It’s a celebration. Boogers rejoice!
New York officially hated boogie boarders. A few days ago, all boogie boards were banned from the Big Apple. People were mad, understandably. Boogers were flicking themselves all over everything, outraged by a decision that was, well, pretty dumb. But there’s good news! New York decided that they might still think boogie boarders are kind of cute, and asked them out on a second date.
According to Beth Perkins, a New Yorker and Rockaway Beach Civic Association member, the ban was put in place by the New York Parks Department after two children were swept out to sea on their boogie boards during Hurricane Bertha’s little East Coast dust-up. “From what I understand,” she told The Gothamist , “there were two young kids who got swept out on their boogie boards down around Beach 33rd during Bertha.” Floatation devices are banned at beaches in the Big Apple, because the Parks Department thinks, according to Perkins, that “boogie boards are a crutch for kids/people that don’t know how to swim.”
So boogie boarders were pissed, and not just the ones that actually know what they’re doing. Even the ones that actually used boogie boards as floatation devices were pissed (or their mothers were, anyway). And they let everyone know – they started a letter campaign trying to get the ban lifted, proposing that “all surfing items (surfboards, planers, boogie boards, fins, stand up paddles) be allowed on the surfing beaches and anything under 48” without skegs should be allowed on the swimming beaches.”
And guess what? The Parks Department listened. A few hours after receiving the letters, they changed their minds. “Boogie boards,” they wrote, “will be allowed in open sections of beaches throughout Labor Day, as long as they do not create an unsafe condition.” Sure, it’s a little grudging, especially given that they’re also planning on doing a further review of boogies after the summer is over, but it’s a win for the little guy. Boogie boarders don’t take anything lying down, do they?
