Did you know there’s a surfing community in N.H.? You do now

By Tim Goodwin - Apr 29, 2014 | 0 comments

We’d also be thinking twice about surfing in the middle of winter.

Ryan Reed rides a sweet wave off the New Hampshire coast.

We’re no film making experts, but this angle looks dangerously close to the camera going in the water. That and Ryan Jackson is pulling off one sick move.

You wouldn’t think that surfing is a big thing in New Hampshire.

With just 18 miles of coast line (13 if you ask some), the spots to catch a wave are limited. As are the times of year when surfing in the Atlantic Ocean isn’t considered downright crazy on a number of different levels.

But what 2007 Concord High School graduates Dylan Ladds and Ryan Scura discovered on a trip to Hampton Beach during their senior year is that surfing in the Granite State is more popular than you might think. Scura, who learned to surf from his dad, had brought a few friends to Hampton for an introductory lesson. The beach was filled with wet suits and surf boards. It quickly sparked an interest in the budding filmmakers to learn more.

“We didn’t know anything about the surfing community in New Hampshire,” said Scura. “There were tons of people out there, the waves were good and we were just blown away with what was happening.”

Although it wasn’t until after college, and after securing a grant from Newbury College, that the longtime friends decided to act on their original idea of making a documentary. The two had been making movies together since seventh grade at Rundlett Middle School, but this project would be the first of feature length.

It all began in 2011, when after graduating and moving back home to Concord, the two finally had the time to invest in making the film. 

“Pretty much the day after we graduated, we went to the beach and started filming,” said Ladds. “That’s pretty much all we did for a year.”

Almost three years later and The Granite Stoke is ready for its big debut. The 40-minute film will make its world premiere on Saturday at the Music Hall in Portsmouth at 7:30 p.m.

“The movie is really about the value of community,” said Scura.

Yes, it’s a movie about surfing in New Hampshire, but there’s so much more to it. What Ladds and Scura quickly discovered was a surfing community that considers New Hampshire’s short stretch of coast line a second home. The tight-knit group isn’t any different than what you may find in California, Florida or North Carolina. The main difference would be the inability to get a tan half of the year – and the fact that a snowy backdrop is an unfortunate reality for a few months.

“For that one year when we were only working on the documentary, it was our job to talk to people about what they loved the most in the world,” said Scura.

At first, they just went up to people and hoped they’d be interested in being interviewed on camera. Before they knew it, Ladds and Scura were quickly accepted into the surfing community. Soon conversations with one surfer would turn into a suggestion to talk with another. From there, the documentary took on a life of its own.

“Once we sort of broke through and started meeting people, people wanted to share their stories with us,” said Ladds. “It’s just about a bunch of people that are passionate about surfing.”

During filming, Ladds and Scura produced a few short films and entered them into various film festivals around the country. The Granite Stoke will be shown at the San Diego Surf Film Festival the week after Saturday’s premiere.

The hope is to have it shown at Red River Theatres since both are from Concord, but it was important to have the premiere take place in Portsmouth.

“We felt it was appropriate to show it there for the first time,” Ladds said about the Music Hall, especially with its proximity to where most of the filming was done. “It’s a dream to have your film shown at a place like that.”

Tickets are $15, $7.50 for children 14 years old and under, and can be purchased at the door or online at the Music Hall’s website, themusichall.org. All proceeds from the evening will be donated to the Molly Fund, which supports children with cancer in memory of Molly Rowlee, and the New Hampshire Chapter of the Surfrider Foundation, a non-profit environmental organization whose mission is the protection and enjoyment of oceans, waves and beaches.

“It’s really exciting to work on something for so long and finally show it to people,” said Scura. 

For more info on the movie, check out facebook.com/SurfNH.