Feb. 2nd, felt like spring.

[Badger]

It was beautiful at Jenness Beach NH yesterday.

40+ degrees, no wind, glassy thigh high waves with occasional higher sets. Nice relief from the wind and cold of the past two months. There were quite a few SUPs out.

This is my first winter paddling so I'm just super stoked about the weather and the year ahead.  I can feel springtime getting closer.

[supthecreek]

Yeah shoals...you have such a beautiful place to paddle... nice to have a great day to enjoy it!

I made the mistake of wearing my 5 mil suit on a fla-twater paddle yesterday... I was sweating my brains out. It was a good day for sure!

[Badger]

I made the mistake of wearing my 5 mil suit on a flatwater paddle yesterday... I was sweating my brains out. It was a good day for sure!

Sweating your brains out doesn't sound like a good day. Have you ever tried a drysuit?

The new ones are made with breathable fabric. I wear the Soul by Ocean Rodeo. I've worn it comfortably in temps as high as 65 degrees and as low as 30 and never sweat or become cold. I'm sure it would work to below zero but I haven't tried that yet.

Wet suits keep you warm when in the water but you might as well call them sweat suits out of the water. They make sense for prone surfing but not for SUP IMO.

I believe in a few years Drysuits will be the preferred suit for SUP. Just one suit for all temps, and you stay dry. It's a nice feeling to get out of the suit and not be wet or sweaty.

[supthecreek]

Thanks Shoals... I only wore the 5 mil because it had been nasty cold for a month, that I even used it on flat-water. I should have worn my 3/2, which is always my go-to for flat-water. The Ocean Rodeos do look like a nice suit... maybe someday.

[J-Bird]

Shoals man, you are absolutely right about the drysuits, way more comfortable in the winter than paddling in a hot, clammy wetsuit. I think people are afraid to try different things, but I surf throughout the winter in my suit and am super comfortable, honestly i feels like anice summer day most of the time.  Wearing a thick wetsuit in the winter sucks for sup surfing.

[NoSaltSuper]

Ditto on the Soul, simply awesome. Sadly, everything is frozen near me so, haven't touched my SUPs in months.

[Badger]

I surfed with the Soul again today.

Air 25 degrees, water 38, chest high surf, almost no wind. I was in the water quite a bit whenever I got caught inside.

Inside the suit I wore some light long underwear with fleece pants and light fleece shirt over. It was perfect. Warm and dry but not sweating. I keep track of what I wear so that I know exactly what to wear inside the suit for a particular temperature.

I also wore my 7mm boots,7mm mitts and 2mm cap.

I surfed for about three hours.

My house is only 20 minutes away so I drive home wearing the suit, hop in the shower to rinse it off and hang it up to dry.

I have yet to see anyone else wearing a drysuit but I'm sure there are more out there. I can't be the only one.

[mrbig]

I surfed in my O'Neill Boost drysuit today in RI. Wore two sets of long johns underneath and a pair of wool socks 7 mil xcel boots, 7 ml quicksilver lobster claws , and a little duck hat. Air 25 water 37. Warm as toast riding my Hobie 9'8" CM LB. Remember the old O'Neill ad, It's always summer on the inside!! Waves were waist to chest and clean around high tide. Still wearing the long johns!

[Badger]

I was just reading one of Creeks posts where he was saying that his wetsuit and associated gear added 25 pounds to rider weight when wet. That's a lot of extra weight.

http://www.standupzone.com/forum/index.php?topic=23128.0

Drysuits only weigh 3 or 4 pounds when wet. Boots,gloves,hat/hood might bring the total wet weight to 5 or 6 lbs.

That's another big advantage of drysuits.

[supthecreek]

Shoals.... I was there yesterday!

Picked up a board from Crop at CR. He was out at a point when I arrived, so I enjoyed a coastal cruise to all the spots. Saw you (I believe) in your Soul (reddish?)

Crop bought me lunch... I waxed the new board (yuck... stripped it last night and installed a pad)
and went out across from CR. Found a nice roping right hander for a solo session on the new board.

Here's a few pics I took while road tripping to NH yesterday.... what  a beautiful day. The NH coast in the snow on a bright blue sky day is magical.

Stopped to have a beer with piece of 8 on my way home.... great day!

[Badger]

Hey that's awesome Creek.

Yup, that's me wearing the orange Soul. I kinda wish I had ordered a different color. Had no idea it would be so bright.

The picture of me is deceiving. It looks flat out there but it was between sets. The waves were the same as in your other pics.

I caught some good rides that day. Near exhaustion at the end of the session. I would have thought I was seeing things if you had paddled out.

I try to buy all my stuff at Rainbows (CR). I just ordered my third board from them. They really treat you right, even if you're a beginner like me. Sounds like you and Dave go back a ways.

I was eying those Hobie Raws. I'm going to be down sizing from my 10'4" pretty soon. I haven't decided to what yet though.