Anyone having issues with this winter more than others? Our snowfall in EMass the last two weeks alone is at Buffalo, NY status (for an entire winter), 6 feet with up to 2 more coming Saturday through Tuesday. It's 8:15am and the temp just rode to a balmy 0F with a wind chill of -12F. My front yard snow is up past the height of the front porch. Driving down the street is a threat to any hidden pedestrian behind a snowbank. It was so damn cold last night on the drive home that when I turned the heater on it sounded like a small lawnmower, no joke. Anyone else having difficulty getting stoked at all? Not so much complaining, more admitting that my expectations of any outdoor activity are very low. When I say "activity" I mean stepping outside. You can only get snowed in with a wahine so many days in a month before that even gets old and cabin fever trumps all. This is coming from a cat that started surfing in the month of February when water was 38F. I've charged anything and everything the last two years and probably had 50 sessions in air temps below freezing. Barring total road coverage in snow and ice, I've routinely skated the Carver in 12F windy air for 2+ hour sessions. Elements are not things that I typically am shy to. However, from having the broken big toe all fall, my Carver sessions have been very slim and from inconsistent swell or excessive gnar from wind and/or temps when there has been swell, surf sessions have been nearly non-existent since Christmas. Work schedule hasn't facilitated them either. For all those reasons as well as the fact that it's been near impossible to even leave the house as of late, it's very difficult to get back in action. Wondering if anyone else has had similar issues, not sure of how much snow you mid-Atlantic cats have got. Yes, these winters do happen once or twice a decade and it will soon pass. I've actually been busy to the point where I can't believe it's already February, so I know it will be mid-March before we know it. The spring and summer will be that much sweeter and all will be good. The thought beckons though - why do we subject ourselves to this for any sustained length of time each year? Yeah, the last two winters haven't been that bad. If I was able to ride the Carver all through last winter aside for a few short stretches then it couldn't have been that bad. But schitt, I'm stoked to the gills to be flying out west today at least until the storm is done here on Tuesday. I can complain at all and am not, especially since I was in SoCal 3 or 4 different times from Oct-Dec. I'm more curious as to how you other cats deal with not getting a respite from the area in a winter as well as the mindset and experience so far this year from those of you who've been charging winter swell on the semi-reg or more. Maybe it's from having a couple NDEs last winter where it just doesn't seem worth braving the gnar most times this winter, but I'm finding myself not chasing stoke so much in the last month or so. You cats that have surfed for a couple decades and been through 5-10 of these winters before and then 20 milder ones, I'd appreciate your input. In the meantime, I'll take advantage of the boost from skating in Utah and NorCal this weekend and hopefully getting it wet too.
Therein the answer lies: I could really have it bad and be patgeds22. The human anti-stoke. If you take a carbon fibre cauldron and pour in 33.8 fluid ounces (1 litre) of MISsy's melancholic piss, 1.69ml of saliva from each of Roy's schizophrenic twelve people, 3tbsp of Wayne's STI-laden seminal fluid, a handle of Kasser's from under Billy's sink, 4 follicular units from Gruvi's unibrow, 7 drops of Slashdog's cynically self-loathing ass sweat, heating it with yankee's hate in the homestretch of a HOTY race, stirring it on the quarter-hour with a SUP paddle then filtering it with 6oz fibreglas sheets and dividing the resultant product using Erock's equation, you'll have a solution forensically equivalent to the soulless abyss of patgeds22's manic-depressive brain fluid.
Considering I am just getting back into surfing winters, it has been great on my end! I used to stop and just snowboard all winter, but then I missed the freezing water too much! Have a good time on the West coast!!
I feel you man. Winters can get rough. This one had been rough. And your deffinitly getting it worse than I am down here. Still it's worse than usual. For me, every winter I kind of get this feeling. The cold just makes it hard to get stoked. But then you get those days where your like "oooooh yeah, this is why I do this and subject my self to this weather". That's when things turn around for me. Within the past week or two Iv ran through a foot and a half of water that was covering the entire path to the beach, damn feet almost froze. Since that day the water has turned to ice so now I have to watch out for that. The beach I would like to surf is blocked off due to snow. Iv had the doors on my truck freeze, my gas tank cap froze shut, mirrors completely iced over (my trucks old, no defroster on mirrors). Got locked out of my truck at the beach while it's snowing. Got a hole in a glove and had my hands freeze for a few sessions. When there are waves the weather has been bad making driving a beeotch.....All that stuff annoys the hell out of me. Frustrating. I just hate dealing with that crap. But than you get those days, mine was Monday afternoon. Had an amazing session. That's why I deal with that stuff. And it's totally worth it. Like 3 guys out, head high A frames. I'm kind of rambling so here's my conclusion. I don't exactly lose the stoke, just get tierd of the issues winter brings with it. I like to surf as much as possible, even if it's small. Keeps that stoke alive. But when the swell picks up and things start getting more consistent and you get those days that are all time with only you and a bud, it gives me that jump start and that's what keeps me dealing with the winter crap. Seems to happen every winter too. I just woke up, I'm having trouble organizing thoughts. I apologize for rambling
I'm pretty sick of this winter. I am not pumped to go surfing right now, to be honest. I have to force myself to do it. I am just sick of being cold.
Ah man youz got to embrace the cold...enjoy that dance with old man winter...only time you might surf in solitude along most EC breakz... SBX if the storm patterns are anything like last summer we are in for some stoke...
You have to just go surfing. Plain and simple. The hardest part for me is deciding to go and ignore all the sane excuses. Once you get past them you realize it's not bad at all. I was warmer yesterday in the water than in the parking lot. The new suits are awesome. And they dry so quick! Even the booties! And thats with just hanging them in my basement with a fan on low. honestly you just have to go.
costa rica has been nice. 90 degrees out barrels or at least fun waves almost everyday. Many french canadian honeys. picked a good year to dip out on the frigid north by the sounds of it, despite the big swell yall got.
I haven't read anything in this, Spicoli, except your Buffalo-Boston snowfall comparison. I was surprised to hear that Boston's highest single storm snowfall totals have been so low. People think Boston...they think snow. More snow than Jersey.. But man, we have had at least three 30 inch plus storms in the last 15 years...might even be five...in the Philly/NJ region. See that's one of them things people just don't notice. As for winter in general: I'm tired of it. I'm done. I used to LOVE the cold. LOVED IT. I loved grey moody days. Now as I age(43 just this past weekend) I'm growing tired of it all. Yay, it's 20 F. The waves are 4 foot and roping down the beach for ten whole yards. Yay. I loved my 5 mil. I loved that most of you sucks waited for 3 mil weather. I loved freezing outside my car as I took my wetsuit off, and that melting, opiate-like feeling as you warmed from the car's heater. But now, I have begun to tire of it. A cold brown ocean....sub-mediocre waves..... Man, we all should move to sunny Southern California.
Man, we all should move to sunny Southern California.[/QUOTE] [video=youtube_share;1Z9iUdiS3hI]http://youtu.be/1Z9iUdiS3hI[/video]
Ah William it's not to late to buy a ticket for $230 round trip to PR...we leave sunday...meeting up with those Boogie Family Ricans on Tuesday morning...
The weather hasn't been too bad here but life has conspired against me surfing fo the pass 2 1/2 months. Work, family and injuries. When it rains it pours or in some cases snows. I'm dying to get out in some surf!
