They said it wasn’t possible, they thought we were mad, maybe it was a joke but it wasn’t we weren’t and it was. Surfing in the winter is not only possible but with the right equipment it’s positively enjoyable.
Leaving after lunch on Saturday we didn’t quite know what to expect, we had been keeping an eye on the surf forecast for the past month so knew we would have waves but would we be warm enough to appreciate them? Five hours later having driven through snowy mountains we arrived at Hoddevik where we took collected the college’s new equipment, 6 boards and 8 wetsuits, loaded them onto the minibus and drove back across the mountain to Ervik.
Next morning we were up early to prepare the boards and get into the suits. A short drive and we arrived at the beach to be greeted by medium size surf and sunshine, 4 hours later we had our answer; it is possible to stay toasty warm even when immersed in water that is only 5⁰C. The miracle wetsuits did not however stop everyone’s arms falling off with fatigue so we quickly removed the suits in the car park and drove back to the cabin. This turned out to be the only time we felt the cold but after three days we all became masters of the quick change.
Monday was more of the same then on Tuesday the wind dropped and we got a chance to paddle beyond the break and experience taking off on clean waves; it couldn’t have been planned better.
The whole time we were there snow fell in abundance making the drive home rather interesting but again modern technology, this time in the form of a 4 wheel drive Toyota, got us home safely.