Jon Coen

“Most training is a sense of ‘Here’s a tool. Here’s another tool. And here’s another tool.’ But if you put it in carpentry terms, just because you know how the tools work doesn’t mean you know how to build something with them. Someone has to teach you how to make a blueprint and execute the building. This class is about […]

For both folks who live in the area or enjoy a lot of time here, there are two great ways we remember summer. The first is the classic LBI, or general shore town memories. In New Jersey, it’s a lot of sugar sand beaches, crabbing from old boats, French fries with a seasoning that makes them taste better than inland, […]

No shellfish in the last decade has been covered in the New Jersey media nor talked about on the coast as much as oysters. The bivalve, once nearly extinct locally, has been one of our local waterways’ greatest success stories, thanks to renewed shellfish farming and the oyster becoming a favorite seafood. But this summer, oyster farmers, suppliers, seafood restaurants […]

Boy, we look good for 250 years old. Of course, Japan looks at us and says, “Two hundred fifty years? Call us on your 2,686th birthday.” And then Egypt is over there, feet up in its favorite chair, just laughing. This is certainly a strange time to be celebrating our semiquincentennial because this country has a great history of incredible […]

Over the years of writing Liquid Lines, there have been lots of occasions when I have written about boardshorts – boardies, trunks, baggies, whatever you call them. It’s not that I’m writing about specific boardshorts. I’m writing about what they represent. We surf in them, work in them and sleep in them. We show where they got cut by a […]

Excitement is on the rise for the 2026 all-female Jetty Coquina Jam, which is slated for Sunday July 19 on the 68th Street beach in Brant Beach. This is the 18th annual event, which has grown from a few tents on the beach for a small weeknight gathering in 2009 to a massive Jetty Rock Foundation beach festival that draws […]

The ocean is bathwater and the hydrangeas are bursting. Crabs and flounder have returned to our bay, I had my first cup of Nutella chocolate ice cream, and each weekend, more and more folks are willing to stand on a line literally out the door for a cup of coffee. Must be good java … And I was trying to […]

A few weeks before the heat of this summer, GMC announced it was coming onboard as the Official Truck of Natural Selection Tour – a series of

We are being told that going outside under smoky skies is like puffing multiple packs of cigarettes. Great … now I’m addicted to Canadian wildfires. Enough with the jokes. Let’s talk abut the wildness that occurred last week through a thin slice of our area. There’s this very strong theme that has always run through East Coast surfing. And the […]

There’s something fairly amazing about the all-female Jetty Coquina Jam that happens year after year. There’s the outpouring of community support. There’s the level of surfing, which the women seem to take to new levels each year. There’s the vibe on the beach, which has grown to a full summertime beach festival. But beyond all those things is the […]