Taking Love of Long Beach Waters Worldwide

This story was written by Lauren Urban.

For many Long Beach residents, the ocean offers a tranquil view and
a place to cool off during summer. But the open waters mean so much more to at least a couple of residents, Elliot Zuckerman and Roy Lester.

For Zuckerman, the ocean is a way to share his passion for surfing with hundreds of other people, including special needs children. Lester finds the ocean
is a tremendous source of bonding for his athletic family of five.

Zuckerman is a third generation Long Beach resident; his grandparents
moved to the area in the early 1900’s. His father and godfather loved
the ocean and passed on that love to him.

“I was put on a surfboard when I was two years old by my godfather,” he said. “It’s been a very healthy addiction ever since. It brings me much closer to
nature. It’s my mental and physical therapy.”

The self-proclaimed surf addict spends anywhere from three to 10 hours a day in the water, seven days a week. He owns the longest running surfing school in Long Beach, Surf2Live, which offers adult surfing lessons, and is the founder of Surfer’s Way, a foundation that enables kids with special needs to surf for free in Long Beach throughout the summer months.

Each season, Surfer’s Way benefits more than 700 kids across the country. While he founded the organization five years ago, Zuckerman has been working with special needs kids for more than 20 years.

“It all started with a woman who had a deaf child who wanted to learn how to surf, and I had the child surfing within 10 minutes of being in the water,” he recalled. “Today he’s an avid surfer.”

Zuckerman, who has three children and six grandchildren, retired from his job at the New York Mercantile Exchange seven years ago. He now lives in Puerto Rico for eight months each year. He rents out his tropical estate that he built on the coast of Aguadilla, at the northeast corner of the island, to families or groups of friends, and offers meals and surf lessons.

“As a surfer I find that Puerto Rico has some of the best waves in the world,” he
said.

Roy Lester also has a soft spot for tropical paradises but for a much different reason. A Canals resident and trustee on the Long Beach Board of Education, he travels in order to participate in open water swimming competitions and
triathlons with his wife, Nancy, and their three kids.

The family has competed in Puerto Rico, California, Florida, Bermuda, the Bahamas and St. Croix, as well as local areas. This past July, for instance, Lester
and his 14-year-old son, Chris, came in first place in the Montauk Point Lighthouse Triathlon Men’s Relay.

“I’m usually the oldest in the division and Chris is the youngest,” said Lester, who moved to Point Lookout in 1957. “It works out well because Chris is a great runner, and I can hold my own with the swimming and biking. No one has beaten us yet this year.”

In August, Lester’s daughter, Jessica, 23, was the first place overall
female winner at the John Daly One Mile Ocean Swim at National
Boulevard Beach. Both she and her sister Kelly, 21, work as Long Beach
lifeguards. Lester was a lifeguard at Jones Beach for 40 years, but lost his job when he refused to wear a Speedo for the annual swim test in 2007, and is in ongoing litigation over the matter. He now works as a lifeguard at Atlantic Beach.

Lester’s said his athletic lifestyle has taken a toll on his body, and he
had hip surgery in August. But a mere two and a half weeks later, on the day after his stiches were taken out, he was back swimming in the ocean off Neptune Boulevard beach. He’s there three or four days each week, usually with a small group of athletic friends.

“There’s just something about the ocean,” he said.