NJ business owners to paddle from Oceanport to NYC for charity

OCEANPORT — The wind at their backs, a unique view of an oncoming New York City, and money raised for select, cherished charities.

That would be the ideal outcome on Saturday, June 5 for a group of New Jersey business owners who plan to stand-up paddleboard from the Oceanport Paddle Club, which is run by Christopher Macioch, to the southern tip of Manhattan.

As designed, that's a 30-mile trip, but Macioch said he has previously done a 26-mile paddle around Manhattan, and two other participants, Jeremy Julio and John Majeski, have taken part in 24-hour endurance runs.

So, while the voyage is semi-recreational, Macioch made clear that it's not an amateur pursuit.

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Macioch will be raising money for CASA of Ocean County. Julio, of Last Bite Mosquito and Tick Control, is paddling for the Lyme Light Foundation. Majeski, owner of SERVPRO of Eatontown/Long Branch, is fundraising for the Kortney Rose Foundation.

A fourth participant, OPC co-founder and Summa Love Surfing & Yoga founder Bryan Zinski, plans to donate to Big Brothers Big Sisters of Coastal & Northern New Jersey.

Macioch came up with the idea to paddle from OPC to NYC years ago, but had put it on the back burner until Julio and Majeski approached him with a very similar concept.

Now, the countdown is on — provided the forecast cooperates on the 5th.

"No stormy weather," Macioch said. "We're hoping for a slight south wind so we have the wind at our back. We will be getting a boat ride back from our support boats, which we do have several very experienced captains who are familiar with those waterways."

And even though the paddlers will be coming ashore across state lines and may have to navigate shipping traffic as well as water conditions, it's still a small-scale event, so at this point no clearance from New York City is needed.

That could change in the future. Macioch hopes it will.

"We're really just going to get a lot of data from this year," he said. "We are considering, if it goes the way that we hope and plan, that this might be something you'll see year after year."

Macioch said he also expects the event to be live-streamed, to further the spread of what his group is doing and what organizations they are helping.