NAHANT — Once Boston Surf Adventures Founder Grant Gary discovered the joys of “hanging 10” in the New England winter four years ago, he set out to share that enthusiasm with his fellow devotees by putting together a winter surf camp.
But sorry, folks. The last of these five winter surfing sessions ended this past weekend.
Curiously, Gary got into surfing not because of its mystique, or because he heard a Beach Boys record and got nostalgic. He was in the middle of a general malaise in his life.
“I started surfing when I was pretty unhappy in my life … I needed an outlet, I needed some way to process my really really difficult emotions,” Gary said about picking up the hobby 10 years ago. “(Surfing) wasn’t an escape, it was a way to directly, head on, face things. And, the ocean was just the perfect place to do it,”
Gary said the first time he ever paddled out, he knew with complete confidence that he would be shark’s bait.
“It took about 30 days in the water before I paddled out and I wasn’t absolutely just terrified that I was going to be eaten and die,” Gary said.
He said the second the fear went away, it was replaced with total peace and calm.
After daylight savings hit one year and Gary put away the board for the winter, he came across the Pulitzer-Prize winning book, “Barbarian Days: A Surfing Life,” by William Finnegan — the book that taught him all about winter surfing.
Gary bought all the gear needed, and headed to the ocean the day after a large snow storm.
“I put all the gear on in my car, I cranked the heat up as high as it would go and I just stayed in the car until I was super-duper hot. Then I turned the car off, put the key in my wetsuit, I got out with boots, gloves, hood, everything,” Gary said. “I walked to the ocean through the snow … and then I got into the water and I was not cold, I didn’t even feel the cold or the ocean or anything.”
He surfed for an hour and a half in 15-degree weather with a windchill of around five degrees.
“It gave me this perspective of, ‘well where else am I limiting myself in my life?’” Gary said.
Gary became a full-time surf instructor almost four years ago, and it’s one of his biggest passions to show people that surfing can be a year-round sport in New England.
“The winter camp is one of my favorite parts of the business because it gives people the opportunity to surf year-round in New England,” Gary said. “Whether it snows or whether it rains in the winter when we get these big storms, we get waves.”
This past weekend, 12 surfers headed out, paired with four instructors for the fifth and last winter camp of the year.
Gary and his instructors go over winter surfing safety and basics Friday night, then they head into the water Saturday and Sunday morning split up with three attendees per instructor.
Camp attendee Victoria Brian grew up in Boston, learned to surf in Portugal two years ago, and discovered Gary’s camp through Instagram. She said she had always wanted to be able to surf year round.
Saturday morning, she said she always gets a little nervous, especially in the winter, right before she paddles out.
“Afterwards, you’re just super chill, it’s a great workout, you get the best sleep of your life that night,” Brian said about coming out of the water. “You always remember that coming out feeling, so that’s why you keep coming back in again.”
Boston Surf Adventures will hold its first public spring camp April 19.
