Skudin Surf-Rockaway—Making Big Waves For All

By Kami-Leigh Agard

“Long Beach — Rockaway Beach, same church different pew,” is a sentiment commonly shared by the neighboring beach-loving communities. And with Skudin Surf-Rockaway local grom, 14-year-old Charlie Gallo, not just qualifying for the U.S.A. Championships in California, but placing top 20 in the nation; plus, Robert Browne placing fourth at the U.S. Para Surfing Championships in California—for Jeff Anthony of Skudin Surf and its nonprofit arm, Surf for All, what binds the two beach enclaves is a shared faith in the trinity of ocean, surf and community.

Anthony grew up in and lives on the west end of the peninsula. His connection with the Skudin family started long before Skudin Surf’s founding in 2008.

He said, “I grew up on Beach 122nd Street. We didn’t have a swim team here, so my parents brought me out to Long Beach, where I competitively swam for the Long Beach Aquatic Tiger Sharks. A big contingent of Rockaway people would carpool to Long Beach as besides the St. Francis De Sales CYO team, we didn’t have a ‘serious’ swim team here. I met Will and Cliff Skudin on the swim team, and we just formed a bond. And as we got older, we more loved our free time surfing in the ocean. I met Will when I was eight years old, and he was seven, and we became really good friends.

“Will chased the big wave professional surfing world, while his older brother, Cliff, and I went to college swimming competitively.”

Will and Cliff Skudin are both globally ranked as top big wave surfers, but Anthony has wave cred of his own. He’s won enough contests to garner a sponsorship from apparel brand Quiksilver. And in 2009, became the first and only NYC resident to be crowned the East Coast Surfing champ. However, after getting a “real job,” digging on excavator barges on waterways—a chance meeting with Will Skudin in Rincón, brought life full circle for them.

“I was still doing some private surf coaching and ran into Will in Puerto Rico on a coaching trip. Admittedly, I was getting unhealthy. Will looked at me, after seeing me a little bigger than I’d been before, he made a comment, ‘Come on, you gotta get back in the game.’ After a few months of serious thought, I resigned my dredging job and got back into working with Skudin Surf and became the director right away. They worked it out to where I was running Skudin’s Rockaway location because well, I’m the Rockaway local. That was 13 years ago, and I’ve been running Skudin-Rockaway Surf Camp ever since,” Anthony said.

For Anthony, who has over 25 years of surf coaching and judging under his board, his passion is seeing how years of mentorship reaps rewards with Skudin’s competitive wave riders like Charlie Gallo and Robert Browne.

With Skudin’s grom, Gallo, from catching her first wave—to this year being sponsored by surfing brand, Hurley, placing top 20 in the nation at the 2025 USA Surfing Championships—Gallo is a testament to Skudin’s passion to pass the board on to the next wave of surfers.

Anthony said, “One summer, the Gallo family showed up with their kids. I believe the girls, Palmer and Charlie, were five and six years old, and their brother, Wilds, was probably three. Mom and dad found out about our surf camp. Adrian, their dad, was big into snowboarding, so he had that passion for extreme sports in his blood. The family’s love for surfing grew to where they moved from Brooklyn to Long Beach, while the children were learning to surf in Rockaway.

“These kids quickly accelerated through from what we call the yellow group, where we give them both group and one-to-one lessons. Then, they graduated to our more experienced group, where they got more advanced coaching from me. Then our high-performance training, which includes video analysis. Charlie just excelled, and we’re just so proud of her dedication and hard work.”

For 14-year-old Gallo, a short boarder, who currently works as a junior lifeguard, surfing with Skudin is more than a passion, it’s a lifestyle.

“From day one with Skudin, I fell in love with surfing and wanted to become a competitive surfer. My family moved from Brooklyn to Long Beach because of our passion to surf with Skudin,” she shared.

And the Long Beach High School student’s schedule is packed. “I pretty much surf almost every day, working around my work schedule as a junior lifeguard. I also surf in the winter, and when the water is too cold, I train in the gym. Before competitions, I call my cousin, who is on the U.S. Olympics Ski Team. She’s like my mental health coach, making sure my brain’s steady and I’m eating well.

“Jeff and the team are incredible people and they made me the surfer I am today. Plus, I love seeing how they help kids of all backgrounds, including those with disabilities through their nonprofit, Surf For All,” Gallo said.

When people ask what separates Skudin Surf from other surf schools, Anthony shared that another example is Long Beach resident, Robert Browne, who after a critical surfing accident when he was just 12, still continues to enjoy the waves, so much so that he placed fourth at this past June’s U.S. Para Surfing Championships.

“Through Skudin’s Surf For All, we have three guys in wheelchairs that are pretty gung ho about searching bigger waves,” Anthony said. “Rob Browne is a competitive beast. After years of us doing our own nonprofit outings, we started hearing about these surf contests, and the various divisions for different disabilities. The guys we’ve gone out with like Rob, compete in the prone two division, which is for mostly quadriplegics or people that need help getting pushed into waves. With the prone assist division, you have a pitcher and a catcher. I serve as a catcher. Rob had two chances to make the final. With solid three- to five-foot swells, Rob crushed his first heat—locking in finals’ qualification before even paddling out for the second heat. Unfortunately, in the final, we got caught by a bunch of waves from the inside. However, Rob fought back strong and wound up ranking fourth. Our shared goal is for him to move up one slot and get on the international team, so he can compete in the world surfing games.”

For the Skudin family, Anthony, surfers like Gallo, Browne and countless others—surf culture is here to stay in both Rockaway and Long Beach. As Gallo shared, “The ocean is my happy place. Surfing with Skudin has been such a blessing. Anytime I’m upset, my parents say, ‘Go surfing.’ And that’s all I want to do.”

 For more info about Skudin Surf and Surf For All, visit: https://skudinsurf.com or skudinsurf and surfforall on Instagram.