By Suzanne Hodgson
Staff Writer

Very rarely does a story idea come as easily as an e-mail almost daring me to try surfing in December.
The challenge comes from Aquaholics, a surf shop in Kennebunk’s Lower Village, holds an all-female surf class on Tuesday morning, and owner Nanci Boutet boasts how great surfing in winter can be.
I call the shop to ask if I could photograph these brave women learning surfing stances in the snowy sand.
Instead, Boutet takes down my height and weight and signs off with a quick goodbye, leaving me little time to protest.
I know I’m in for an adventure.

I arrive before Boutet Tuesday morning – she apologizes because she’s been out cleaning up road kill.
I get the feeling Boutet enjoys the unusual: cleaning up road kill and surfing in the frigid cold waters of Maine in December are not normal hobbies.
But it’s Boutet’s first love, surfing, that brings me to the shop this morning.
“It’s so addicting,” says Boutet.
At the shop I stand amid behemoth surfboards with a group of women who have tried surfing a handful of times in the past, but are looking to make surfing a more habitual adventure.
Sarah Jump, 27, tried surfing a couple of times as a teenager. Dora Medouris, 32, has been out before, but it never translated into a real hobby.
They’re at the surf lesson with their friend Melinda Johnson, 30, who has been learning from Boutet for five weeks and loves the sport.
She tells me she keeps coming back because she’s emboldened by the group; it’s easier to come when she knows she’s not alone.
Donna Bergeon, 42, agrees. She’s been out with Boutet a few times before, and enjoys surfing so much, she is willing to brave the cold in a summer wet suit.
Boutet says she started an all-female morning class because the women – mostly beginners – are more supportive of each other; everyone wants to see the other surfers succeed.
“No one wants to look dumb,” says Boutet, almost reading my mind, “Everybody has to start somewhere.”

But nothing can make a person feel dumber than standing in a bathing suit in the middle of a surf shop in December trying in vain to put on a skintight wet suit. You can yank, pull and stretch, but without sheer strength and prior experience, the wet suit is a challenge for everyone.
Finally, after what seemed like hours, we’re suited up in black suits, black gloves and black booties. Our group could double as cat burglars – Boutet as our mastermind.    
Boutet also is the mastermind behind Aquaholics. After dropping out of high school in California, she received her GED and began classes at the University of Southern Maine.
It was there during a class on entrepreneurship that Boutet and her husband, Marc – surfers since 1991 – came up with the idea of a surf shop for Kennebunk.
Once on Kennebunk Beach, Boutet teaches us her “12-step program,” first catching a wave, then kneeling to learn how to balance and finally standing tall as the ocean glides below the surfboard.
Our 11-foot beginner boards make it easier to stand and balance, but much harder to catch a wave.
Boutet stands in the freezing cold water with her students (her wet suit is heated) and guides us one at a time to “Paddle! Paddle! Paddle!” as she pulls the surfboard forward.
When the surfboard moves on top of the wave without paddling it’s time to stand.
First one of my wobbly legs moves forward and then the tip of the board flings me into the chilly ocean.
I’m not alone: The other women pop up left and right from the water, shaking as the icy water runs down their backs. But we begin to crave the feeling of our surfboards catching the waves; we all return to Boutet and line up for another try.
Boutet laughs and tells us to move up or down our boards, and we listen carefully for fear of getting cold water down our backs again.
“This isn’t a sport for small girls,” said Boutet, her phrase for weak women. “You should come out here one day when there are big waves and watch them get knocked around.”

Waves crash against my face and I drink so much salt water my lips are chapped. But when Boutet says “paddle,” we all paddle as fast and as hard as our tired arms allow.
Eventually we all get to one knee. Jump and Medouris manage to stand up, only to flail and fall a few seconds later.
Both, in turn, finally stand up triumphantly. The whole class cheers and claps – and Boutet yells the loudest.
During one shining moment, long after my arms hurt and my face was sweating, I stand up straight as the last bubbles of a wave push me into the sand.
The rest of the group stays out long after I’ve left the beach. I watch as they paddle for every wave and carefully try to balance and stand on both feet.
Boutet was right; this sport can be very addicting.
Within days I’m back on the board, paddling and finding my balance.
Salt water never tasted so good.
    
Staff Writer Suzanne Hodgson can be reached at 282-4337, ext. 233.