Whats the coldest water you've surfed in?

Zach...Whats up man? are your sunset cliff spots getting slammed with swell this week or what?
The water in OCMD is below 40. Air temps in the 20s today. Here is a pic from OC today...clean 3 foot swell all morning with no more than 4-6 ppl on it. Dude it was freezing!

 

I'm out there all year long, including the coldest of times like Jan, Feb and March, and this is my 5th winter doing it.

 

mitchell:

what's up man? nice to see u guys r out in the water. that does look freezing, but still really fun.

yeah, every surf website has been advertising that north swell for weeks. so, it has been super crowded but really good. it was 80 degrees out, not a cloud in the sky and zero wind for like a whole week. what they said would be 12 foot surf was actually about 6 feet maxing at 8 feet. but my girlfriend got some good video through the whole week. I went to my "somewhat" secret spot on the cliffs and surfed with like 30 guys. usually the lineup there is me and maybe one other.

still a sick ass week tho. nor cal was a bunch bigger.

can't wait to visit the oc tho this spring!

 

dude i feel it is frigid here i dont know how you do it

zach its possible you just need to get good gloves booties and wetsuit. My feet and hands feel like the are burning from the water when im out there

 

Nova Scotia guy, Mad props. But Clearly the winner of coldest waterman ever goes to those nut jobs out in Northern Minnesota.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0R3cnFLZHv0

Good movie too.

 

You might be right, but Im not convinced the water gets much colder in NS than any of the North Eastern states. Its past mid-January and the water in Halifax harbor today is 36 all the way down here in lovely New Jersey its 35 in AC today. Mid-Lake Superior today the water temp is 41, according to a lake buoy, kinda surprising. Of course the air temp is 5 there. I would imaging icing would be an issue. I don't know, I've never had 8 inch icicles hanging off my hood before, even the a few years back when it got down to 33. In conclusion I have no conclusion, gotta love the winter.

http://www.wunderground.com/MAR/canam.html

PS. I have seen excellent videos of NS surf. Your lucky.

 

salty j: so my girlfriend is a chef and her teachers all told her how jersey hasworld class dining on the shore. ac etc.

so if the surf there is good, im listening.

what is it about the jersey shore that helps it pick up better swell? it faces more south than md? is it the wind? the shore line? less continetal shelf?

magicseaweed lists the seasnal surf consistancy about the same as md up there. so what is the variable.

I see tons of jersey barrel photos online. what makes jersey go off, and what area has the best surf. just from google maps it looks like the south tip would have the best area to pick up swell. maybe a few points along the end of the pennisula?

 

Zach - Not all of Jersey faces south... and to sum it up... all of NJ won't be going off any given swell... the direction and winds play a huge role being the coast line faces numerous directions.

 

Look it's New Jersey, it's a let down from SD either way. I live here I learned to surf here and I choose to stay here so my opinion is biased. Jersey picks up swell from the NE,E,SE,S, and S-SW too...like tomorrow morning for example. South Jersey ie. LBI to Cape May faces SE to S and likes N to NW winds for the cleanup, Seaside to Sandy Hook faces due East and likes the W to SW wind. If its not more consistent than DelMarVa (which it is) then I'd say there are at least way more surf spot choices with 120 miles easily accessible coast. Every time there's a nice south swell with W-SW winds lots of SJ guys head up north for perfect clean barrels the beaches are steeper there. E-SE swell with NW winds its game on down here. Cape May sucks and is only any good on massive Nor'easters when the rest of the state is crap because side shore NE winds are offshore-ish there because it faces due south. A constant schedule of beach replenishments has ruined what used to be a good consistent wave there. You can expect an average of 10 surfable days per month. Or so my records indicate.

So there, let it not be said that I have never shown kindness or helped someone out on this forum! Just not the idiots. Good luck.

 

thatnks for the info salty j. real good info.

I was just curious, cause I keep in touch with a lot of people in delmarva and they r always saying how jersey this swell and that swell. on a map the coasts don't look too different. but every website says that jersey gets better surf.

so, I know there is no east coast san diego. I just live here a lot more for the surf than the perfect weather. so if jersey gets better swell all year than say virginia beach, I would probably take chillier weather in jersey with more water time. so either way. this info was all much appreciated

 

One time when I was growing up I called Nags Head pier after a sesh and they said it was 39. That's the coldest I've ever known that I've surfed in. That was the first year I surfed and I just don't have that level of stoke and determination these days.

 

Yeah, the first year you're always thinking: "I wanna be good enough for the real swells!" so you surf all the time, regardless of conditions.

Ps. My coldest water has been in 52 degree water, and air temp in the 30s, I'm not sure exactly

 

http://www.surfline.com/surfnews/article_bamp.cfm?id=21918

That looks cold.

 

been in OC/Del water (a few years ago) at 38-39 degrees, with air temps in the low 20's - felt like the guys in the great lakes photo, but was OK for a while (no crowds - actually, i was alone, the surf was decent and it was a little creepy) - my ripcurl 6/5/4 (several years old - i bought it from a guy on delsurf who was lifting wgts. and outgrew it) kept me pretty warm - the only problem was i felt like i had to worry about frostbite on my nose, so i got out after about an hour and a half.

 

today in s jerz. 25 degree air with 36 degree water.

 

the coldest surf in oc maryland i surfed was about 25 degrees the beach was snow covered but it was worth it head high barrel with a nice shoulder section at the end