Ditch Plain’s Summer of Too Much Love

It’s not all chill vibe and aloha spirit on these hot August days at Ditch Plain beach in Montauk. Friction ignited this week at the popular beach, a premier East Coast surfing spot, pitting old-guard surfers against the crowds flooding in in the wake of Montauk’s newfound popularity.

A group of Montauk surfers and beachgoers, several with sandy children in tow, described their concerns about the scene at Ditch to the East Hampton Town Board on Tuesday.

Corey’s Wave, a successful surf-lesson business with a town permit to give lessons at the beach, “has overwhelmed and is exploiting the beach and the surf community” in the so-called Dirt Lot area of the beach, according to a memo distributed by the group.

“It’s like mayhem,” one speaker said. “Those guys are down there all day, every day, just clogging the place up.”

But yesterday, supporters of Corey’s Wave, along with its owners, crowded into a special meeting called by the board to discuss the situation and consider the status of the business’s license.

The enterprise is well run and highly regarded, several dozen people of all ages, about 10 on up, told board members. And Kristen Angiulo, who owns it with her husband, Corey Senese, said it is “100 percent in compliance” with its permit.

“You don’t teach surfing lessons to a student over rocks,” said one critic, Tony Villar, on Tuesday. “Especially a beginner. They should be on a sand beach.”

When an instructor has four students and pushes them toward a wave and into the lineup, “he’s creating a dangerous situation, and he’s not following the rules that everybody accepts,” said Jimmy Sullivan.

The permit held by the Montauk-based Corey’s Wave allows it to offer surf lessons at Ditch from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. each day, through September, with up to 25 people at a time. Air and Speed, another Montauk business, also holds a license to give lessons there. And, said Trevor Darrell, the attorney for Corey’s Wave, there are other, unlicensed entities offering surf lessons at that beach. He said he has proposed to town officials that surf instructors wear identifying armbands or rashguards, so that if a problem arises, Marine Patrol or police officers can pinpoint which business is involved. His clients, Mr. Darrell said, have received no summonses from law enforcement.

Corey’s Wave, he said, would agree to amendments to its license if necessary, such as limiting the number of students or moving the lessons to a less crowded area on weekends for the remainder of the summer. 

None of the Montaukers objected to surf lessons taking place. Crowding, however, is a problem, they said. They also denounced the behavior of Corey’s Wave instructors, who they alleged fail to observe accepted surf etiquette, such as not interfering with the surfers’ lineup. Some instructors, they claimed, have told members of the public to leave the water, or areas of the public beach.

The situation, said one man, has “come to a boiling point.” Tempers reportedly flared over the weekend.

“These people are coming down and just taking over the beach, they’re telling people to get out of the way, that they can’t be there,” another speaker claimed at Tuesday’s meeting.

Ms. Angiulo said by phone later that day that those claims were “100 percent so false. . . . It’s ludicrous, not to be believed, that that would be the case. All of our instructors are model citizens,” she said, trained in first aid and C.P.R., adding that someone with a lifeguard certification is always on hand. “We follow all the rules; we follow the regulations meticulously,” she said, “based on not restricting the public on the beach in any way. We strive to do the best we can and respect everyone, and are courteous to everyone in the community.”

Yesterday, speaker after speaker praised the business, its owners, and their instructors, saying that they stress surf etiquette and safety.

“This is a passion for us; this is not a fly-by-night operation,” Ms. Angiulo said.

But Tuesday’s meeting was a different story. “All we see is tents with credit card machines, kids getting pushed, telling people to get out of the water, that they don’t belong there,” said Vincent Carillo of Montauk.

Many at yesterday’s meeting disagreed. “It was a railroad job yesterday at that meeting,” James Katsipis said. “I’ve been surfing next to these guys for years, I’ve never seen a problem.”

“You got hustled,” Mike Grande told the town board. He said it was “a lie” that the Corey’s Wave people were “aggressive, rude, and not safe. There’s people down there that are aggressive, rude, and unsafe — it’s not them.”

“It gets a little crazy out there in the summertime,” Mr. Katsipis said. “If you take away the surf lessons, you’re going to have 200 kids out there with no supervision. It’s going to be a bloodbath.”

“Ditch Plains is the most popular surf break in our area,” the surfers who complained wrote in a memo to the board. “It is already way overcrowded without the additional crowd that is now using the beach for Corey’s Wave surf lessons.”

“The ocean and the beach is a public resource, and there should be no business on it,” said Joseph Giannini. “It’s ruining it for us, and we want it out of there. Those resources belong to us, the public.”

Michael Angiulo, Ms. Angiulo’s father, told the board he felt that some who are complaining were reacting to a changed reality, with more people here, generally, and bigger crowds at Ditch. “They cannot turn back time,” he said. “That’s the way it is now.”

“It’s Montauk in July and August; I think ‘Montauk’ is the Native American word for ‘mayhem,’ ” Mr. Grande said.

“I think we need a timeout,” said Steven White at yesterday’s crowded meeting, invoking “aloha spirit.” “It’s a public beach, we have to remember that everybody’s equal.”

 Requests from people who want to use public areas for different kinds of business or fund-raisers have long been a concern for town officials. A mass-gathering permit committee that vets these applications “struggle[s] at every meeting,” Councilman Fred Overton said, regarding “commercial uses of our natural resources,” not only by surf camps but paddleboard renters, caterers, and so on. The committee has already planned to take a broad look at town policy over the winter, and discuss tighter controls. But in the meantime, “believe me, we do due diligence before we issue a permit for any activity.”

“It’s nothing personal about Corey’s Wave,” Chuck Weimar, a surfer, said yesterday. “It’s just that it’s an unprecedented exploitation of the public beach.” Ditch is “our popular surfing beach,” he said. “The beach is too crowded.” The situation would not have come to such a head had the town permit specified some other beach, he said.

“He set up camp in the worst place, and now hardcore surfers who have been there 20 or 30 years, we have to compete with them for parking. There must be another place to teach people to surf,” Mr. Giannini said.

But, said a Corey’s Wave student, “People in New York City want to go to Ditch Plain. It’s been in all the magazines; that’s where they want to go.”

“Not every place has consistent waves,” Town Supervisor Larry Cantwell noted yesterday. “It’s sacred ground; people have surfed there for generations.” Lessons have also long been offered there, he said.

The board “wrestles with the issue of private vendors at public facilities,” the supervisor said, especially in light of public demand.

Board members agreed that there was no immediate need to amend the license given Corey’s Wave. However, they guaranteed a discussion when the summer ends of the tenuous balance between user groups at Ditch Plain, as well as at other popular, and sometimes overrun, destinations.