Per Billabong’s most recent partnership with the Andy Warhol Foundation, we at Kona Surf Company pay tribute to Andy Warhol for popularizing silk screen printing, and we continue his legacy of screen printing as a form of art on a daily basis here in Kona Surf Company Headquarters. Kona Surf Company is a brand dedicated to designing clothes and boards that relate to the artistic standpoints of the surfers in our community, in homage to our culture of living and surfing in a South Jersey coastal shore town.
What first originated in China from 900 – 1200 AD, silk screen printing has become a versatile artistic way of expression in the clothing industry, art world, and now – the surfing community. Kona Surf Company has been using silk screen printing techniques as early as 1975, and we continue to keep the process alive behind the “screens”. Our designs are for the people, and in our case, the people of the Greater Cape May County and South Jersey area. Everything we sell is carefully designed to reflect the stories shared amongst friends, the sessions shared amongst our surf team, and the good times had by all in this area that we call home. We utilize eco-friendly water-based inks and all green chemicals during the screen printing process – safe for the environment, and safe for you to wear.
“We have the Artbox on the boardwalk including pieces from artists all over the County, and most recently some of our local artists like David Macomber, Lou Fermonte and Julian Miller are really starting to make names for themselves,” said Kona Surf Co. Owner, Mike Sciarra. “We are proud of our local artists and we continue to have close ties with our art community here in Cape May County. We at Kona want to continue to have our merchandise reflect the area we live in, and the people we live with – friends, family and surfers alike,” said Mike.
Click here an inside look on how we are reshaping the brand through the use silk printing for our various designs!
For a small island known predominantly known for our rides and boardwalk, there’s a lot more history to be acknowledged and preserved here in the Wildwoods. For instance, what was once 5 miles beach separated by two inlets: Hereford and Turtle Gut, are now the cities of Wildwood Crest, Wildwood, West Wildwood and North Wildwood. Anyone who fishes or paddles in Cape May County have more than likely traveled through the Cape May Inlet – a deep, fish inhabited channel sandwiched between two jetties: one beach side known as the rocks, and the other known as poverty beach. However, few realize that Cape May Inlet once shared a neighboring inlet known as Turtle Gut, which traveled through the middle of Wildwood Crest around what is now rambler road. Many also fail to know that the Turtle Gut Inlet was the site of a naval battle in 1776 between the British and the United Colonies. In order to prevent the Americans from receiving war supplies through the port of Philadelphia, the British Navy established a blockade off of the Delaware Bay, including a fleet of over 240 cannons. The Nancy, a brig captained by Hugh Montgomery and chartered by Robert Morris of the Pennsylvania Committee of Safety loaded supplies in St. Thomas and St. Croix, including 360 barrels of gunpowder, fifty fire locks, one hundred and one hogshead of rum, and sixty-two hogshead of sugar, heading for Philadelphia. On June 28th, 1776, a lookout spotted the Nancy sailing toward Cape May in hot pursuit by British forces. On June 29th, Nancy, still in pursuit by the British, ran aground in a heavy fog nearby Turtle Gut Inlet, after which, 3 American relief boats set out to assist Nancy by attempting to salvage the cargo, especially the gunpowder kegs. By late morning, June 29th, 265 kegs of gunpowder had been removed and stashed in the dunes off of 5 miles beach, with the help from residents of the island, leaving 100 kegs of gunpowder remaining on the ship. It was then that Captain Barry of the Lexington relief boat ordered the main sail of the Nancy be wrapped around fifty pounds of gun powder to create a long fuse running to the remaining 100 kegs of gunpowder. The fuse was then lit, the majority of the American crew abandoned the Nancy brig, and the British quickly boarded the vessel taking the American crew’s abandonment as surrender. Shortly after the British boarded the Nancy, the gunpowder exploded with a blast felt for miles, killing many British. The battle of Turtle Gut Inlet demonstrated the resourcefulness of the American forces, and as a result, the British Navy moved their blockade further away from the Cape May area. Had it not been for the ingenuity of Captain Barry and the American crews in the battle of Turtle Gut Inlet, we very well might still be under British rule.
A wise man once said, “People in small towns, much more than in cities, share a destiny.” Residents of the Wildwoods, and other New Jersey beach towns like them, all share a common destiny to make the world (and the town that we live in) a better place, and to be the best human beings that we can be. Local professional athletes like Joe Maloy and Matt Szczur embody everything that we as small town residents stand for: honesty (sometimes brutally honest to a fault), tenacity, hardworking personality, and determination. These two young men have achieved well beyond their goals, and continue to serve as role models to our youth on and off the field. Joe Maloy continues to routinely dedicate his time to community/charity events; and in the offseason, Matt Szczur fundraises for the fight against blood cancer with the Andy Talley Bone Marrow Foundation. Young men and women like them that continue to do what they love, while also trying to make a positive difference in the world, is what makes us here at Kona Surf Company proud to have our headquarters in this small town of Wildwood, NJ. In the words of our owner Mike Sciarra, “We might be small, but we have a lot of punch,” and we at Kona Surf Company believe that Joe and Matt will not be the last world-class athletes to come out of the Wildwoods, as “it is our destiny”. 
