Given the spring-like weather we've been enjoying the last couple of days, I happened across a reminder of what the weather was like just a few weeks ago. I've never understood the attraction of doing this for fun. To me it looks profoundly unpleasant at best.
Insanity.
Personally, I think it looks f'ing insane and f'ing awesome all at once. It's only unpleasant if you fall. ;)
Hey, dude! Surf's up!
I have climbed mountains (Ranier, Hood, St. Helens (when it still had a top), Shasta, etc.) with the wind chill being around -55 to -65, jumped out of airplanes, and ski dived in waters infested with sea snakes. There is an exhilaration that some people feel when doing these things.
When I was a kid, I was usually swimming in the waters off Coney Island with just a bathing suit by mid-March.
Re: Coney Island swimming...
These days, I think the water temp in that area is the least of your concerns when swimming.
Way back in the day, I'd have been out there body surfing while my buddies were hanging ten. It was fun, exhilarating, fantastic.
Frankly, I should never have stopped...
Alright, so I guess I'm lame. I can understand the attraction of mountain climbing, but I just don't understand the attraction of surfing in freezing, snowy weather.
Cold water surfing is not uncommon around here. During our summer vacation there were surfers in wetsuits off of the Oregon beaches (the water never warms up).
There's good uncrowded surf in Alaska... just remember to watch out for bears. A local TV newsprogram did a story on surfing in Alaska, the surfer asked the TV guy to hold his rifle and look for any bears. Here is Surfer Mag on Alaska
Get your Alaska surf apparel at Icy Waves Surf Shop!
The waters off Coney Island are much better these days than they were 20 years ago. They are nearly as good as back in the 60's...
I've braved some rather extreme conditions to pursue a little bit of fun. I used to do a fair amount of ice climbing in the winter and that's a sport that requires one to spend hours being wet and miserable while small fragments of ice hit you repeatedly in the face at high velocity. While I don't ice climb anymore (having only about 70% mobility left in my right shoulder sort of limits my ability to swing an ice axe over my head), I actually miss climbing up frozen water falls.
As for the surfers, I actually don't think being out in the cold to surf is any stranger than people who run to the point where they vomit (and consider it to be the greatest feeling in the world).
About 2 1/2 years ago I took a Scientific Diving course here in Vancouver. Diving in September and October was fine, the water never gets warm but at least it's sunny when you get back on the boat. November 30 was the last dive - and that's when we discovered the name of the country residing on the far side of hard-core.
Snow on the shoulders of my wetsuit.
The name of the country is "stupidity". Oh well, at least I now have some stories to tell.