Sister Anne Francine, 51, left, and Sister Maria Loyola, 82, of the Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary in Runnemede, stand up for surfers when they visit the Villa Maria by the Sea convent. Sister James Dolores, the property manager of Villa Maria, told us about the history of the tournament and how the beach got its name.
Sister James Dolores, 71: Years ago, the south end of Stone Harbor was not inhabited, and the area in front of our convent was considered a private beach that we had riparian rights to. We’d have our beach time, 1 to 3 pm, when we’d hire a lifeguard; otherwise the surfers would use it, because there were no swimmers there. The surfers are the ones who dubbed it Nun’s Beach.
About thirteen years ago, a gentleman approached me and said, ‘We’d like to run a little contest as a payback for your letting us use your beach to surf all these years.’ It was a very small contest that year. We had a table with coffee and donuts. It was a very cold day, but everyone had fun. So we decided to do it again the next year, and then we decided to make it an annual event. It’s always in September, the best weekend that the tides suit us. This year it will be on September 6th.
Five years ago it got too big. They were still running the contests up to dark, and it was losing its flavor as a small-town, family-atmosphere event. So we changed it to an invitational. We send out letters to all those who have surfed it before, and newcomers can also fill out registration forms in the local stores. It’s on a first-come, first-served basis. It’s still fairly large; we get about 100 surfers and a lot more spectators. We’re very grateful to the surfers and to the people who come to watch, because they buy our T-shirts.
One of the big attractions is the nuns. People always say, ‘Sister, do you surf?’ I’m the one who’s pictured on the T-shirts. I say, ‘The closest I’ve gotten to surfing is on this shirt.’ Our shirts are all over the world, in London, Germany, Australia.
Sisters Anne Francine, 51, and Maria Loyola, 82, came down from their convent in Runnemede to help for the day last year. The sisters work the concessions stands, sell food and T-shirts and hats. At night we have a dinner. It’s all a big fundraiser for the convent; it helps us keep the place up.
We have six retreats every summer, with each retreat bringing in 100 to 120 sisters from our congregation, the Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. At the end of the summer we bring the infirmed sisters down, the ones who can make it. They come for five days.
None of the sisters surf. It’s the kind of thing you have to grow up with. I think they’d get hurt if they tried now. But watching it? They do enjoy that. By September, the sisters have started back at school, but we try to get anyone who’s available to come down and help out that day. They work tirelessly. At the end of the day, they’re exhausted, but they know they’ve helped us keep this place going.
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