-
An early blessing from Riley. Pictured: Nolan from Grain Surfboards harnessing his inner Rasta. Riding his wooden twin-fin fish that he made with his own two hands. Photo: Gabe Reuben
-
Love me an empty wave shot. Photo: Gabe Reuben
-
Nolan again, searching for cover. Photo: Gabe Reuben
-
I had dreams about this setup that night. Photo: Gabe Reuben
-
Yessah! Photo: Gabe Reuben
-
Another empty one. Dream away. Photo: Gabe Reuben
-
Nolan digging deep on his Grain Surfboards Wherry Fish. Photo: Gabe Reuben
-
Looking lonely. Photo: Gabe Reuben
-
Another dream setup for those hardy enough to get to it. Photo: Gabe Reuben
-
Sunset tease. Photo: Gabe Reuben
-
Seriously, it was perfect. Air around 30 degrees, water in the high 30s, offshore wind howling. Photo: Gabe Reuben
-
Nolan finally surfed out. In one hand his twinnie, in the other the Ryan Lovelace “Thick Lizzy”. Photo: Gabe Reuben
-
Before Riley could even bid us farewell, Quinn came on quick dumping over a foot of snow and jacking the buoys right back up to nearly 20 feet. Pictured: Natty Graham (left) and Colby Degrechie (right). Photo: Gabe Reuben
-
Natty staring down a screamer during blizzard conditions. Photo: Gabe Reuben
-
Jason McMichael eyeing his path to the beach. It turns out sliding down snow covered boulders is about as treacherous as you’d imagine. Photo: Gabe Reuben
-
J made it to the water and this greeted him. Photo: Gabe Reuben
-
Matt Millemann pushing the limits of what “deep” means. Don’t let the snow fool ya, he’s in there. Photo: Gabe Reuben
-
Safe to say Matt scored that day. Photo: Gabe Reuben
-
Jason grabbing face. Photo: Gabe Reuben
-
At this point in the day I couldn’t feel my fingers or toes so I took off after taking this shot of Jason. He later texted me and said I missed his wave of the day right after this one (whoops). Photo: Gabe Reuben
-
And with that, Quinn left us. Until next time. Photo: Gabe Reuben
The secret is already out as far as surfing on the East Coast goes. No, these aren’t more photos of New-Mibia or Jersey firing (even though I could look at those all day). I live in Coastal Maine and we took an absolute beating the past week, along with countless other coastal states.
Riley did more damage than any storm I’ve ever seen in my lifetime. It flooded town squares, washed away boardwalks and destroyed property — but amidst the madness, our surf community was collectively frothing.
Before we could even come to terms with the insanity that was Riley, Quinn came on fast, dumping over a foot of heavy, wet snow and exciting the buoys before they could even calm down from Riley. I was lucky enough to link up with some super talented local surfers who were charging every day they could.
It ain’t New-Mibia, but it’s pretty damn good if you ask us.
For more incredible photos and videos from Gabe you can follow him and The Rove Lab on Instagram.
