Winter morning routine of cold water surfers // Angelica

I have always thought about cold water surfers as very strong and motivated kind of surfers. I have deep respect for the girls (and guys) who live where the water reaches temperatures below the 10 Celsius degrees in winter and still wake up in the morning thinking about jumping in the ocean and have fun on their boards.

Passion above all is able to push our limits and give us the energy to face the coldest days in the water!

That is why I wanted to give you a little taste of what a winter morning routine is like for a cold water surfer :)

Today Angelica from Sweden is telling us more about her everyday earliest hours.

"Hi! My name is Angelica and I live and surf in Sweden, preferably the Swedish west coast where I live. The surf here consists of wind waves and we have the best surf sessions during winter and autumn. This have made me kind of used to (really!) cold water surfing. In winter time we have between 0-4 Celsius degrees in the ocean and you really need to have some cards up your sleeve to handle the cold!

My usual winter surf morning routine starts with my fiancé dragging me out of bed - I'm really fond of my warm and cozy bed especially on a chilly winter morning when the wind is howling outside. I'm a real sleepy head, to say the last. Fortunately I'm also a very passionate surfer, otherwise I think I would have stopped surfing in Sweden a long time ago. With my eyes barely opened, I check the surf forecast and have a sneaky peek at a webcam nearby. By this time the coffee is ready, the smell from the breakfast that my fiancé is preparing (yepp I'm spoiled ;) ) helps me find the last motivation to leave the bed.

For me a big and healthy breakfast is the key to a good surf session. I prefer some scrambled eggs, a sandwich and a big cup of organic tea with lots of honey and milk. That's the perfect start for my body to prepare for some hours in a cold ocean. Then I make sure that my surf gear; booties, gloves and my thick wetsuit are dry. I've invested in a boot dryer - best buy ever for the Swedish winter surf when you want to last long and keep your body warm as long as possible! In the winter I usually suit up at home since we are only 10 minutes far to our home break. 

To really get my stoke going I like to listen to some good music and I always try to squeeze in a short yoga routine. I tend to focus on my hip flexors and upper back and shoulders. Before I get in the water I like to put an extra layer of wax on my board, longboard for the smaller days and a fat shortboard if the waves got some size. After that it's just a short run down the beach to get the blood pumping. By now all my (negative) thoughts about the cold are looong gone and the surf stoke is in charge. 

Until next time, when the alarm clock is going off at 06.00, the bed is warm, the rain hammers on the windows, the wind is howling and I've once more forgot that it really is worth fighting the cold to get a couple of waves."


Angelica is also blogger at Surfsyster. Don't forget to check her blog and follow her adventures HERE


Photography: Emma Erlandsson