Fancy.
Would you consider your lifestyle luxurious? I mean, if you really took it apart, dissecting where you live, what you drive, what sort of coffee you drink, the BeachGrit shirt you are wearing right now (buy here) would it be considered opulent by the vast majority of the world’s population?
I think yes for all of us and especially because we are surfers, the new skiers shushing, driving Audis with fancy Swedish rack systems, vacationing in St. Moritz etc. and let us go straight to the luxury lifestyle magazine Condé Nast Traveller for a look at the hot new trend sweeping the upper-middle-to-upper classes.
Well this isn’t so bad, I think as I step into the dark, frigid water. New Hampshire in February is known for its heavy snowfall, “Nor’Easter” storms, and ski resorts of the ice-clad, teeth chattering variety. But somehow I’ve found myself surfboard in hand, marching straight into the North Atlantic. As I wade chest-deep into the water, I develop a mantra to reassure myself: I’m still warm. Snow flurries float just above the water. I’m still warm.
I pass a few waves with ease before I get caught off guard by a much larger wave crashing down around me. That’s when it hits me, literally and figuratively: This is New Hampshire in February. The sea slaps me square in the face, my only exposed skin, and at 39°F it might as well be solid ice. A few rogue streams of cold water sneak their way into my thick wetsuit through the hood, trickling slowly down my neck. It’s back-bending agony, but my body recovers and I’m able to keep paddling. I’m still warm, I tell myself.
Out on the water that day, the remarkable thing wasn’t that I found some of the most surfable, enjoyable waves I’ve found anywhere. It was that I wasn’t alone.
Can you believe?
Winter surfing as new skiing?
Where shall we head to toast Hot Toddys and laugh about our investment portfolios?
Lake Michigan?
Cornwall, England?
You choose.
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X Games will be calling you up soon … No prisoners LGR !
Hard Core LGR … a springsuit !
Sad part is there’s a whole crop of VAL’s in the PNW that are tougher than most seasoned surfers because they love the novelty of being in the ocean in the winter.
these are the articles that ruin BG….so dumb and pointless
If you have to, yes. For kicks, no.
I did lots of winter surfing back in Denmark in the 80s and 90s. Shitty, stiff wetsuits, the better actually an O’Neil O’Asis dry suit. Water -1C, sometimes so stiff that you could walk to Sweden 🙁
It was painful and awkward, but I’d do it again were I to live in Scandoland again. Wetsuits are so good now.
Here in Welly, it gets down to about 11C, so a good 4/3, booties and a hood will do the trick. No gloves, thank you. Bicko is right, they are awful. This feels free and easy, and I won’t complain, but travel will always be to warmer places. Except for skiing 🙂
I spent 4 hours out there today (probably the same break that this writer is referring to) And I do it mid February when the water is indeed 37 to 39 degrees and wind chill can knock cold air down to -11 or so before you even take stock in the absurdity. And even then, it is never nearly as bad I sitting on a stuck chair lift when the wind is howling with temperatures in the teens.
#neopreneissomuchwarmerthangoretexitain’tevenfunny
But keep skiing guys. It’s way better than surfing. Less crowds.
agreed—right gear no problem….and ride a floatier board in the winter
Our local surfing population from 92 till 2010 went from about 100 regulars in Summer with water around the 20degrees C to 6 hardcore winter warriors as the water temps dropped around the 10 / 8 degrees C ….might have been different if we had a reef or a point but 25 km of beachbreaks meant there was no avoiding ice cream headache duck dives .
Winter surfing isn’t really that cold here. I wish it was colder
It should be, shouldn’t it! I perfer the Winter Olympics, most of the sports require some form of personal courage!
excellent
Chas did you see the 25 yo chick who is kicking ass in darts against men? Yes darts is not big wave surfing, thanks I’m aware of that, but Paige and KK should have been seeded with the men. No ladies only contest for another few years until more chicks with giant sticks can take on a bunch of dicks en masse.
I think the ladies -if – the Eddie runs will be surfing alongside the dudes. True eqality? Who’d have thought a pub sport would be leading the charging?
Women’s snowboarding, tennis and gymnastics are equals to men’s if not more. Don’t have to contrive equality. Performance is the only barometer.
