Living the surfer life in Montauk

This review of Montauk surfing turned out looking like nothing but an advertisement for the Surf Lodge. To say that the Surf Lodge is " an unpretentious place run by surfers with surfers in mind" is quite off-base. This place is owned and run by a cadre of swanky nightclub owners from Manhattan- not surfers. True, they have done some interior decorating and personnel recruitment which have made the Surf Lodge appear to be a haven for the sun-kissed and salty surfers of Montauk, but a deeper look reveals the true nature of this place. Rather than establishing the Surf Lodge as a genuine surfer hangout, these nightclub-types are threatening to change the nature of Montauk from the "Un-Hampton" where to yuppie central.

Not to mention, most of the real surfers of Montauk wouldn't stand for the 10 dollar cocktails the Surf Lodge serves. If you want to meet real Montauk surfers, stop by Air and Speed Surf Shop downtown and speak to Stu Foley, who has been a fixture on the Montauk scene for years.

Air & Speed is also the local meeting place for the Gay community.

Surfing at Ditch Plains is definitely one of the best wave locale on the northeast coast. I've seen waves up to 12-feet rolling passed the little jetty. This is, however, not my main point of concern. I would estimate about 15% of the surfers at Ditch Plains are women. Nevertheless, all the photographs of surfers in Newsday in print and on-line are of women. This is the problem with media today. Newsday is showing warp pictures of reality, it would have been best to have more men in the photographs since more men surf, thus creating a closer picture of reality. Newsday, however, is following its newspaper ethics, along with all the other newspaper and media in our country, by distorting the facts, then pretending to be truth tellers. Hoodwinked again.

to andrew.... if the surf lodge went by any other name would you still care? this place not only treats guests and patrons great, but they treat empoyees like gold. so before you start knocking it stop by and have a bite to eat and a drink. stop being a dumb closed minded ass.

EVEN STEVENS wrote:

Surfing at Ditch Plains is definitely one of the best wave locale on the northeast coast. I've seen waves up to 12-feet rolling passed the little jetty. This is, however, not my main point of concern. I would estimate about 15% of the surfers at Ditch Plains are women. Nevertheless, all the photographs of surfers in Newsday in print and on-line are of women. This is the problem with media today. Newsday is showing warp pictures of reality, it would have been best to have more men in the photographs since more men surf, thus creating a closer picture of reality. Newsday, however, is following its newspaper ethics, along with all the other newspaper and media in our country, by distorting the facts, then pretending to be truth tellers. Hoodwinked again.

Air & Speed material, apparently...

Heard about an old navy or Army base in Montauk which looms large in "conspiracy theory" and is a dangerous place for kids to get into.
Reminds me of a place that was also abandoned and not a place for "fun and frolic". But there are no underground military bases in New York or anywhere else for that matter.

Ben Dover wrote:

<quoted text>
Air & Speed material, apparently...

If you drove a long way expecting to see a Bay Watch bevy of beauties...you have my former bachelor sympathy. Many occasions of beach combing have fostered my cynicism that those beautiful girls must be in Malibu or elsewhere than where I am looking...cautiously as my wife might be hurt or jealous or BOTH if I were eyeballing young girls...in an obvious fashion. Love those sunglasses and side vision!

HMMM...good luck girl watchers! Maybe the old base is better to look at than missing bathing beauties. I thought it was at the top of Long Island but Norfolk and Suffix North and south have NO old bases or UFO crash sites...

Ok so nobody knows anything about old Manitowok Base...if you find out and want to share the info...epramos 01 at hot mail.com or any other bases...Straight Creek Tunnel was never a base in colorado near Idaho Springs

Sure wish we had coverage of the elite surfers. Nothing ever televised, shame.

ANDREW wrote:

BOOOOO
DONT SUPPORT SURF LODGE
THAT PLACE IS TOTAL HAMPTONS STYLE WITH MODELS AND HIPSTERS
PLEASE STAY OUT OF MONTAUK. STAY IN THE HAMPTONS WHERE YOU BELONG.
WE DONT WANT YOU IN MONTAUK...NEVER DID

shut the hell up, idiot. why do they allow posts like this? and why would a place want to remain rundown, and for stupid locals, when a better approach would attract a more urbane, interesting crowd? we KNOW the "local" surfers don't stay at a hotel. but boy do they whine about it. another example of these idiot surfers thinking they own the the ocean.

100 thousand 604 wrote:

<quoted text>
**** hell up, idiot. why do they allow posts like this? and why would a place want to remain rundown, and for stupid locals, when a better approach would attract a more urbane, interesting crowd? we KNOW the "local" surfers don't stay at a hotel. but boy do they whine about it. another example of these idiot surfers thinking they own the the ocean.

I'm with YOU,'Drew! Places for the tourists cannot be a "lean-to". If they wanted that, they would bring a tent and poop in the sand behind it...turiste want "nice digs" swell place, good lodging....even a Bed andBoard has to be "PLUSH". No more "Dodge City, water pitcher, basin,outhouse..."

Viva wrote:

Sure wish we had coverage of the elite surfers. Nothing ever televised, shame.

Get Michael Moore to do "Montauk, The Place To Hang Ten!" Until then it's Wiahimeah Bay,Hawaii, Malibu,even "Shores of Peru" wherever the heck that is!
I say Michael Moore, because he can Hype up ANYTHING and apparently going 'way down the island 77 miles is a "bit much". Maybe mysterious Mantauk Spooky Government Phaladelphia Experimant Research Center?

locals = the same boring townies, telling the same stupid stories. tourists = people, and girls, from other places, out to have fun and enjoy life. i'll take a tourist any day.

i lived in nyc and miami, in both places the tourists are much happier and far less annoying than the low brow "locals".

Locals can actually surf, number one.

Number two, it's possible that the Kook Lodge (oops, surf lodge) has overdone their environmental footprint, so to speak. There's talk that they may be overloading the sewer/waste system, because they're serving way more patrons/dinners/etc. than their permit specifies.

Not an expert on the second item, but it warrants a closer look.

But the citiots are good to have around. A constant source of amusement.