For the Love of Surfing

Everybody has their own special way to unwind. Some go to yoga, others go get spa treatments while others still opt for a bottle of sweet booze after a hard day’s work. For a year now I have been surfing on a regular basis. I am digging it in a big way.

I have surfed on occasion since high school, but due to travel distance or latitude, I never picked it up as a regular hobby. However, since I now live within walking distance of the beach I decided to try it and really give it a chance. I found an old junk board for cheap and started going out most everyday. I loved it. So much so that when the swell was good I was going twice a day. This started last April.

Now being April again, it has been a full year and this craze is showing no signs of ebbing. When I started on this adventure I wondered how I would cope with the winter months. But with a good wetsuit and some booties (courtesy of my wife, Miranda Kopfschmertzen), all was fine. And by the end of March I thought I was in the clear.

However, in the last three weeks, due to the wind and other world weather patterns, the water temperature has dipped down into the low 50s on occasion. Again with the wetsuit and booties, this worked out just fine…for the most part. Here is the stink of the low 50s and still having your head exposed. Every time you bust through a wave, the water seems so cold that it is like being bitch slapped by a monster ice cream headache. And when two or three of this waves hit you in a row, your body start going into primal survival mode. (Primal survival mode is curling up in the fetal position, going to your happy place and hoping for the best.) It is the kind of intense and localized horror that makes you feel absolved for all your past sins by the time it passes. Kind of a mini, 10 – 15 second Spanish Inquisition.

Today’s forecast predicts 61 degrees for the water temperature. Wish me good luck and happy earth day from your resident hippie!