For Seacoast surfers, hurricane season is the most wonderful time of the year

As summer comes to a close, New England’s surf season is just getting underway. While most people prepare for hurricanes by taping up their windows and stocking up on candles, avid surfers get ready by rinsing their wetsuits and waxing their boards. Surfers eagerly followed the course of Hurricanes Danielle and Earl, which were expected to produce waves up to 12 feet tall during the final days of August and first days of September.

Hurricanes and nor’easters can result in ideal conditions at select spots on the Seacoast.

“Anyone who really surfs will know this is one of the best places to surf in the United States,” said Adam Coates, of Hampton.

Coates has been surfing in the area for more than 20 years. He’s heard plenty of naysayers dismiss New Hampshire’s surf, but they’re missing out. “They don’t come here when there’s a hurricane, that’s for sure,” he said.

Coates was among a pack of roughly 20 surfers who spent hours riding waves at a spot known as “Rye Rocks” on the afternoon of Tuesday, Aug. 24. The steady drizzle and chilly temperatures were small prices to pay for a steady stream of head-high waves. Coates said conditions were decent, although heavy winds made for choppy, turbulent water. “It should be better after the weekend,” he said, anticipating swells from Danielle.

Craig Scanlon, also of Hampton, spent a solid three hours at Rye Rocks on Aug. 24 but agreed that even better conditions were on the way.

“Fall and winter, if we get hurricane swells or any tropical storms, we get good swells,” he said. “We have great waves here, it’s just not consistent.”

Now 28, Scanlon’s been surfing since he was 12 and currently runs his own business selling Surf Gel, a lubricant that prevents chafing from wetsuits. He surfs year-round in New Hampshire, using a thicker wetsuit in the cold months, along with surfing booties and gloves. “The gear now is right up there,” he said. “It keeps you pretty warm. You’re good for a couple of hours.”

In fact, some local surfers prefer winter over fall. “It depends on who you ask,” Coates said. “The locals around here will say winter, because there’s no one else around.”

One such local is a Portsmouth resident who asked to be identified only as Chris. He’s been surfing in New Hampshire and Maine for about 15 years, and he was carving waves at North Hampton State Beach on Aug. 24. “Fall’s definitely good, (but) winter’s the best,” he said. “There are no people out.”

Although he’s done most of his surfing in New England, Chris has taken a few trips to other parts of the country. Asked how New Hampshire compares to other surfing destinations, he said the main difference is the weather.

“It’s just got that New England Yankee feel to it. It’s cold and raw,” he said. “Everywhere else they have it easy. Even in the summer it’s cold (here).”

But August and September bring ocean temperatures to the mid 60s in New England, and long-time local surfers know all the best spots to hit. An area by the Nubble Lighthouse in Cape Neddick, Maine, offers protection from the wind, especially when it’s blowing inland from the east. When the wind is blowing westward off the shore, it helps the waves stand up, creating ideal conditions at “The Wall” in Hampton.

Glynn MacKenzie headed to The Wall after work on Aug. 24 and waxed his board in the rain. A resident of Lynn, Mass., who works in Exeter, he started surfing in 2005 but only goes out a few times per year. “I have fun most of the time,” MacKenzie said. “Sitting out there is fun enough for me.”

He had planned to meet up with friends at The Wall, but they bailed at the last minute, forcing him to surf solo for the first time in his life. But MacKenzie wasn’t about to pass up the nice conditions. For him, the season ends in autumn. “I only have a wetsuit that’s good enough for summer to late fall,” he said.

By the early morning of Thursday, Aug. 26, the skies had cleared and sunlight was glinting off tall, glassy waves at The Wall. Dozens of surfers, some on stand-up paddleboards, dotted the water by 7 a.m., scanning the horizon for high crests.

Cody Frost, of Everett, Mass., has been surfing for less than a year, but he was in the water by 6 a.m. to catch a few waves before work.

Dave Meredith came all the way from Montreal and had already put in a couple of hours of surfing by 8 a.m. He makes the trip every couple of weeks, he said, and he’s usually not alone. Parking spaces along The Wall are often filled with cars bearing Quebec license plates, he said, as Hampton is the closest “real beach” to Montreal.

Meredith said the waves were “pretty sweet” on Thursday morning, but New Hampshire’s best surfing is still ahead. Tropical storms to the south can create towering winter waves in Hampton, he said.

“But you gotta be brave. You never know when a 30-foot wave will get you.”