Dan's Papers - December 21, 2007 - The Beach Cam Caper

There are a handful of local people in the Hamptons community that we are all happy to have here. They add value, fill a need, and quite frankly are just interesting. One such member of this community is East Hampton's Jimmy Minardi. His Minardi Training program, which includes a custom formed yoga class called Surfer Yoga that he developed, has caught the attention and spirit of many. Minardi is a man of the water and also a surfer. He is one of the many who understand the importance of the beaches and the oceans here, and has dedicated much of his life protecting the beaches, working as a lifeguard and even being involved with the year-round volunteer ocean rescue team.

It is for these reasons, among many others, why it has been a big surprise to hear that his Internet beach cam on Georgica Beach, which was mounted on advertising legend Jerry Della Femina's oceanfront property with his permission, was cut down with what is believed to be a chainsaw and stolen in the middle of the night. The beach cam, like dozens of other beach cams all across Long Island, was used for those who wished to view the ocean while away at work or at home. According to Minardi, his website was receiving attention from around the world.

Unlike most beach cams, this one in particular was a state-of-the-art camera and had the ability to measure beach erosion for scientists all across the country to use for data. It also made it quite an expensive venture for Minardi, who spent $8,000 to get such a camera that could give accurate information. In the 60s, 70s and 80s, Minardi's father did this exact same task himself the old fashioned way, using a measuring stick.

Since the theft of the camera, a full criminal investigation was opened by The East Hampton Village Police Department to find the culprit, and what they have found so far, besides some very significant leads, is that the camera has been the cause of some controversy, most notably from territorial surfers, who feel that beach cameras add surfing traffic in the water when the waves are good, and also takes away part of the adventure of finding good waves. "Before these cameras, part of the surfing adventure was to go out and search for a good break. But now, with cameras such as Jimmy's in place, it not only takes that away from the surfing experience, but it also adds to an already crowded surf break," one Montauk surfer told me in confidence.

If most surfers feel this way, then one would think that Minardi, who is a surfer himself, would never have put a beach cam up in the first place. "This camera has always been about doing something nice for the community and measuring beach erosion. It was never about anything other then that," Minardi told me.

After speaking to a number of surfers, I've heard both sides. Some have told me that the camera doesn't add any extra people to Georgica, it's the good surf that does, and obviously when weather conditions create big waves, all major surf spots on the East End get busy. Let's face it, every year more and more people come out here to surf and when they hit the water, they head to a popular break. One surfer told me that there are numerous weather websites, such as www.surfline.com, that give extremely accurate information on wave conditions, while another told me that although those tools are accurate and affect where people go, a real time picture of the waves just makes it too easy.

Another divide is the advertising purpose of Minardi's beach cam. There are those that say he has the right to advertise his business and himself any way that he wishes (he does of course) while others have a problem with him "tricking" people into thinking that he is doing the beaches and the community a service, when he is really just advertising his Minardi Training business.

The reality of this is that he is doing both, but less of the latter. "To say that I am making money on this camera is just ridiculous," he said. "Most people that view the cam are people who just love the beach and want to have a look at it when they physically can't be there. It gives them a reminder of why they come out here in the first place. I can count on one hand how many clients I've gained from this $8,000 project. It has always been about doing something positive. The negative vibes I've been getting ever since it was sawed down have been coming from some of the strangest places."

One can't ignore the strangest of all places that took issue with the camera after it was cut down by a criminal - Hollywood. Quite possibly one of the most bizarre emails I have ever seen, not just from this particular story, but in my life, was an e-mail that was sent out by actor Matt Norklun who enjoys Georgica beach in the summertime and threatened in legal language, or at least what he thought was legal language, to charge Minardi for appearance fees on his beach cam at the Screen Actor Guild rate of $1,500 per thirteen week cycle. The e-mail included terms such as "legal machinery" and really came across as quite comical. It's almost too easy to point out the absurdity of such a demand. There are public Internet cameras all across the world. There are websites where you can view Times Square, the Eiffel Tower and even the African jungle in real time. Welcome to the present, it's called the Internet. Welcome to the Hamptons beaches, people like them, and you are not going to prevent people from going to them by suing some guy, a local guy for that matter, that put up a beach camera. But this is not the issue.

The issue is that an $8,000 piece of equipment was destroyed and somebody either thought it was valuable and stole it with intentions to sell it, or just plain didn't like it and took the law into their own hands. Either way, doing such things doesn't help anybody or solve anything, and this community doesn't stand for things like that. The truth is that the camera provided a lot of data, happiness to those who miss the beach when they can't be there, and helped a local fitness instructor, yogi and father of two make a living. While it can be argued that it has a direct impact on the amount of surfers in the water, it doesn't mean that tearing it down off of private property was appropriate. In fact, it was very inappropriate. Quite frankly, after speaking with so many surfers on this subject, this reporter doesn't even believe that a surfer would do such a thing. Surfers today are smart, organized through the Surfrider Foundation, and know how to legally go about things that they don't like. Ironically, every surfer I spoke to (I spoke to well over a dozen) knows Minardi and likes him on a personal level. My guess is that if they really didn't want that camera there, they would have simply asked him to angle it away from the Georgica jetty where surfers normally venture, and have it face out in front of the lifeguard stands where surfers aren't allowed to surf (at least in the summertime). In this case, we would give the erosion data scientists a nice view and the surf spot will be out of view. Seems like a fair solution to me.

Minardi is in the process of raising funds to purchase a new beach camera and will continue to dedicate his life to his passion for fitness, the ocean and the community that he lives in and serves.