Agree on gymnastics; not so sure about tennis or snowboarding. And don’t forget curling – although the technique used is very similar to cleaning a floor. The fact that men invented most sports is worth keeping in mind in these discussions.
Women’s tennis to me is much more enjoyable to watch in the current era. Men’s game is too dependent on service. I played in college so I appreciate the women’s strategy more than the mens bam bam bam done.
I watched women’s snowboarding in a half pipe for a half hour with the audio turned off and was blown away it wasn’t the men. I don’t snowboard, btw.
It’s cause they get to practice with no interference.
Maybe because women were chained to the kitchen, vacuum cleaner and the babies?
Agree Hippy. Made similar points about snowboarding last week re: Jaws controversy.
Women’s tennis is not, repeat not, equal to men’s tennis. Aren’t women better gymnasts? Snowboarding, whatever.
Your right, women’s tennis is definitely not equal. I actually like watching it better because sometimes the girls make those erotic yelps and noises that are pretty sexy. And their legs in those short tennis skirts look a lot better than the men’s legs do.
One year in South Ouest France , it got so cold that everyone wanted to upgrade there booties to 7mm , you could drive on the local lake , the water pipe to my apartment froze so I had to shower in the surf club house , I stopped locking the front door because I could not pickup or turn the front door key , one could ice skate on the beach , my mate from the French Island of Guadeloupe once wondered while we were the only two idiots out while it was snowing , everyone was happy when it was barreling because we were all to stiff to do a turn …. so I’d had enough and move to Germany
I was surfing a local sand bar in the shadow of Rincon. During storm events, we get a short lived south swell as the storm swings under us around the islands.
It was magic and not too cold. Suddenly, the wind turned, but like I typed, it was ridiculously good. This beach break rarely sees overhead peaks hollowing out. I was alone.
Something tapped me on the shoulder, I was now visibly cold, shivering. It was a snowflake (!!???!!) WTF?! Next thing I know, wind switches bitter offshore and it’s fucking snowing in SB. In those days, you could park on the highway and I ran for the car.
I could not turn the key to open the door. Holy shit. Just then, Japanese tourists pulled up near me and began taking selfies in the snow on the beach. The old man still in the car had to help me unlock and then start my car. I did not know how to thank him in Japanese, but he understood.
On the way home, the freeway was chaos…. cars askew sliding in the snow. I pulled off and the driving range was completely white. Mind you, I’m a mile from home. As I neared downtown, the snow turned to rain and I pulled into my driveway in a downpour.
Mrs Hippy was screaming about me driving with my wetsuit on. I told her that I was escaping the snow, she looked at me like what was I smoking. It caused a big argument, ugly afternoon after such an amazing morning. Her audi’s leather seats were wet and sandy.
I am no longer allowed to surf in the Audi, so no more luxury surfing.
5 days later, or so, the weekly edition of Coastal View News arrived with photos of the snowstorm. I was vindicated, but still in trouble.
I was very lucky I only had to walk home , through the snow and the hail and the sleet and the fog and the rain and the howling winds … not to mention the dreaded walk between an apartment building and Fan Fan’s Surf Shop …. a 50m stretch that never sees the sun for the 3 months of winter and will be forever known in local surf jargon as Death Row .
Why Death Row?
My experience in Carp was the only time I’ve seen snow fall in real life so I have no idea what it is like to surf in snow and walk home. I panicked with a little dusting.
Had a gig in CHicago during February and was looking forward to snow…. fuck, all there was was ugly brown foam everywhere choking up the gutters and highway.
Why Death Row …. because it was somber, forever dark , frozen and felt like death …..and like fishermen surfers have been known to exaggerate.
‘‘Tis true that freshly fallen known is a beautiful thing to behold ….. but quickly turns to shit in the city .
Always left the key in the ignition, and had a hot water bottle swaddled in towels ready. I still had to sometimes ask a passerby to start the car, then sit and wait for it to heat up.
Audi ay?
Got the life!
Frozen brain
Should thaw out before you get home from the airport here.
Cause of ,you know, CC.
If Chairman Morrison says the moon is made of cheese and 2 + 2 = 5 then so be it ….. even when he is on holidays during a national disaster …. it’s good to be the king .
And he’s got a massive hose too!
All the better to smell you with little black riding hood …. oops hose or nose ?
