First Surf of the Year

With air temperatures only reaching 5 degrees and an overcast day forecast, I wasn’t really expecting to get in today. But without the chill of wind it actually felt a bit warmer than expected. It looked like the sun might also make a surprise appearance, so I got togged up in a few layers of neoprene and went off to catch my first waves of 2025.

The water was as cold as anticipated, but my suit did a good job of keeping me warm. I’d accidently picked up Clare’s hood, which is rather smaller than my own. I squeezed myself into it, but had to take if off after a while as it was too tight to move in! I caught some reasonable waves and one really good long one. Without the hood, if I got tumbled under water, I came up with a total (and painful!) brain freeze! Happily, the waves were pretty mellow, so that didn’t happen too often.

After an hour, I got changed and warmed up in the back of the van. Clare and I walked round into town and were delighted to find a café table in the direct sunlight. To be fair we both had down jackets on, but the sun at least felt warm on our cheeks.