Meet Wesley Surette, Writer, Surfer and RESTOKER! August 9, 2017 22:05

Restokers, meet Wesley Surette, Cape Ann native, writer, surfer and friend. I had the good fortune of meeting Wesley, we immediately hit it off, like old friends that had reconnected. With a devotion for our home break, a love for good beer, strong coffee and shared many of the same friends, we were like brothers from another mother. Before Wesley headed off to start the next chapter of his life across the pond we persuaded him to write up a piece for RESTOKE, we think he nailed it. Enjoy, and Wes, we'll see you at the home break when you visit.  ~ Cheers!

For surfers there are few things as sacred as their home break. I’m not talking about the one that, when you move, becomes your regular spot, but the one that you learned on. No matter where you end up or travel to, there will always be something special about this place. Knowing full well that in reality, this place is probably lack-luster, temperamental, and can’t hold a swell over 5 ft. But you defend it to your dying breath. Claiming that it is way better and more consistent than people might think. Of course those really good days are few and far between. In the case of my home break, they happen in sub-zero conditions, and yes, there is still a crowd. Despite all that, I love it and it will always be mine. My surfing home is Good Harbor in Gloucester, MA and I am getting ready to leave it forever.

Well, not forever. That is perhaps a bit dramatic. I’ll be back for a week here and there, a couple times a year. Still, I am going to miss Good Harbor more than almost anything that I am leaving behind. It has been there when things have been good and it has got me through some of the most difficult times in my life, none more so than this past couple years. Stuck in limbo oceans away from the person I love best, were it not for surfing, Good Harbor, and a certain friend over here at Restoke, I don’t know how I would have got through it. Were it not for freezing cold, knee-high dawn patrol sessions before the inevitable march to the office, it certainly would have been a march toward madness. Everything can seem like it is conspiring against you, but when you get a half decent swell that lines up perfectly with an incoming tide, things seem like they make sense again. Like the universe, or Poseidon, or whoever is giving you a break and wants you to get out there and have some fun even if only for the half hour you have before you have to snap back to the daily routine. It can be cleansing, like hitting a reset button.

One can argue that this happens no matter where one surfs, that it is the activity, not the place that has this effect. I think to some extent that is true, but really think about it. When you travel to surf and get a decent day, is it anywhere nearly as rewarding as when you pull up to your home break and it’s going off? Do you get the same feeling in your gut when you’re pulling on your wetsuit and anticipating that first wave? I don’t. I think that only where you grew up surfing, either physically or figuratively, can have that specific effect. Surfing and the ocean will always be cleansing no matter where you go, but sometimes you have to really recharge and come back to where you were baptized into the sport.

So as I get ready to start a new adventure and a new chapter in my life, I am really looking forward to finding a place where I can feel at home on the North Sea. I’m looking forward to making new friends and finding the little hidden spots. I’m excited and ready to move on, but there will always be something pulling me back. Of course friends and family are very important, but you better believe that when I am back in town, no matter what time of year or what the conditions are, my first and last stop will be in the water at Good Harbor.