Winter seems to have finally relaxed its grip, and I managed to get out for a little spring surfing yesterday. The water is still quite cold (36F / 2C) and despite a sunny, 55F / 13C day, a steady 20kn onshore wind made temps feel downright frigid.
My buddy Nick and I met up at Edgewater Beach where nice, easy, 3-5 foot spilling waves made for some fun surfing. Nothing heart pounding, but in near-freezing water, I wasn’t exactly looking to get trashed in the surf.
The early season foray did give me a chance to test my NRS Mambas (pogies). They worked great…my hands felt like they were sitting in little saunas. I did notice I tend to hold my paddle more stiffly with the pogies on…I usually open my fingers more and use a looser grip (especially with the off water hand), and actually started cramping up a bit.
All in all a good day on the water, and we pretty much had the beach to ourselves…just a couple of die-hard board surfers. One of surfers bobbing around turned out to be an old high school friend I hadn’t seen since 1991. Of all the places to bump into each other, we figured this was one of the most unlikely!