Maybe it gets into the 40s. But by January in Maine, the water temperature dips into the mid-30s, and, surfers swear, during a cold snap it can sink even lower than that. No wet suit can keep a person warm for long when it is that cold. But between spongy layers of neoprene rubber, manufacturers now stitch a shield of titanium metal that reflects body heat back to the body. And the new advances in wet-suite design have coaxed an increasing number of surfers into the water long after the beaches have emptied for the winter.
Local surfers estimate their numbers have doubled in the past five years.
Many of the newcomers are businessmen, such a Mozak, who runs two Bill's Surf and Skate stores in Portland. Others are lawyers, bankers and teachers looking for a place to escape the pressures of their jobs and finding it alone on a wave in the middle of winter. We do it because the waves are good. There just happens to be snow on the ground too. Dryburgh, who grew up in Los Angeles, surfed the beaches of Southern California as a teen-ager.