State denies that it promotes town as surfing destination

A surfer goes airborne while riding the waves at North Hampton State Beach. He hung on and completed his ride all the way to the beach.Staff file photo

September 29, 2013 2:00 AM

RYE The town's beaches have become known in recent years as prime destinations among the international surfing community, much to the chagrin of locals who want to get a handle on an unsustainable intensification of activities at the beach.

The rules and regulations for New Hampshire state parks prohibit surfing at state beaches except at designated areas at North Beach in Hampton. Yet state Sen. Nancy Stiles, R-Hampton, said at a recent meeting on beach issues that she witnessed surfers breaking that regulation at Jenness State Beach.

A resident at the meeting suggested the state is sending mixed messages by paying for advertising that promotes tourism to surfers. Amy Bassett, a spokeswoman for the Division of Parks and Recreation, countered that notion, saying the state has not spent advertising dollars on promoting the Seacoast as a surfing destination.

"We did advertising on grindtv.com to attract a more active people, luring them to New Hampshire state parks. On grindtv.com there are several different online magazines that are part of the buy," she said.

Among the online magazines that fall under grindtv.com's umbrella are surfermag.com and surfingmagazine.com. While advertisements for New Hampshire state parks may have appeared on those sites, they depicted campers, hikers and kayakers rather than anything specifically surfing-oriented, Bassett said.

"We're trying to draw anybody that has an interest in the outdoors into visiting New Hampshire state parks. It's not meant to go right to surfers by any means, because we don't even have a campaign with surfers or for the Seacoast," she said.

Nonetheless, the word is out that Rye's beaches are a great place to catch some surf. Mike Labrie, a beach commissioner in town, said a brochure was published in Canada citing the various beaches in Rye. Canadian surfing groups appear to be heavily promoting the activity in Rye, he said.

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War of the waves swelling on Rye beaches