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BY BOB HOLT
NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM
More than 60 years ago in Stone Harbor, a group of local surfers approached the owners of a block-long stretch of beach asking if they could ride its waves. The owners of the beachfront retreat called Villa Maria by the Sea approved. They happened to be nuns from a Pennsylvania convent. It was there a special relationship was born.
The Sister Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary will launch its 15th Nun's Beach Surf Invitational on Sept. 11, with proceeds going to the maintenance of Villa Maria by the Sea – the 150-bedroom retreat on the harbor.
The nuns greeted the surfers warmly, and the stretch of surf was soon being called "Nun's Beach." Sisters often sit on the beach and even draw spiritual inspiration watching the wave-riders.
"It's very peaceful," Sister James Dolores, 73, the retreat's property manager, told the New York Post. "You see how the water holds them up, balances them and if you ride with the water, it will get you where you want to go. That's how it is with the grace of God."
But in 1996, a small group of surfers led by Larry Gehrke and Bill Deger decided it was time to give back to the nuns – by running a contest to help fund the retreat's upkeep. The event has become so popular that the staff has capped the number of contestants at about 100, though hundreds of spectators attend.
For even more New Jersey sports, visit the NJNR Press Box
Deger, now 64, and his friends once coaxed an 83-year-old nun onto a surfboard.
"One of her life's dreams was to be able to surf," Deger said of the late Sister Loyola, according to the New York Post. "So we got her out in knee-deep water and held her on. She loved it. It was an incredible experience."
Myfoxphilly reports that all money – from the $35 entry fees to the hot dogs and sodas sold by the nuns – go to the convent, which uses the proceeds to fix plumbing, replace tiles and update bedrooms and exteriors.
The $15 T-shirts are the biggest money maker. They are redesigned every year and tourists purchase shirts with images of nuns praying on boards, hanging 10 Hawaiian-style, and surfing over an American flag. All the images are based on Sister James.
"The surf contest is the single most important event for raising awareness of our presence here and who and what we are about," Sister James told the New York Post.
More information can be found at stoneharborbeach.com.
