New Jersey pro surfer catches wave with help from ferry boat

BySarah Bloomquist and Brandon Longo WPVI logo
Friday, June 4, 2021
New Jersey pro surfer catches wave with help from ferry boat
With a little help from the Cape May - Lewes Ferry, pro surfer and Ocean City, New Jersey's own Rob Kelly was able to get his fix.

CAPE MAY, New Jersey (WPVI) -- Catching the perfect wave takes some skill and you have to have the timing down.

But what if there are no waves?

With a little help from the Cape May - Lewes Ferry, pro surfer and Ocean City, New Jersey's own Rob Kelly was able to get his fix.

"It's just the kind of novelty thing, 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 told Action News.

With a little help from the Cape May - Lewes Ferry, pro surfer and Ocean City, New Jersey's own Rob Kelly was able to get his fix.

In a recent video captured by his friend, Ryan Simalchik, you can see Kelly paddle up next to the ferry and take on the wave.

"You never really know what the waves going to be like. Like the ferries go out every single day, but sometimes the waves are tiny, sometimes there's no wave at all. That time it just happened to be a pretty good wave," he says.

It's also quite a thrill for the ferry riders.

NJ pro surfer Rob Kelly talks to Action News about the thrill of catching a wave next to a massive ferry boat.

"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 when you're riding the wave," says Kelly, adding that it's important to leave stunts like this up to the pros.

Kelly, who is sponsored by Billabong, is one of the most recognized pro surfers in the Garden State. He grew up in Bucks County, Pennsylvania and later moved to Ocean City where he's led the surfing scene. He has even taken on the waves in Asia, South America, Central America and Australia.

You catch more of Kelly's video on the YouTube page, NumbSkulls.