Surf films can be a lot like heavy plastic surgery. In both cases the attempt to create a thing of beauty ends up mutating the subject to the point that the original form is unrecognizable. Cutting B-grade material and tucking botched waves away from view produces a distilled image of wave-riding, but hardly mirrors the experience of heading down to the beach for a surf.

This short clip of winter surfing in New Hampshire displays things in proportions more naturally familiar to the average surfer. Rather than packing each second with a constant barrage of wave-riding, the less surf-centric footage displays icy beaches, pre-dawn mornings, and peeling waves as one might enjoy them on a frigid day along the 18 mile coast.

Sea Smoke from the Granite Stoke on Vimeo.