“Surfing in Vermont” For most this is an illogical concept. For the staff of WND&WVS, a landlocked surf shop… it is a question encountered daily. For surfer and searcher of stoke, Ben Gravy…a challenge accepted.
New Jersey based surfer, Ben Gravy’s highly entertaining and unique video blogs embody the very spirit of the endless hunt for waves. Gravy’s search has not only led to some of the best surf spots the East Coast has to offer, but has most importantly led to spots one wouldn’t always associate with pumping swell. The Delaware River, The Great Lakes, the wake of the Cape May Ferry and now, the rivers of Northern Vermont. For Gravy any wave, no matter where, no matter how sketchy, no matter how small, no matter how inaccessible… can be ridden. Rather, they MUST be ridden.
Few people show the dedication and adventurous spirit Gravy possesses in his endless hunt for novelty waves. It is this hunt that led Gravy to the shores of Lake Champlain and without surprise, to the doors of WND&WVS. After all, it is the “why not?” spirit that any and all landlocked surf shops, especially WND&WVS, embrace and attract.
It was only natural that Gravy’s Northeast trip lead him straight through the front doors of WND&WVS after a long haul and straight shot from the New England coastline. A few quick handshakes, some brief introductions and Gravy is immediately down to business. “Where are the waves?”.
A total of 20 minutes worth of google searches yielded breadcrumbs few and far between. A few shockingly blurry photos, river flow charts from 2004, intermittent references to small towns along a handful of rivers. What more could one ask for? If there was ever going to be a day of living the search, this would be it.
After acquiring a couple promising targets, loading up the trucks with plenty of boards and even more neoprene, the hunt was on. Armed with little guidance besides stoke streaming out our ears, we hit the road. A quick pit stop for grub and fuel, a thirty minute drive down 89 and we are at our first (and judging by some very outdated photo evidence) most promising spot.
Despite heavy rain for a week prior, river levels prove to be at disappointingly low levels and our first wave is little more than a bottlenecked section of fast flowing water. But there, right in the middle, sits a small glimmer of hope, a tiny lip ever-so-slightly curling back upon itself. It quickly becomes clear that what to us is nothing more than a glimmer of hope, to Ben Gravy is a beacon. It is Gravy’s never ending “go get it” attitude and perhaps the lack of interest in immediately turning around to bushwhack back uphill that leads to the immediate setup of the cameras and the donning of the neoprene.
After no more than a minute, Gravy is in the water. The first exploratory paddles yield little success. Not to be deterred so easily, Gravy immediately reenters the water.
Four, five, six attempts and our first spot proves unsurfable… for now that is. The low water levels just aren’t cutting it. We decide to pack it up and continue the hunt. Gravy’s quick research prior to his trip leads us on a wild chase up the Mad River with no more than some Google maps satellite images.
After ten minutes on the road, we come across a promising section of the lower Mad River (could a river have a more fitting name for such an endeavor?). Just below a one-lane bridge, lies a small spillway. “All these little river waves are found near bridges!” Gravy exclaims. That is good to hear. We may be on to something.
For those uncommon with waterway management jargon, a spillway is a constructed drop in river height that looks very similar to a small overflowing dam. This drop allows the water to continue its continuous flow while also creating a river-wide “wave” that curls back on itself.
If Gravy’s water entrance at spot number one is described as “a lack of hesitation”, the time it takes Gravy to get in the water a spot number two can only be described as a land-speed-record show of elation. This wave was by no means impressive or awe inspiring, yet Gravy enters the water with a grin as if he is about to paddle out for a pumping North Shore session.
With his trusty Heritage foamy in hand, Gravy walks out to the middle of the spillway and attempts a near nose ride to keep himself in on the wave. Quickly realizing the steepness of the wave would require a shorter board, Gravy grabs a beefy body board from the truck and is immediately back out.
The body board proves substantially more successful for what turned into a handful of short but impressive rides. While we stand along the shores of the river and looked out upon the green hills and large red barn in the background with a bleached blonde haired surfer riding a river wave in the foreground, we could not help but comment on both how odd the image was while at the same time being so very Vermonty. There we had it… the very image embodying the spirit of a surf shop in Vermont. That was it.
After a quick debrief, numerous high-fives and a conclusion of mission success, Kevin (WND&WVS online shop and team manager) throws out the idea of checking one more spot. Again, the innate response of “why not?” is all that can be said.
Back in the cars and half an hour later we are sitting next to Waterworks Restaurant in downtown Winooski. Diners at the restaurant enjoy delicious dinners and look out upon the rapids as a fine backdrop to a nice meal. Gravy looks at the rapids in a slightly different manner. “It’s pumping!”, exclaims Gravy right on cue.
After a short brief from Kevin about the 100 foot waterfall and dam downriver from the rapid we currently are observing, Gravy is in the water again. The Winooski rapids prove to be both troublesome and sketchy with fast flowing, shallow waters above slippery rock. Oh yeah, don’t forget about the waterfall.
Being washed downriver after attempt number one does little to slow Gravy down. Attempt two, he’s almost in the sweet spot. Attempt three, he has it dialed. It is not the most glamorous or spectacular of rides but he’s up. Count it, another Vermont River surfed.
Two rivers, two waves, both surfed. Ben Gravy drove from the shores of Maine all the way to Burlington, Vermont all on whim. That whim quickly proved to pay off. River surfing has long been a thing in the world of kayaking but Ben Gravy may well have just been the first person to surf, on a surfboard, two river waves in Northern Vermont.
Call it fate or just some dumb luck that brought Ben Gravy walking through the front doors of WND&WVS that day. Either way, it was a collision of novelty spirits and a day full of “why nots” that made the Vermont river wave day so perfect. New doors are open. Stay tuned to see where they lead.
