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FREE SURFING
Case dismissed against Montauk surfers charged for surfing at no swimming beach
Photos: All photos: Mike Nelson
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May 12, 2008
22440 visits
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Surfing is not swimming.
At least that is what the East Hampton (NY) Town Justice Court decided recently after eight surfers beat charges of violating a section of the State of New York Official Compilation of Codes, Rules, and Regulations, while surfing on the north side of Montauk Point, known as the North Bar.
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Attorney Joseph Giannini, who helped legalize surfing at Camp Hero in Montauk in 2004, represented the self-proclaimed "Montauk Eight." And even though the prosecution argued "surfing by definition involves swimming, and is thereby a forbidden activity contemplated under the statute," Giannini dug deeper to reveal the omission of surfing from the statute was intentional since it was mentioned in the very next section of the law that is specific to surfers. Because of this, Justice Catherine A. Cahill decided the state distinguishes surfing from swimming. "In that the Legislature spoke to the specific activity of surfing in the very same body of law," Cahill wrote, "this court is left with no alternative but to believe that they did not intend to include it there." She cited Riffle v. Ranson, which says, "If the Legislature explicitly limits application of a rule to one specific factual situation, and omits to apply the rule to any other situation, courts should assume the omission was intentional; courts should infer the Legislature intended the limited rule would not apply to any other situation." The good news for surfers in Montauk is that the ruling is almost like a get out of jail free card. As Giannini says, "If they ticket now, it's going to be considered vindictive or malicious." SURFLINE HOME PAGE MORE SURF NEWS |
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