Even among the hearty New England surfing crowd, really cold water surfers are few. You sit amongst the roaring calm, biding time with your beastly watery friend. The freezing water on your face feels cold, but only ices up on your exposed hair and eyelashes. Your eyes can occasionally freeze shut when the icy upper and lower lashes meet. You then have to push your glove into your eye to melt the ice that is holding your eyelashes shut.
Cold waves launch.
Even when they're small, they don't mush, you can't dig through a rail, you can't force kick a slide. In this water, with a board shaped for the softer and more forgiving California or Florida water, where you point the fins is where you go. The upshot is that carving becomes real. You cut a line and dig your fins into a turn, and you turn. This gives you solitary control over your board and makes you king in cold water.