It’s the golden triangle
Scomo
Boris Trumpy
No.
Represent with the zip code of my cool water local on my new BG hat (remember that trend?… no?) at the surf chalet! https://uploads.disquscdn.c…
Natty !
I’m still warm. Ha! And to think my mantra for those 2 winters spent surfing Rhody and the Cape was “holy hell I’m fucking freezing I left Kauai for THIS?? I hope a shark doesn’t eat me I know this area is basically their fuck den there’s probably one swarming beneath me right now could one even break through this thick ass rubber? I can barely move my fucking arms and I feel like Ralphie’s little brother from that movie A Christmas Story…”
only time i surf on the cape anymore is the winter. “less sharks” i tell myself.
Fewer.
Thanxx!!!
Kissies!!!
Still soldiering on in god forsaken NJ,only because under employment in winter and live at the beach.
Underemployment is underrated
I know, it has become a lifestyle.
Nah.
While you can maybe get a few good sessions during hurricane season in New England, they are few and far between.That’s why people like myself move to warmer climates with surf as soon as we can.
I would put away my surfboard for the winter and just play ice hockey, fuck freezing my balls off.
Haha yeah sure. New wetsuit technology or not, winter surfing is legit reserved only for those who love it so deeply they need it to get through everything else in life they have to deal with.
Look at the smile on that guy’s head. Anyone who smiles that much is really and truly sad as fuck. Maybe the facade will ice over and shatter before we find him whimpering behind a Vans sweatshop in Bangladesh….
He’s banging Anna Ehrgott these days, that’s enough to put a smile on anyone’s face.
I’m good thanks, I just prefer dating girls.
she’s cute but nothing worth mentioning
she’s a dude
There’s nothing luxurious about pissing yourself to keep warm. The only positive thing about surfing cold water is that it generally keeps the crowds down.
One of my younger brothers developed the particularly nasty habit of pissing in his suit before he’d even got in the water, often while he was talking to someone. I think he took some kind of perverse pleasure from their disgust.
I do that! When I was younger I used to fill up a wetsuit leg with my piss and then I would shake it out at a buddy while he was stretching/putting on a leash.
A mate lent a wetsuit to another friend. Who christened it in the parking lot. No one lent that fucker wetties ever again.
I’ve walked from the parking lot to the beach many times leaving wet footprints in my wake.
Seen it done.. Filthy habit. As a grom, I had a mate who’d do it every dawny.. Then pry open the ankle cuff bit and flick it at me and others.. fucking animal.
Hmm. I’m 47. I do that all the time in my 3/2. It’s going away. And yeah, it’s funny to pee when it’s dry and you’re talking to someone in the parking lot. I think it is, anyway!
But I am a little wary nowadays in my 4/3 or 6/5 (new England). One time I went cave tubing in New Zealand and they warned us and had signs posted everywhere saying don’t pee in your wetsuit. And I thought to myself, “whatever. I’ve been peeing in my wetsuit for 15 years.” During that entire trip down some black water cave I probably released some 10 gallons of piss. I peed constantly for some reason. It just kept flowing and I did nothing to stop it.
when we got back to the base we were instructed to take off our suits and put them in some bleach bath kind of thing. And I peeled off my suit and this smell that overcame me and the kiwi who works at the place was so overwhelming I thought I would die. And the look he gave me, oh my God. 20 years later I can still picture it perfectly. So embarrassing. I talked to him for like a half hour in the cave. We hit it off. And then we got back and taking that suit off was like telling him that I murdered his mom.
Oops.
Actually feels pretty good, TBH
4:3 is it.
No further – you can have it.
Yep.. 3/2 is as thick as I’ve ever gone. I dunno how the 5/4er’s/bootie/hood crew do it!
You get used to it …. but gloves , wetsuit fucking gloves are evil incarnate …. those fuckers always balloon up as the set of the day is about to explode icebergs on your head …. just when one needs to paddle like fuck or duck dive to safety
Sounds like hell on water Bicko. I did wear a borrowed 5/4 once around but it was the worst experience. That and it was fucking huge (for me). I conceeded after one wave. Felt like I was paddling with 4WD tires attached. It was rather consequencial to be agile, no booties either so my feet went numb and stung. Boardies forever!