The inspirational story of one woman learning to surf and creating a
new life in gritty, eccentric Rockaway Beach
Unmoored by a failed marriage and disconnected from her high-octane life
in the city, Diane Cardwell finds herself staring at a small group of
surfers coasting through mellow waves toward shore--and senses something
shift. Rockaway is the riveting, joyful story of one woman's
reinvention--beginning with Cardwell taking the A Train to Rockaway, a
neglected spit of land dangling off New York City into the Atlantic
Ocean. She finds a teacher, buys a tiny bungalow, and throws her
not-overly-athletic self headlong into learning the inner workings and
rhythms of waves and the muscle development and coordination needed to
ride them.
As Cardwell begins to find her balance in the water and out, superstorm
Sandy hits, sending her into the maelstrom in search of safer ground. In
the aftermath, the community comes together and rebuilds, rekindling its
bacchanalian spirit as a historic surfing community, one with its own
quirky codes and surf culture. And Cardwell's surfing takes off as she
finds a true home among her fellow passionate longboarders at the
Rockaway Beach Surf Club, living out "the most joyful path through
life."
Rockaway is a stirring story of inner salvation sought through a
challenging physical pursuit--and of learning to accept the idea of a
complete reset, no matter when in life it comes.
