Hear writer/producer/director Greg Shea and surfer Pam Chevez talking about the film on GBH’s Morning Edition.
Riding along New Hampshire’s short stretch of coastline with her college boyfriend in 2005 Melinda Ferreira looked out the window and caught a glimpse of what she thought was local wildlife.
“I said ‘Oh, look at those beautiful seals in the water right off the coast,’” she recalled, laughing. “And he’s like, those are surfers.’”
She decided to join them, but figured her first lesson scheduled on a weekend in May would be cancelled when New Hampshire’s fickle spring weather took a turn for the worse.
“It was 40 degrees out, hailing, wind and rain,” she said. “And we went down to the shop to politely reschedule and stuff. The guy who took us out for a lesson was like ‘you guys, stoked or what?’”
It was her introduction to a community of New England surf enthusiasts so dedicated to their sport that inclement weather is never an excuse to avoid the beach. Indeed, GBH News spent time with more than a half dozen surfers from Rhode Island to Maine for whom braving the wind, snow and ice cold water temperatures is part of the fun.
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“If you have a good swell and the winds are going to be good than it doesn’t matter whether it’s 90 degrees out or it’s 3 degrees out. You’re going to go out,“ said Dave Cropper, 53, of Hampton, N.H. “And then you’re in the water and you’re just waiting for the next wave and you’re stepping into another dimension.”
"To me, it's a very spiritual experience."Melinda Ferreira, a New Hampshire surfer
For Ferreira, that cold surf lesson decades ago ignited a passion. Standing on a wave once made her want to do it again. She often starts her day along the coast of Rye, N.H., at first light — half an hour before sunrise. On a recent January morning, the sky was pink as she warmed up with yoga poses on top of her surfboard. Then she zipped up the hood of her wet suit and headed into the water.
“You look out to the horizon and the sun is rising, to be able to see that come up from your board in zero degree temperatures or less is — I don’t know how to describe it,” she said. “I would imagine it’s like an astronaut looking back towards earth and just being like ‘what am I looking at?’ To me, it’s a very spiritual experience.”
Short documentary written, produced and directed by Greg Shea