It's Been Cold
After an extremely fruitful fall season, winter is off to a slow start on the south shore. I only caught eight waves in December. Not Eighty. Eight. I probably could have caught more waves, but honestly, there weren't a lot of days that were bigger than shin high... and when there was it was blown out and really cold. I suppose I could've stayed out longer on the few days that were surfable, but it is what it is. With air temps and offshore winds in the 20's, I've taken what I could handle. I managed a few decent slides, made a couple of good turns even. But compared to December 2020's ninety wave treasure trove, last month was definitely a dud. I'll do a 2021 recap later this month after I digest all of the year's stats.
But as we finish up the second week in January, things have not really picked up very much. There have been a few east wind swells here and there, but again, air temps and offshore winds were 20+ degrees and miles per hour. I've been doing shorter sessions too, due to the coldness, and then thawing out in the hot shower afterwards. I've posted a gallery below of some of the shots I took with my iPhone from December through early January. It does look like we're going to get more low pressure off the coast with some size and circulation at the end of this week, so I might be able to squeeze-in one or two more cold water sessions before I head back down to the tropics next Wednesday.
Going South!
I'm super pumped to get into some warm water next week, AND with a brand new shortboard to boot... my first epoxy ever, and my first new shortboard in a couple of years. So I'm bringing a 6'2 Dan Mann Dominator 2.0 and I'll also be reuniting with my bodega quiver which includes a 6'2 VEC Crowd Control high performance fish, and my favorite go-to's 6'1 Lost V3 Round It, 6'3 Lost Round Up, and a 6'4 Lost Baby Buggy - all originally customs that were beefed up to suit my age and skill level. I stumbled onto an excellent hack to score custom Lost surfboards when I figured out Real Watersports surf shop owner Trip Forman was of my similar shape and size. I stalk his online store often to see if he throws one of his used customs on there... I guess you could say I take his hand-me-downs. But I make sure they get plenty of great water time in their retirement, living the good life getting yellow in a bodega somewhere close to the equator.
OK, that's all I have for now. I'll try to get on a few more blogs here in the coming weeks. Happy New Year everybody. I hope you're surfing where you are.
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