David Turin

David Turin of David’s Restaurant and David’s 388 was featured in the August 2011 issue of Maine Magazine.

Not only is David a restaurateur but he is also a surf coach. David moved to Maine from Toledo and learned to surf when he was 35. He started the original New England surf camp for kids at Scarborough Beach, which has taught more than 1,700 adults and kids to surf on the coast of Maine. David knows the benefits of the sport intimately. “Running the restaurants is my passion, but it is incredibly stressful work and it would have put me under a long time ago if it hadn’t been for surfing. I get in the water and it all just washes off me, like a rinse cycle.” Because he came to surfing later in life, he also has deep respect for the challenges facing neophytes. When I ask him what I need to overcome my inhibitions, he offers this advice: “The enthusiasm of a kid, the experience of an adult, and sunscreen.” (Forget about sharks and drowning: the number-one surfing-related injury is sunburn, number two is wetsuit rash, and number three is getting hit by your board.)