Surfer, skateboarder and English teacher Caroline Duerr hits the waves at Manasquan beach. Photo: Ann Coen
Surfing isn’t just another hobby for Caroline Duerr. Raised in Brielle among the tight-knit Shore towns near Manasquan, surfing was part of everyday life. Her father, Scott Duerr—a South Orange native and East Coast Surfing Hall of Fame inductee—passed down his love of the sport early.
“He’s the definition of a rad dad,” Duerr says. “When we could barely swim, we’d be out there with floaties and little buoys on our backs.” Her mother, Leslie, remembers the occasional side-eye from beachgoers, but surfing is just what the Duerrs do.
Duerr is our June 2026 cover model. Buy the issue here. Photo: Ann Coen
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Still, learning wasn’t easy. Duerr remembers the fear of being under too long and taking waves head-on. “Sometimes you learn your limits the hard way,” she says. Her first board, a custom, hot-pink Byrne she named Beep Bop, was her prized possession until it snapped during a high-tide session. “We got her fixed, but she was never the same. I was devastated,” she says.
Now 31, Duerr splits her time between the classroom and the beach, teaching English at the K-8 New School of Monmouth County and coaching advanced girls’ surf teams at Pink Pineapple surf camp in Manasquan.
“Surfing does so much for your confidence as a young girl,” she says.
A lifelong athlete, Duerr played collegiate soccer and, more recently, took up skateboarding, winning the first-ever women’s competition at FDR Skatepark in Philadelphia in 2021. Across disciplines, she sees a clear through line. “Movement is a form of medicine,” says Duerr. “There’s an art to falling.”
Caroline Duerr has been surfing since childhood and more recently took up skateboarding. Photo: Ann Coen
That philosophy carries into everyday life—whether it’s a tough school day, a family emergency, or encouraging a young surfer to get back out there. “When things get overwhelming, I remind myself to stay calm and breathe,” she says. “You always come out stronger on the other side of the wave.”
The ideal Shore day of her youth reflects that same rhythm.
“I’d start with riding my bike with my sisters to the beach,” Duerr says. “We’d stop at Brielle Bagels—I’d get a pork roll, egg and cheese with an orange juice—catch the drawbridge like we always do, and then longboard with our friends. We don’t plan on seeing anyone, but everyone just shows up. That’s the Jersey Shore we grew up on.”
The day would end the way all good beach days do: a burger and milkshake (with hard ice cream) from Carlson’s Corner, a quick shower, family dinner at home, and Kohr’s Frozen Custard with fireworks lighting up the sky at Jenkinson’s Boardwalk.
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