“Growing up here in town, I remember maybe seeing one or two people surfing every once in a great while. It was an event back then. Now, due to Nanci's lessons and training, I see many surfers every week. She has had a big impact on the sport for all ages.”

Nanci Grenier Boutet is a lifelong beach lover and outdoorswoman, who started body boarding in 1986 with her husband and two sons. It took her four years to get comfortable surfing, but along the way she learned the importance of positive training and the proper equipment.

Boutet was born in Manchester, New Hampshire. She moved to Los Angeles during her sophomore year of high school but then quit school altogether. She hitch-hiked all over America in the early 1970s, competed in professional beach volleyball, and for 24 years worked as a cosmetologist. It was as a project for a class in entrepreneurship toward her business degree at the University of Southern Maine that her idea of opening Aquaholics Surf Shop was born. In addition to being a Kennebunk-based retail and rental shop for surfing gear, Aquaholics is uniquely “Home of Maine's Original All Women's Surf Lessons.” Boutet and eight other instructors offer private sessions, instruction for kids through the Kennebunk Parks and Recreation Department, and special camps for children and adults of all skill levels.  She even offers a free “Mom's Tuesday Morning” session for the mothers of the kids in her program. In the off-season, Boutet travels to catch waves around the world.

On loan from Nanci Grenier Boutet for the exhibition was her lightweight “Bubble Gum” surfboard.

“For me, The Kennebunks represent a blend of old traditional Maine being thrust into (sometimes dragged, along with the rest of New England) the lifestyle of the vacationers who move here to live the good life. We are losing much of the traditional “salt” that brought everyone here. Gone are the shacks that defined “quaint” and “functional”. The Kennebunks are re-creating themselves, but we need to keep sight of what attracted us to this place to start with: beauty, honesty and Yankee values."