Shortboard in Maine

Forget palm trees. Surfing in Maine means pulling a hood over your ears while your breath fogs in front of you, paddling out past granite ledges toward a lineup you'll likely have to yourself. The best of it clusters in the south, around Kennebunk, Old Orchard Beach, and Scarborough, where sand-bottom breaks sit close to town and the fall and winter swells arrive with real punch. The reward for the neoprene and the numb fingers is space: clean waves, pine trees behind the dunes, and rarely a crowd to fight for them.

The waves here answer to Atlantic weather. Nor'easters in the cold months and the tail ends of tropical systems in late summer and fall push organized groundswell onto the beaches, occasionally waking up a point. Summer trades that power for gentler windswell, which is exactly what a beginner wants. Breaks can change character over a short stretch of coast, so reading swell direction and knowing which sandbar works on which wind is most of the game.