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If you hate booties, why not give ’em another try? Photo: Dylan Heyden Love them, hate them, wear them with a leash, without a leash, for traction, warmth, or both, if you surf anywhere other than the tropics, chances are you’ve needed to resort to booties at some point. Every fall it seems there’s a chorus of moans as the water temp dips just low enough to warrant digging out the wetsuit booties from where they’ve been hiding all summer, and a collective rush on all the surf shops when everyone realizes how full of holes last season’s pair of booties have become. Booties get a pretty bad rap as far as surf equipment goes. Surfers complain that they look kooky, make it harder to grip your board, and are uncomfortable, and while the first is definitely true, the second two don’t have to be. Wetsuit manufacturers have responded to the general dislike of booties among surfers by investing time and effort to make booties totally awesome and well worth the investment with different materials and useful features.
Community Fun, but cold. Photo: Brian Yurasits via Unsplash Winter is a special time for surfers everywhere. The summer crowds thin out, and the surf starts to get bigger and more consistent. Along with all the stoke that winter surfing brings, winter also means cold. Ranging from chilly to freezing depending on where you’re surfing, the cold is going to hit you pre-surf, mid-session, and post surf. I remember being younger and hating surfing in the winter, because it meant tears and the feeling of needles while my feet thawed. The real reason it was so miserable was that I didn’t have the right gear I needed to surf winter waves comfortably. But it doesn’t have to be like that for you. If you want to maximize your wave count this winter, you’ll need to stay as warm as possible. Sometimes cranking the heat in your car just won’t cut it for reheating your frozen digits. If you’re trying to get a quick session before work or during lunch or get rid of your excuses about how it’s cold, you’ll need to be smart about your gear. To help you, I’ve put together a list of some of my personal favorite items to help you stay warm from surf check to your drive home this winter. Here is my list of our winter surf essentials.