53 degrees
Saturday kicked up some great surf for us here at the coast. Too bad for me that I have been hacking and coughing my brains out for a week now, and was not up to immersing my body in 53 degrees of salt water on a cloudy day with temps in the 50’s as well (and for this I am being called a poser at every opportunity since). Lucky for me, my husband is a maniac and he got in the water and caught some great waves for me to photograph.
You can get an idea of the wave height here. Chest to shoulder high?
I love it when he runs his hand along the face of the wave.
Getting out of the water was fairly painful. He got to the car and his hands were completely numb and he could hardly use them. Here he is trying to put on a shirt and remove a wetsuit without working hands. I was really helpful snap, snapping away! I think he said something like “come on, cut it out”. When the numbness wore off, the pain set in, and from a man who rarely curses, I think I heard the “f” word at least a kazillion times.
His body was convulsing with shivers and he continued to do so for easily 45 minutes. I am sure he has close to zero percent body fat, so all he had to keep the cold out was the wetsuit. I would have fared much better, as my body fat is……..um, much higher than his……so I am like a seal. Or a bear. I am my own furnace. But dang if watching him didn’t make me frozen. I was up on the pier taking the pics and hollering down at him “Whooo hooo, can you feel your hands baby, because I can’t feel mine?” which I know went far to making him feel all toasty and warm.
I did finally contribute to his thawing out by climbing in his lap and wrapping my arms around him and putting his hands on my back. Salty skin, exhilaration from the cold water and waves. (sigh) I love surfers. Especially shopping for new boards with one. The smell of surf wax, surrounded by every board imaginable. “Um, honey, what do the fins on that board look like?” Quicksilver jeans are one of man kinds greatest creations…..
