I rarely, if ever, wear a wetsuit.
Of course,
I do get some rather strange looks and quizzical questions from other surfers. I don't mind.
Depending on my mood, I'll vary the answer to keep things interesting:
"Sure – but I’m not going to let that stop me!"
Or, sometimes:
"Nah - I do this every day!"
Sometimes, even, (with reference to my long, white beard):
"After all those years at the North Pole? This feels like the tropics to me!"
You see, most of my surfing is done in the morning before work. Often as not, I haven’t managed to get away from the house early as I'd like, and so I’m in kind of a hurry to hit the water and get down to the serious business of having fun.
Let's face it, getting in and out of that wetsuit, when the next thing I have to do is go to work, simply cuts into my surfing time! So I don’t bother.
Cold water is, as the saying goes, a "mind over matter" thing; If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter. I have gotten to the point where I simply grab my gear and stride right in. I don’t much think about it any more.
Of course, if I’m not on my way to work and if I know that I’m going to be out for more than a couple of hours, or if I surf at night in the red tide (there's another story), I’ll put on my wetsuit. What, do you think I’m crazy or something?
Although there is really no comparison, getting into cold water makes me think of Jesus. Jesus knew that the cross, that death, would be very, very cold – yet he strode right in "for the joy set before Him".
