For those hard core winter surfers .........

[waikikikichan]

This was filmed on December 27th. Rare South Swell in Waikiki. Queen's surf break. Only Bikini's and board shorts. ( sometimes not even leashes ) Tomorrow at Chiba Japan, I am paddling out in a Drysuit, gloves, head cap and 5 Celsius air temp. Damn it !

[Big H]

Dry suit!? That's terrible!

Sunset after a Sunday sesh with my girls a few days ago...

[RinkyDink]

The dirty secret of cold water surfers is that for every degree the water temperature drops, you can remove about 25 people from your lineup. I'm toasty in my booties, hood, and wetsuit and perfectly content in 56F degree water. Besides there might be some benefits to all that cold water. Some people say its excellent for maintaining your health, probably keeps the microbes at bay as well. Eat your heart out warm water surfers

[Big H]

The dirty secret of cold water surfers is that for every degree the water temperature drops, you can remove about 25 people from your lineup. I'm toasty in my booties, hood, and wetsuit and perfectly content in 56F degree water. Besides there might be some benefits to all that cold water. Some people say its excellent for maintaining your health, probably keeps the microbes at bay as well. Eat your heart out warm water surfers

Hah....keep telling yourself that.....I was in nothing but boardies and had to keep swimming around my board between waves to keep cool today.....

[oldmansurfer]

Wow! All that footage of Queens and no kooks? Must have been too big for them.

[oldenglish]

70 degree water 80 air here in Florida. Though winter is coming...

I don't mind wetsuit and booties with 3/4 of the crowd gone and plenty of swell

[pmcaero]

I thought it was dangerous to surf in a drysuit.

I have a 6mm wetsuit for winter surfing and I feel slightly too warm most of the time (New England)

[LostAtSea]

The dirty secret of cold water surfers is that for every degree the water temperature drops, you can remove about 25 people from your lineup. I'm toasty in my booties, hood, and wetsuit and perfectly content in 56F degree water. Besides there might be some benefits to all that cold water. Some people say its excellent for maintaining your health, probably keeps the microbes at bay as well. Eat your heart out warm water surfers

Shhh. My problem is there isnt anyone else on my local breaks, sometimes I worry about safety issues.

[Surf Hound]

Cold water sucks. NO cold water does not mean any less surfers in the line up. Santa Cruz is a cold water and there is no suck things as not having crowds. I miss the Hawaiian waters every single session. Half of the fun of surfing for me was just being in the water. The only time I get excited about water temp now is when its 57 degrees or more - which means I can go without booties. Sub 57, which is often, I put on those stupid booties. Oh yeah, duck diving is miserable as well because cold water shoots down your back which makes me have to stick a finger in my ass and yell snake to just to find my dick. lol . Man I miss Hawaii.

[RinkyDink]

NO cold water does not mean any less surfers in the line up. Santa Cruz is a cold water and there is no suck things as not having crowds.

Well okay, in Santa Cruz, where every person under the age of 55 surfs regularly, there will be crowds. It's still so easy to go somewhere else less crowded though. You can't really do that if you live in Orange County.

[RinkyDink]

Shhh. My problem is there isnt anyone else on my local breaks, sometimes I worry about safety issues.

Yeah, that can be a problem. That's the kind of problem you want to have, though.

[pmcaero]

Cold water sucks. Oh yeah, duck diving is miserable as well because cold water shoots down your back

if you have a wetsuit with integrated hoodie, that should never happen....but then again, 57 degrees is too warm for that kind of gear.
So truly cold water is actually more comfortable

[Surf Hound]

I don't like a hoodie so I deal with the water. Even when the water is in the low 50's or below I prefer having my hearing. Something about muffled hearing I don't like while surfing. Sometimes I have a hoodie that's not attached to my suit that I wear while waiting for waves but as soon as I start paddling I pull the hood down - I feel more connected or something. But truly NO cold water is not more comfortable, tropical, Hawaiian waters make surfing way way more fun for me.

[oldmansurfer]

Yeah I was surfing at the river mouth last week and a SUPer paddled near me and fell in the water which was cold. He was like screaming and huffing and puffing because no wet suit LOL well I was comfortable. If I had to sit for too long maybe not but I have a layer of fat that keeps me warm for my 30 minute session plus if you paddle around there are warm spots LOL That is about as cold as the water gets surfing in Hawaii. I must say I like not having to worry about do I need a wet suit or how thick and hood or boots or gloves. No need to check the weather it won't be snowing or hailing and if it rains then often there is less wind and less people. I think perhaps my body does well at generating and retaining heat because I notice others wearing wet suits.