Blue Vagabond Surf Fest a success after postponement

With the environment, music, art and community in mind, surfers and spectators, young and old, descended upon Bellport’s Ho-Hum Beach for the second annual Vagabond Surf Fest.  The event was postponed by a week due to wind and weather conditions.

“It was a really special day for the community. Everyone had a great time and we got lucky with the weather, waves and wind,” said Andy Gordon, one of the event’s organizers, along with Thaddeas O’Neil.

The festival was named in honor of Dennis Puleston, a designer, author and environmentalist from Bellport. His book, “Blue Water Vagabond, A Nature Journal: A Naturalist’s Year on Long Island,” also served as inspiration for the 2021 festival theme, taken from Chapter 1 of the book. This year’s theme was “the desire to go”—next year’s theme will be taken from Chapter 2.

Puleston died in 2021, but is survived by a daughter, who allowed for the title to be used. Puleston’s environmental work was well-noted, as was his love of ospreys, which he observed and kept records of, visiting their nests from afar with journal in hand. In fact, Puleston’s environmental work eventually led to the protection of the osprey.

“He was the co-founder of the Environmental Defense Fund, which played a key role is securing a nationwide ban of the pesticide DDT in the U.S.  This helped to protect many wildlife, including the beloved osprey, from extinction,” said Gordon.

The Sunday festival brought out about 60 surfers, and all together, approximately 200 total surfers, spectators and volunteers, all of which were given an official Blue Vagabond Surf Fest T-shirt as part of their ticket cost.

The surfers participated in one of 11 expressions throughout the day, for which there were multiple winners within each category. Some of the expression themes were “Stranger Things,” “Voodoo” and “Odyssey,” “where funky surfers surfed funky boards,” according to Gordon. The event was judged by two official judges.

“The most exciting expression session of the day was of the ‘Groms,’ which were all 12 years old and under. We had 15 young rippers and a crowd of 100-plus cheering them on,” said Gordon.

All proceeds of the event went to benefit Center for Environmental Education and Discovery (CEED), a Brookhaven-based environmental group.

“CEED’s vision is to be a community resource for connecting to and experiencing the joys of nature in a way that restores balance and harmony in our lives so we become stewards of the earth,” reads the organization’s mission.

According to Gordon, the event’s success was a product of the dedicated people that helped see the it to fruition.

“Thanks to CEED, The Village of Bellport, ferry captain Mark and his crew, Fire Island National Seashore, The HOG Farm, all the volunteers, all the surfers, all the supporters, and all the businesses who donated to help make this a beautiful event, bringing the community together to play in the sea, have fun, and help support those who will protect our bays and waterways for the next generations of vagabonds,” he added.