It feels like winter today. That icy tremor that rattles your bones like cubes falling into a tumbler. But there is no golden spirit to warm these cockles. Nope. This wintry blast is just the beginning. Summer, a distant memory. Hang up your boardies, shelve your bikinis, pack your t-shirts away and buckle down the hatches.
We're in hooded wetsuit and booties territory now. Pull out the thickest rubber, start sculling hot soup in the carpark before a session and hope Sarge turns up with his drum full of hot water for a post-surf shower. Winter is not one of the most comfortable seasons on this coast, but it does have some pretty amazing silver linings:
1. The crowds
Yeah, you may be cold and stabbed in the head with a blunt ice-cream on every duckdive, but you'll have the lineup mostly to yourself. Dawnies, almost guaranteed to be solo.
2. The waves
Those southerly flicks that reach right to your core also send some of the best, long-period swell right off the edge of Antarctica. That extra energy means barrels that throw wider than they are tall and some moments that will etch memories that might never thaw.
3. The appreciation
Battling the elements reduces us all to our basic primal selves. And from that base we can start to appreciate the small things that otherwise get taken for granted: the rips taking us out the back, the sunshine on our faces, the ease of driving to a break, the warmth of paddling like a madman around a lineup. Everything else seems comfortable and simple after a battle in the elements.
Bring it on.
See you at the beach ... Derek
PS We're stoked to welcome Smoothstar surf trainers to the Box of Light family. Simon, who runs Smoothstar, is a surf coach based in Tutukaka and he knew the merit of the surf trainer the instant he saw it. Filipe Toledo and Johanne Defay swear by them ... and they're pretty handy surfers. You can order yours here. Start ripping soon after.
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