Surfing New Hampshire with the Summer Sessions Crew

East coast surf!
Excitedly running to the surf in New Hampshire
  A day after flying from Savannah to Vermont Heidi had planned a quick road trip out to the New Hampshire coast to see some friends and possibly score some surfable waves. We had driven down to the N.H. coast before and scored some pretty big waves as Hurricane Irene blew through so I was looking forward to going back.


  It's always nice to see a big surf scene in other places and all of our friends here in Rye, N.H. are focused around the pulsing New Hampshire surf scene. Ryan and Tyler actually own the coolest surf shop on the strip called Summer Sessions. I am always impressed by how busy the shop is with surf camps, shoppers, phones ringing off the hook, and ladies only surf groups, but this time it was even more impressive. Ryan and Tyler have expanded with a surfing apparel shop in Portsmouth and a Juice Shack up the road. Even more daunting is the fact they currently employ around 50 employees. Pretty incredible considering their childhood heroes included bad boy local surf deviants who would paddle out past the whistling lifeguards back when surfing wasn't allowed between nine and five o'clock.

Walking out to the lineup
Ryan putting on a nose riding demonstration
  I still remembered how cold the water was after Irene (think ice cream headaches with every duck dive), but I was pleasantly surprised with the current temp of the ocean. With a 3mm wetsuit the water was still cool and refreshing but no ice cream headaches. Glassy chest high waves were rolling in at Jenness Beach so Heidi and I wasted no time in hitting the surf. We had a blast and surfed until our feet were too cold to continue. Heidi sat a little further out than me and paddled into the biggest waves of the day. I was pretty impressed. After warming up in the shop Ryan and Tyler talked me into going back out for session number two. We grabbed some logs (longboards) and had another great surf. The waves were smaller already but I was already so stoked to be able to surf at all during this East coast visit.

Summer Sessions Surf Shop

Like a kid in a candy shop
Tyler, Heidi, Ryan, and Me


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