Pretty much gave up on paddling from spring through the fall because of parking restrictions and crowds along the beaches. Reacquanted myself instead with backpacking the White Mountains and seeking out wild trout in the uncrowded places with my flyrod. Actually, looking forward to doing more of this again in the coming spring through fall. 
However, we have had a couple of nice noreasters since winter started. With some nice swells rolling and much less crowded beachs, I found a rekindled interest in breaking out the paddle and waveski and heading out.
December 1 (or 2?), we had some great weather and 4-5’ swells rolling in. Nice enough that we had more than the usual smaller numbers of surfers, but still not so much than one couldn’t find a more solitary spot if desired.
The shoulder/head height waves were enough to test me as I hadn’t surfed since early spring. My wind clearly is not what it was now that I have not had to do a daily 1.5 hour bike commute to the office (which I haven’t seen since March). Had instances where I was sprinting maybe 2/3 ways through the break zone and feeling winded. Not a good feeling when facing one or two oncoming waves looking to break on top of me…
Had a couple of good hours of riding. Only a couple of flips. No biggie as the roll was still working, even after the lay-off. So, on the last ride in, I got flipped by the foam pile. Since I was going in anyway, I dropped my paddle and went to release the belt. I tried, the belt didn’t release. Tried again, same thing. At that point, I was in maybe 2’ of water. I pushed against the bottom and tried to get back over. Got a breath but didn’t right the ski. Tried the belt again with no success. Thinking to myself, “Well… this is a pretty stupid way to die…” I tried again, unsuccessfully… Finally, it occurred to me to pull my mitten off and go for the buckle release barehanded. SUCCESS! The “hard knock lesson” is to not get complacent and test everything. I haven’t worn mitts since last winter. The mitts really dulled the ability to locate the buckle release. In the attempts at releasing the buckle, I was first calm and then began to feel urgency by the third/fourth try. However, by then, my mind had “locked in” the response, each time thinking it would work. Luckily, I finally broke out of that mindset and went for something different.
Here is my fix to the minimize the chance of not finding the buckle release (addition of a red ball to the buckle end):
Yesterday, was my 2nd winter surf of the year. Pretty much the same waves as the first winter surf, except for the fact there wasn’t any sun, the snow remains from the epic nor’easter we had several days ago.
The colder temps have definitely put the kabosh on the fairer weather surfers. There were only several surfers out when I got there.
I mentioned in another thread about my disaster with the Infinity Stinger Waveski, getting taken by a gust last year and thrown over the seawall onto the rocks below. Well, it took months to drain, dry and patch the cracked and gouged out tail. You can see the patches by the inexact match of coloring in my repair job. But, the aestethics to me is not how it looks but how it surfs. With respect to the latter, the Stinger is still a beauty.
Today was my third winter surf. The break was just clearing out from the fog that had engulfed since early morning. No one else out (folks still working I guess, while I am on the first day of my two week holiday vacation).
Waves were in the 3-4’ range. Way more mellow. Never felt winded trying to get out through the break zone. Never felt I was going to get flipping head over a$$ by a breaking wave on the paddle out. The riding was mellow and shorter. Never needed a combat roll. Instead, took some rolling practice outside the break zone every so often. And, the buckle release worked fine when I got inside and called it a day. 
Mahalo – for surf, for life.
