Peter Panagiotis rides the waves in the cold waters off Narragansett Town Beach after leaving his “junk car,” below.

The Providence Journal / Frieda Squires

NARRAGANSETT — Peter Panagiotis was 14 years old the first time he approached the waves at Narragansett Town Beach, clutching his ticket to teenage inclusion – a rented surfboard – wearing a wetsuit and his own willing spirit.

The surfboard – and the spirit – brought him friends, and a sprightly competitive outlook, and has since evolved into a passion so intense, he once surfed each and every day for an entire year.

Surfing has brought Panagiotis not only an avocation, but also national visibility – he was recently quoted in a Newsweek article about winter surfing, and has been heard on numerous radio stations giving surf reports.

This month, Panagiotis will celebrate his 57th birthday – which means he has surfed for more than 40 years, most of the time in New England, much of it in Narragansett, and the best of it, he said, in winter. This season he heads up the 39th annual New England Mid-Winter Surfing Championship on Feb.17 at the very same beach where he learned to surf, admittedly, in a milder month than that of his birth.

But if he waited for 90-degree weather in which to surf in his native New England, Panagiotis would barely get wet – and he likes to be wet.

And, he contends, the best time to surf is right now, the colder outside, the better.

“There’s no crowds,” Panagiotis said, squinting as two lone surfers enjoyed the clear day, riding the small but steady waves at Town Beach.

Standing at the threshold of a string of torturous-degree weather, Panagiotis, better known as Peter Pan due to the garbling of his Greek last name during a competition, looked like a benched Super Bowl athlete waiting to get into the game.

He hadn’t planned on surfing that morning, but having studied these waves for 44 years, and the weather that comes with them, he knew that the next few days would be “flat.”

He knew, too that he could be in his wetsuit, on his board, in the water, in minutes.

So why wait?

He wasn’t scheduled to teach any of his numerous classes – from snowboarding to cardio kickboxing – until later in the day.

“If you want to surf, you have to have a flexible schedule,” he said, pointing out the years he worked in the world of New York City advertising, suffering in an airtight office.

“I kept stuff in my car and I’d go to Rockaway Beach,” he recalled.

“But if you live in the city you’re doomed. I tried working in an office. I just couldn’t stand it. You have to own your own business so you can go surfing anytime you want to.”

He did that too, for many years co-owning The Watershed in Wakefield. Now he helps his son Ted run ‘Gansett Juice, a Narragansett surf shop, and works for several surfboard companies.

In between, he organizes surfing competitions such as the one on Feb. 17, and surfs, “no matter what.”

“Once you get in the water, you don’t feel it,” he said of the cold, explaining how he lathers his face with Vasoline, and the rest of him is covered by a wetsuit. “It can be minus-20, and I’ll still go in.

“The more people think this sport is crazy in winter, the better I like it.”

Panagiotis liked the winter day just fine – all 32 degrees of it – took his surfboard from his van and moved down the beach closer to the Dunes Club, so he could surf solo.

He’d own it down there.

He’d be risking it, too, though because he’s smart enough to know not to toy with the ocean.

“You have to be in good shape mentally and physically. You can’t be stupid.”

But surfing, he said, straight-faced and solemn, is “a selfish sport.”

“I’d rather drown by myself than get hit by someone out there.”

Like a kid released from time out to the freedom of recess, Panagiotis grinned as he unpacked his board from the current vehicle that holds his often wet, salt-covered, sand-coated equipment.

“Always,” he answered, when asked about having two-cars – one for everyday transportation and another for surfing.

“You have to have a junk car for surfing,” due to the salt residue, he said.

On a day when Narragansett seems closed up and stashed away like the beach concession stand, Panagiotis, covered in a wetsuit apart from his face, plunged into the frosty sea, flapped his arms back and forth, and paddled out towarddeeper waters.

He has done this probably as many times as he has started his car, and has taught hundreds of people how to do the same. He suspects he has the only surf school on the East Coast, gives lessons on this beach and others, at Girl Scout camps and town recreation camps. When he was a student at the University of Rhode Island, he organized a campus surf club that is still in existence.

Last summer, he taught classes organized by South Kingstown Parks and Recreation Department Director Andy Nota. They were all full.

“He was fantastic. We had waiting lists,” said Nota.

Perhaps his best endorsement of Panagiotis is that Nota has brought his own three children to him for surfing lessons – whenever possible.

“He travels up and down the East Coast going to surfing competitions,” said Nota.

“He’s truly a legend.”

Though Panagiotis is also a snowboarding and physical fitness enthusiast, “surfing comes first,” and to that end, he knows he has to stay in good shape in order to keep on surfing. He works out daily.”

“The older you get, the more you realize you’re not going to be able to do what you want to do. You’re really, really good for a very short time.”

Panagiotis said he’s made certain sacrifices to surf, and has been injured a few times, but not too seriously, he said.

“I have broken my nose twice surfing, but that is about it. I have gotten wrecked far more times on a skateboard and a snowboard than I ever have on a surfboard.”

His wife Jane, he said, has long accepted his surfing, and his son Ted and daughter Tricia work alongside him at contests and competitions, if they are not actually taking part. His father Ted and his late mother Angela also supported his surfing, allowing him to use their Narragansett garage for storage of surf equipment – not to mention a waiting warm drink most winter days.

Panagiotis has never had a casual relationship with surfing.

“Either you are a surfing addict, or a recreational surfer.”

He lists himself as the former.

Panagiotis first surfed in a time period when “to surf” had but one meaning – to ride the waves, not the computer keyboard.

But tap “Peter Pan” into any computer along with surfing, and this Narragansett surfer’s name flies up numerous times.

“He’s kept it fun for everyone,” said Lee “Gidget” Ferrera of Wakefield, 48, who also surfs all winter.

“He’s awesome. He was very good about encouraging me,” she recalled of her early years of surfing and visiting his shop to rent equipment. “Because of him, there are a lot more women in the water.”

Like Panagiotis, Ferrera also drives by the beach every morning – winter or summer – to check on conditions.

“It’s a habit. Some people have a cigarette and a cup of coffee in the morning. I go by the beach.”

And at least twice a week, no matter what the weather, she surfs.

“I love surfing in the winter. There are more die-hards that don’t get in your way.”

“It’s a great form of exercise,” Panagiotis said, and it’s an athletic tradition way older than the tourists who sit on the seawall and watch.

Duke Kahanamoku, who is credited with bringing surfing to the world outside of Hawaii, apparently gave a surfing demonstration in 1918 on a Narragansett beach. Longtime Narragansett resident John Miller found proof of it in a Sept. 6, 1918 edition of The Narragansett Times. The story said he used a “surf mattress” brought from Hawaii, and the demonstration “attracted much interest and enthusiasm.”

That may have been the first surfing ever at Narragansett Town Beach – but it assuredly wasn’t the last – summer or winter.

But that was a long-ago event on Narragansett shores, most likely, a warmer event than Panagiotis’ own midwinter gathering on Feb. 17, which is open to all.

“Anyone who wants to surf in the contest, just show up,” he said.

If no one comes, he’ll surf anyway.

He’s almost 57, but he’s not straying far from the waves, no matter what the season.

“I’ll surf till I drop.”

afleming@projo.com