so doing my taxes, which sucks to begin with, when i thought if the gov. could tax surfers or beach goers for use of the beach. Its been years since i have been to jerz shore, but do they still do that beach tag **** up there? if they do how do you surfers deal with it? just a curious delmarva surfer thats tired of over taxation!
Usually there are some parts of each beach that doesnt require a tag. Wildwood is a tag free beach . The cove in Cape may is tag free as well I think . If you have to go to a tag beach what I do is walk with my head down and dont make Eye Contact with anyone and head straight for the water. If someone stops you start doing you best French inprove like you dont understand english and you should be fine
i've researched this issue very thoroughly & i've found that anything below the mean high tide line falls into the public domain & is therefore free. they can't hassle you about a beach tag if you're below the average high tide line. they also cannot prevent you from crossing the beach in order to get to the water. the town cannot prevent you from exercising your right to use public lands. the problem lies in the fact that the towns do not educate the kids they hire to enforce the beachtag rules. the kids then misinterpret their duties & the extent of their power, resulting in various forms of unpleasantness for all involved.this past summer i witnessed one of those kids actually chase a woman into the water to see if she had a tag.
the cove does require tags and when you think about it a tag is only $15 for an entire season in Cape May. Thats not that bad but they should give locals tags for free considering that they are already paying
In my experience most beach tag police dont bother surfers - I can't remember the last time I was asked to show a tag especially then your carrying a board. I mainly surf South Jersey and I will buy a season tag for the one tag beach I surf alot. What is Bull**** is Sea Isle made you buy a tag to watch a contest they hold I think about Mid Summer. Wildwood does not have beach tags but they rape you on the parking meters. I guess they get you one way or another.
Same thing around here, usually no problems. I never get the tag unless I'm with my wife and we're making a day out of it. We have season passes to Asbury, but when I surf somewhere else - I'm not paying to walk into the water and walk out. No way in hell.
Spring Lake is $100 for the season while Belmar is like $50 or $60. If the waves are pumping, the young kid at the top of the steps usually doesn't say anything. Sometimes you have to look them right in the eye while you walk by while thinking to yourself, nothing is going to stop me from going into the water. If they say something, just keep walking and pretend you didn't hear them and usually they will not chase you down. Around here they have cops walking the beach to check badges of anyone who made it past the guard. When you see him coming it's usually a good time to go for a dip... Soon they might put the cops on paddle boards out in the lineup.. That would not surprise me one bit...
And soon after. . . . . . MTV could start another upscale reality TV show entitled "Jersey Shore Cops that Surf." It would surely be a hit.
