A cold 4th

A cold and rainy 4th of July weekend this year has trapped us inside for most of the time. But, on the bright side, the cold weather system also produced some waves along the New England coast this weekend. Just the right size for me, about 1m high, according to the surf report.

I went out to the beach for a little while in the afternoon. Paddling out I realized how out of shape I am. Or maybe not warmed up properly, not sure, but it was hard and my arms felt like as they were falling off.

I paddled out to take off spot where I saw some other surfers where sitting, just beyond where most waves started breaking, only to realize that I'm not ready to catch those waves there. My paddling was just not doing it today.

So I moved further back in again, and caught a few broken white water waves. Good enough for some afternoon fun.

Main problem were my frozen toes. I lasted about 30 minutes in the cold water until I couldn't feel my toes anymore. That's when the fun stopped.

My principle was that I had to be able to surf without hood, mittens and boots. That's just my mental image of a beach. I guess I  threw one of those principles out today, and ordered 3mm boots. Still reasonable. After all, a cold swell can drop water temperatures in summer by about 10 degrees. And the boots will make it easier to go out in early Spring or late Fall.