Cold. It’s starting to become a part of our lives again. As much as we’ve blocked it out of our minds, it is upon us. As the fall season grows old and winter creeps in, surfing will not (can not) stop. The days that end at five o clock, the days that happiness seems impossible, the days that we hate to get out of bed, can very well be transformed by pumping surf.
On the first day of the new month of November the sun was shining, the swell was there.
“A definite 3/2 wetsuit day,” I thought.
The sun had me fooled. I stepped outside ready to surf and immediately knew I would be missing my 5/4. With howling winds and temperatures in the 40s, this session would mark the beginning of what we’d all been blocking out of our minds since the year prior.
The destination was Belmar. Hunter Rainis was driving Tyler and I that day. The car ride felt anxious. Tyler was wrapped up in a detailed conversation, trying to give directions to Hunter who seemed dumbfounded. At the same time, Hunter and I were just as confused, hitting every red light on the way to the beach.
It was big. We stepped out of the car and saw nothing but barrels as far as the eye could see. Big, frothy barrels, catching every bit of the blustery wind.
Chilled to the bone, we sprinted down the beach, trying to get a slight sweat up before plunging into the bitter ocean.
The waves were consistent and the current was ripping. Every wave forced one knee to the board, a crouched stance and an unending effort to make it out of the dark, foamy pits.
Brain freeze was common, especially after a big set of waves and nowhere to go but underneath the looming surf. Hunter got barreled, Tyler got pitted and Andrew got “chubed” if I heard correctly. All the same, we had a great time.
“It was the first northeast storm to come up the coast,” said sophomore Hunter Rainis. “It brought the waves, but definitely also brought the cold and gave us a little taste of what winter will be like.”
We all surfed until our bodies were numb, with the exception of Ty, who was snug in his 5/4.
With Dunkin Donuts in hand and the heat blasting, we started to make our way back to campus.
Before arriving, the four of us decided to stop and check a local break in Long Branch. It was good. A bit smaller, but good. All of us still freezing, we looked at each other and could not resist.
The suits went back on, and our bodies were forced back into a nearly hypothermic state. Halfway through the session the sun peaked out and gave us a little more to smile about.
“The waves were head high with strong west winds making the conditions ideal for east coast surfers,” said freshman Andrew Moon. “Anyone who surfed last Sunday left the water stoked with a good story about their best wave, as well as a solid neck tan from their wetsuit.”
In the end, yes we were freezing our asses off, but none of us cared. We all scored big time on that Sunday, and could not have asked for much more.
PHOTO COURTESY of Andrew Moon
