Surfing in Interesting Climes: Cold
Winter surf gallery
W inter surfing sessions Dec 99-Jan '00
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Solstice surfing Dec '99
One of the last surf expeditions of the millenium was on December 22nd, the winter solstice. This strange event set the stage for a memorable winter of surfing. On that day the moon was predicted to be as large as it had been in 133 years. I went to Long Beach with Brendan and waited for KO and KT, all of us in the Kooks group. We planned to surf by giant moonlight.
I suited up and paddled out. As it got dark it seemed like the tide came up awfully fast. There was definitely something a' brewing with the moon, even if I couldn't see it anywhere. Something weird about the current, pulling west yet waves coming in strongly diagonally east. Had no idea where the moon would come up. I took a couple of pictures of the sunset for comparison.
Sunset before the moonrise.
After a couple more shorebreaky waves lit by the sunset and the street lights, I looked over by Laurelton and the boardwalk to the east. Right next to the building was an arch, like a large domed building structure that I hadn't seen before. It was orange, but so was the brick highrise next to it. It didn't look natural at first. Then it rose into a semi circle and I could see it was a huge rising moon. I yelled at KO and KT and waved for them to look. I took a wave in then ran up and told them. From where they were on the beach, you still couldn't see it. It was behind the building. It was obvious that the best viewpoint to see the moon was in the water. So I took my camera back in and sat in the lineup some more. Watched the Kooks walking in front of it as it rose up into a huge orange orb, the gibbous moon of '99.
Winter surfing Jan '00
Winter surfing in the 00s. Date that is, but temperature not far off.
Mid Winter at Rockaway
They say the coldest day of the year is about January 21 or so. This was January 18, 2000. I took a few shots from the train as it crossed the bay on the rail causeway.
Jamaica Bay was outlined in snow. Ice floes were everywhere. The little red houses on the pier on the way to the Rockaways looked some some arctic cannery row.
Note added in 2007: Savor these fuzzy snapshots. These remnants of Rockaway's maritime past are disappearing, victims to its present rush to the future housing boom and inevitable gentrification.
The conditions
Just after a cold front, with high pressure setting in. Cold, 18 degrees at most, not counting the wind chill factor. Any downside of the wind's chilling ability was made up for by its helping the surf. At 15 knots from Northwest, it was ideal.
It was brutally cold, but it seemed worth it. The sandbar was perfect, piled up so the wave broke very slowly to the right and fast to the left. The wall looked makeable, and maybe 100 yards long. A perfect longboard wave and nobody at all, understandably, on it.
Photo by Pete
A guy from Rockaway, Pete, was there surfing and he took my picture. You can see the snow and ice on the jetty.
The feeling after the first ride was disbelief and elation. I couldn't believe how long that wave carried me, riding up and down all the way past the pier. The wave ran out and I sunk the tail and hugged the giant board, wallowing in the calm water. With the wetsuit hood tight, I could hear my hard breathing and my heartbeat.
I beat it out through the impact zone fast, trying not to have too much cold water come down on my head.
A week later
Jaunary 24. It warmed up a bit. Air about 30 degrees. Water 43 or 44. There was even more snow on the beach. The sun was partially out so it was totally tolerable. On both of these days, the water seemed significantly warmer than the air. Relatively speaking, with the thick wetsuit on, It was like jumping from a cool summer night into a heated pool.
I took off my 5mm gloves and put on my 3mm gloves to take pictures. Then I felt the cold. The water stung like putting my hands in a basket of pins.
I got this picture by holding the camera at arm's length as I surfed. The wave had broken so I was pretty much in the soup, trying to steady the board for the shot. You can see the face mask I use to prevent ice cream headaches, folded down on my chin.
It looks like I'm tense because of the cold. Really I wasn't suffering much, but the concentration it took to take this shot while underway was pretty intense.
The surf had died by the time I got out. Without a footprint, the beach was unmarred. The colors of the scene were all in perfect contrast, like blocks of pastel. The tiny surf was perfectly drawn.
