Hell Or High Water Ep 39: The Far Rockaways

We meet local NYC surfers and friends of Finisterre, Farmata ‘Farmy’ Dia and Quest Marley, at Phase Surf Shop, a block from the beach, to chat Laru Beya, boards, waves and the evolution of New York’s suburban lineup. Their combined heritage of Senegalese, Ethiopian, Italian, Colombian, and Equatorian, is a window into the multicultural makeup of the city. “New York City is a melting pot of different people, stories and backgrounds,” says Farmy, who pulled into surfing in 2018. “And so, our water and community reflect that.”

Farmy was born in Senegal but moved to the US and Rockaway when she was old enough to go to school. Her first introduction to surfing was a random surf lesson while doing an internship on environmental stewardship at the beach. But as soon as she paddled into the lineup and found a gang that looked like her, with a shared cultural experience, she was hooked.    

A year after that first lesson she was part of the first graduation class of Laru Beya, a non-profit that is creating a space for black and brown people to experience surfing in all its guises in and out of the water. “I started with the nonprofit when it was founded in 2018,” recounts Farmy, “and my experience is pretty similar to the experience of a lot of the kids right now… where it's like super healing and you find a community that is as obsessed with surfing as you are, that understands your experience.”

On the border between the Big Apple and the Atlantic Ocean, Rockaway is a unique coastal community in the US, where access to the beach is often defined by wealth. “In California, it was pretty obvious, that the rich people live by the water,” Quest tells us. “But in Rockaway, all types of classes can live here, because during the wintertime, not everyone wants to live here, so it kind of evens out the playing field, keeping it inclusive for everyone to come by and feel accepted.”

Quest's childhood in NYC was tough and he believes that if he hadn’t transitioned into surfing from skating, something that gave him focus and community growing up, his life be very different. “Surfing definitely saved my life in a way because I was on a dark path, figuring myself out as a young teen in New York.” As well as cutting the green on the sandbanks of Rockaway Quest runs an annual grassroots surf school for up to 50 surfing newbies from the local neighbourhoods; a project he says has helped change the demographic in the lineup. And after arranging surf trips for his crew he has gone into the surf safaris business through his company Endless Horizon Retreats.

For Quest and Farmy surfing has become more than a just a way to dance on waves and a community to hang in. They have made it their life missions, redefine what surf culture looks and feels like in New York, while carving out a space for their communities, who in the wider surf industry beyond Rockaway are under-represented.

To discover more about Quest, Farmy, the work of Laru Beya and the vibrant surf scene of New York City, drop out and tune in to this amazing episode of Hell or High Water now.