Cape May Ferry Provides a Swell Opportunity for Championship Bucks County-bred Surfer

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Rob Kelly grew up in Bucks County, learned to surf in Hawaii, now lives full-time in Ocean City, NJ, and recently raced on his board with the Cape May Ferry. His wild ride was captured by Sara Bloomquist and Brandon Longo for 6abc. 

Kelly is one of the most recognized pro surfers in the Garden State. He has taken on waves in Asia, South America, Central America, and Australia. 

The Cape May–Lewes Ferry ride was an unplanned attempt to find a wave when the early June swells were still too tame.  

“It’s just the kind of novelty thing,” Kelly said. “If there’s no waves or there hasn’t been waves for a while in the ocean, sometimes we’ll just be like getting the itch to go surfing. The only wave that happened to be breaking that day was from the ferry.” 

Kelly noted that the ferry’s churn is unpredictable. Sometimes it’s tiny; sometimes it’s nonexistent. “That time it just happened to be a pretty good wave,” he assessed. 

It was also a thrill for the ferry’s passengers.

Kelly noticed their enthusiastic reaction from his board.

“The whole time you’re on the wave you can hear yelling and screaming, and you can see the cellphone videos. It hypes you up,” said Kelly.  

His closing comment, however, was a word of caution about leaving stunts of this caliber to professionals. 

More on this impromptu ride is at 6abc

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