TIM SOHN

You might think that an air temperature approaching single-digits and a bone-chilling wind would make surfing prohibitive. Not so for the hardy (crazy?) surfers of Maine, who capitalize on the occasional clear and calm winter day by donning a walrus-blubber-thick wetsuit and heading out to their local breaks. The sport's been growing all over New England (scroll down through this article I wrote in 2007 for an account of New Hampshire surfing), and Maine now boasts a handful of surf shops located mostly along the coastal stretch south of Portland. There's even a website dedicated to Maine surf forecasts. I came across this intrepid stand-up paddleboarder just north of Fortunes Rocks Cove in Biddeford a few days after Christmas. I never did get his name, since he was still riding when the cold forced me to move along.