Cold Water in November

2005

It's friday...when I wrote this...

but I check this place nearly as little as most of you do...so, it won't be a largely televised transmission. Just for those who look, and might want to hear a few things...

Winter has been settling, the cold making outdoor endeavors near impossible and the possible occurrring indoors. I went surfing on Wednesday. I had to. The SURFLINE predics were calling for chest-to-head high, but I knew that whenever it was chest-to-head high that meant rough, harsh, and potentially fatal seas. So, after work, I loaded my board and winter gear and headed to 85th street for some punishment.

When I came over the dunes, it looked rough and barred its teeth all along the coastline. Not a happy break in sight. But still, I drove the twenty-five minutes from my house so I had to at least give it a go, even if it was the end of November.

I donned the winter suit, boots, gloves, threw a little wax on the Elevado pro-model from Panama, and set into the cold, frothy waters. It was low-tide so the water was shallow through the breakwater, but thick waves were pounding down further out. The closer I got, the less control I started to have of myself and my location. There was a fair amount of rip currents and the waves were disorganized, breaking all over, at different spots, coming in different directions, and some times piled up on each other. Finally, I was past the breakers, and they were coming in quick, with little space between, short periods, and then a good one rose and I was in the right place. I paddled in and felt the lift and looked down into the deep trench and dropped quick. It blew me into whitewater but I held on and jumped out. That would be the extent of the rides. A few and far between that quickly ended in the white soup. No ggod lines nor long rides, and too much time getting smashed and hammered by the angry, winter sea. After an hour in the Atlantic washing machine and a handful of mediocre rides, I had enough and paddled into the beach. I didn't want to be plummetted under by quickly forming sets anymore.

It wasn't a great day. The air was cold, the conditions horrible, but I wouldn't have traded it for anything. Anyday in the water is a good day. Even in November.