Shoot The Pier

A True Maine Surf Story

Considering its exceptionally rocky shores and chilling water temperatures, the coast of Maine has rarely been considered a destination for surfing in the United States. Despite the harsh conditions, there exists a few dedicated surfers who pursue the perfect wave year-round, donning full body wetsuits to catch winter waves. It’s a tradition that has had very little documentation, but Lewiston-Auburn native Brian Goding stumbled upon a magnificent little archive of film footage that reveals the sport and culture of surfing in Maine in the 1960’s, when surfing was a new concept to most Mainers. In his short documentary, Shoot the Pier, Goding offers Maine’s original surfers a chance to recall the early days of surfing in Maine, complimented by the excellent Super 8 film footage captured by the surfers themselves. It takes us a to a time and place where the waves were undiscovered and a culture was misunderstood.