"The Endless Summer" Meets "The End"

Located at the easternmost tip of Long Island’s South Fork, Montauk Point or “The End” as the locals call it is surrounded by water on three sides from the Atlantic Ocean to Block Island Sound. The Montauk Point Lighthouse stands upon a 68-foot-high bluff overlooking the rocky shorelines of these two bodies of water as the waves wrap around the point. Surfing is a popular sport in Montauk, and the point with its rock bottom, has the best break offering a greater variety of wind and wave direction for the experienced surfer.

The Oceans Institute of the Montauk Lighthouse Museum, aka the Montauk Surf Museum is having its grand opening on Saturday, July 25, 2015 to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the classic 1960’s surf movie “The Endless Summer” by Bruce Brown. The stars of “The Endless Summer,” Mike Hynson and Robert August will be there to attend this extraordinary fundraising event at the Montauk Surf Museum. A special screening of the original movie will take place outside at the Montauk Point Lighthouse later that night. The Montauk Surf Museum will be open for the rest of the summer. www.montauksurfmuseum.com

Situated between the Montauk Point Lighthouse and the WWII Fire Control Tower, the Montauk Surf Museum is in the original Fog Signal House constructed in 1896. That same year, an eyewitness account of Colonel Teddy Roosevelt body surfing at Ditch Plains was reported. The 1,000 square-foot white brick building originally housed the generator for the Montauk Point Lighthouse fog siren, which for decades has been used just for storage. The Lighthouse, surrounding out buildings, and land is now owned by the Montauk Historical Society and operated by the Montauk Lighthouse Museum. The Montauk Point Lighthouse, built in 1796, is the oldest lighthouse in New York State and was declared a National Historic Landmark on March 2, 2012.

Russell “Rusty” Drumm, Acting Curator of the Montauk Surf Museum says, “The concept of the museum is to use the popularity of surfing as a way to help visitors to the museum understand the science behind surfing.” Focusing on geography, oceanography, and meteorology, it will introduce people to the physics, nature, and history of surfing and how it got to the east coast and Montauk from its Polynesian origins.

The Montauk Surf Museum is a logical extension both physically and naturally of the Montauk Lighthouse Museum. Most people who will be visiting the museum are unfamiliar with the science and history of surfing. Several installations and displays will illustrate the many aspects of surfing, from the origins of waves to the evolution of surfboard design and wetsuit technology.
At the east end of the museum is the “Immersion Room,” which will feature five projectors on three walls and the floor (made of a sea-green epoxy surface), creating a virtual experience similar to “walking on the ocean.” This “total immersion” area, for five minutes every hour, will project a tropical storm as it leaves the African continent, moves in a southwest to northeast trajectory, while generating swells around Montauk Point, projected at your feet. The immersive tutorial will explain where waves come from and how they are formed.

A virtual underwater scene using videos of tuna, sharks, and local species of fish will enable you to experience their natural environment. There will be screens that will reveal in real time the location of sharks. Animations will show the tidal currents between Montauk and Block Island. Other displays will explain coastal phenomena such as erosion and sea-level rise.

In addition to displays, there will be interviews of local surfers and scientists. There will be lectures on weather, oceanography, and marine science. The first exhibit will feature artifacts, early posters, photographs, water cameras, and other surfing memorabilia from “The Endless Summer” film. In August the museum’s own installations will be featured, including the evolution of surfboard design, the history of wetsuits, and advances in wetsuit technology that make it possible to surf in winter. The displays will rotate on a regular basis.

With the help of the Surfing Heritage Foundation of San Clemente, California, the Surfrider Foundation, the University of Connecticut, the University of Rhode Island, and local schools, the goal is to make the Montauk Surf Museum a community project available for everyone.

On July 22, the legendary movie, “The Endless Summer” by Bruce Brown, will be inducted into the Smithsonian Institution in Washington D.C. Bruce Brown, along with the stars of “The Endless Summer” and other luminaries of surfing will be in attendance in Washington D.C. for this significant event celebrating the 50th anniversary of the iconic surfing classic.

“The Endless Summer” film inspired many young people in the 1960’s to go on a surfing safari in pursuit of the “perfect wave” and greatly influenced Montauk as a surfing destination. Legendary surfers Tony Villar, Russell “Rusty” Drumm, Tony Caramanico, Steve White, Roger Feit, and Jim Goldberg are just some of the original ’60’s surfers who came to Montauk in search of the ideal break, all of whom are still riding those waves today. Montauk is now one of the top surfing spots on the east coast.

On July 25, the stars of “The Endless Summer” will attend the grand opening of the Montauk Surf Museum at the Montauk Point Lighthouse. This “perfect storm” of celebrities, surfers, locals, and tourists all converging for a fundraising event at “The End” will benefit the Montauk Surf Museum, the Montauk Lighthouse Museum, and all those fascinated by the ocean and its endless waves.