Scarborough Leader Interview

By Amanda Estes – Scarborough Leader 2007

When people ask David Turin where he surfs in Maine, his tongue in cheek response is, “Sebago Lake, where do you think?”

Although Maine’s beaches may not be a draw for big wave surfers, Turin said the state has a respectable surfing community. As the co-founder and director of Surf Camp at Scarborough Beach, Turin is at the center of that community, bringing seasoned instructors together with wannabe surfers of all ages via a day camp and private lessons.

At the start of each session, Turin tells his campers that surfing is all about having a good time. When he asks them who they think the best surfer in the world is, he said, their answer is usually Kelly Slater, a world champion several times over. Turin gently corrects them and says the best surfer is the person who is having the most fun.

A restaurant owner and chef, the Cape Elizabeth resident has been surfing for 15 years. Although he has been around water all of his life, Turin said he was a late bloomer. When he starting surfing at Higgins Beach, Turin said he was “bitten like a child about it.”
He said he prefers long boarding, but he will use a shorter board when the conditions are right. Short boards he said are best for the steep, fast waves that attract “big wave junkies.”

“Long boarding is like going cruising in comparison to riding short board,” he said. He joked that short boarding is for rubber people.
Turin said they mostly teach long boarding in the camp and the private lessons. Adults are slower learners, hindered to some extent by inflexible bodies and fear, but Turin said most kids will stand up on the board within their first hour of camp. He has never had a camper, who didn’t stand up within the first week, he said.

Potential surfers worried about chilly Maine waters needn’t worry as all campers are outfitted with wet suits. Turin, who hits the beach during the winter months, said surfing in Maine is “all about having the right gear.” Despite having to wear wet suit boots and gloves, Turin said he prefers the cooler water because when the water is too warm it is difficult to get cooled off.

Part of learning to surf is learning about the world of surfing etiquette. According to the New England Surf Web site, that means following a surfer’s code of conduct to determine who has the right of way in different situations. Turin said the most common surfing injuries result from a collision with someone else or one’s own board.

“Statistically, surfing is safer than golf,” Turin said. He said in his 15 years, his most serious injury was a sprained muscle. Turin said when people think of surfing, they usually think of the surfing they see on television. The Banzai Pipeline, on the north shore of Oahu, Hawaii, is perhaps the most famous of surfing spots. Turin said Pipeline lifeguards usually perform 1,500 rescues a year. Lifeguards at Scarborough Beach perform an average of 10 rescues per year.
“People want to see the extreme situation, ”Turin said. “They don’t want to see family day on the beach.”

Turin said waves over 10 feet high don’t interest him much. He is more interested in waves that are head high or a foot or two over head. The National Weather Service has offered surfers a tool for checking the day’s surf. Turin said the National Weather Service tracks wave height, wave periods, wind direction and swell direction. When there is big surf at Higgins Beach, Turin said there can be up to 130 people hoping to catch a wave.

He may not be an extreme surfer, but Turin has certainly spent his share of time traveling the world in search of new breaks. He has surfed his way up and down both the east and west coasts as well as several different countries including Fiji and Costa Rica.
When traveling to new places, where each break brings new conditions, Turin said he prefers to travel with a group of people. In Fiji, his group stayed at a surfing resort so they had a guide to point out reefs, but in Costa Rica he said there was maybe only one person who had been there before and on the west coast of the U.S., Turin said there were areas where he didn’t know the area and judged the conditions by the number of people in the water.

Leaving Scarborough’s beach break, in which the waves break up and down the beach and hold large groups of people easily, can be a wake up call as Turin said the local surfers in other parts of the world can be less than friendly. Especially in areas with well defined point breaks or a spot where the wave breaks every time, Turin said local surfers can be very protective of their beach.

Respecting the locals and the environment is part of the surfing etiquette that Turin instills in the campers.“Being a surfer is being a friend of the ocean,” he said. In between the morning and afternoon surf sessions, campers also have the opportunity to learn about marine life. Turin said they have come across seals, birds covered in oil and even dolphins. He said campers become more “aware that the ocean is a changing place.”

For his own part, Turin said surfing has changed the way he lives his life. He said he feels more connected to the world around him. Surfing has undoubtedly also brought him closer to his family as he taught his four children to surf.
Turin stressed that Surf Camp is not a competitive program, but rather it is a fun opportunity for kids to try a new activity. When campers tire of surfing, there are plenty of other activities including water games, boogie boards, volley ball, soccer, ultimate Frisbee and sand castle building contests. With 65 percent of the spots filled with repeat campers, however, it appears that the campers develop a passion for the sport.

Tags: interview, maine surfing, Press, scarborough beach, surf camp

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