When he started surfing in The Hamptons the lineups were uncrowded and untouched, almost rugged so to speak. The population was only massively inflated in the summers and the coastline took less of a beating when fall hurricanes rolled through.
The year-round population is now much larger than it used to be and the surf lineups are crowded in the middle of the winter on a weekday (weekends are usually crowded all times of the year with visitors from New York City). There are now many, many more summer visitors coming to the Hamptons and that has of course put stress on our beaches. The threat of foresters and hurricanes is now far greater with the erosion that has taken place since the Army Core inserted the groins, and it continues to worsen with the Army Core's beach replenishment programs that hinder the ocean from naturally replenishing its shoreline.
He has always surfed year round, but most often it was alone. He used to have to beg people to surf with him in the Winter of fear of surfing the big, cold waves in solitude. He used to be able to go to the beach without massive crowds even on "off season" winter days.
He still surfs regularly, as a matter of fact, today is April 2nd and he surfed twice today (amazing because that is still considered winter surfing in New York and that is reserved for only the most dedicated individuals). Now there is never a fear of surfing alone, as there will be dozens of people surfing any given day. Still goes to the beach almost everyday, and can notice the loss of beach very easily. He now uses the jetties to surf as when they collect sand they sometimes form sandbars that produce very good surfing waves.