the rest of the year bashing us. you think we don't know that you make fun of nj, but then can't wait to get back to the beach in the spring?
i think you'll find that in nj, as anywhere else, if you act like an asshat, then people will react to that. if everyone you meet in nj seems to be angry & rude, maybe you should take a look in the mirror. the problem might not be w/ jersey folks.

 

Agree- I forgot about the paying part....it really does not make sense when the rest of the coast in the US is free! i usually go before or after the 9 to 5 shift of the infamous 'badge checkers'....

 

Paying to get on the beach in NJ is needed. Most of us spend our time at the beach before or after they check badges anyway. Also its only 2 months out of the year, and where is the money to keep the beaches clean going to come from? My beach every morning is very clean until the piggies show up to trash it again. People need to go to the beach a few times a year...just let em be, summer surf blows anyhow.

 

Um, no. I visit family during christmas, and am not a summer tourist. I have spent long visits in Cherry Hill, Blackwood, Cape May, AC, and OC. The attitude is always the same. Sure, it isn't everyone, but it is a large portion of the population. My family has lived there all their lives, and they always admit the drivers are the worst in the country. They also admit that people are generally rude or self centered. The state has the worst reputation in the entire country, so obviously it isn't just me. Somehow I think your reply is better directed at a New Yorker, as they seem to be the ones invading your beaches in the summer.

BTW, I have no personal desire to ever visit your state again. I only do it because half my family lives there, and I will have to continue to visit for that reason. As I said, I don't spend my summers in NJ. I live in an area with 3 relatively uncrowded islands with clean beaches. The water is warm and the locals will treat you like a human being, no matter where you are from.

 

bud unless you like paddle boarding or watersking you would not like the coastline of ct. theres no waves in ct and your swimming in medical waste. if you DO catch the right swell, tis going to be knee high windchop on the easternmost part of the state, while rhode island is double overhead and offshore 10 minutes away.

 

actually **** it, connecticut goes off all the time! check out the point break at jennings beach i caught a 23 foot 10 second barrel there last month.

 

One quick point...the shore towns actually do rely on the revenue generated from the tourists in the summer months. So I do take exception to your statement about not needing or wanting visitors. Maybe not you personally, but the shore communities as a whole definitely do want the tourism. I also agree that you defintiely do TOLERATE the tourists though LOL! I'm a north jersey surfer so I see it from both sides. My personal opinion, the locals should be respected because they are locals. It ends there. I wouldn't go to Hawaii or Costa or PR and expect to run the show. The majority of tourists defintely don't respect the shore communities. I can't stand littering and when I see anyone doing it I reprimand them immediately. It feels like I've reprimanded 1,000,000 people at this point! But yeah, if you are cool to people, most people will be cool back. I totally agree with you there.

 

If someone litters on your beach, they lose all respect and need to be punished. That said, the attitudes I was speaking of in my post have nothing to do with disrespect towards locals. I also have spent little time in North Jersey, so I am not sure if things differ up there.

 

im not saying its you here, but honestly living in north carolina the most disrespectful, kooky, loudmouthed drunk and downright mean tourists i have ever seen down here in the summer come from jersey. both on and off the water. i give parking tickets so ive seen it first hand when two jersyites get in a fist fight over a parking spot with foam boards strapped to their car. obviously not saying its a catch all and all jersey dudes are loudmouthed assholes, im just saying demographically and sociologically because im playing limiting factor for the tragedy of the commons all day at my local break, i have observed jersey tourists to be the worst of the worst, and i really wish they would stick to being locals back in LBI if they are going to act like that

 

Yeah...that's fantastic. You can't even duck dive a wave.

It's sort of like diving in a shallow pool. Diving into knee deep water! Great idea! Good way to break your neck. Or your shoulder if you're lucky.