Shaun Burns And Some Good Ol’ Fashioned Central Cal Shredding

Have you ever surfed in coldish water? Not quite 5-4-3 & boots-gloves-hood water, but more like 4-3 & boots water? It ain’t the easiest. Your paddling is slow, your pop-up is beleaguered, and if you so happen to misplace your foot by even an inch, those booties will have you feeling like Dumbo stepping on his own two ears. All of which makes the experience, in my mind, less than ideal. 

But Central Cal surfers don’t know any better. Due to the frigid Alaskan current, seas north of Point Conception rarely break the 60-degree mark, meaning they’re never getting out of this neopre-an prison. As is human nature, some Central Cal-ers develop a sort of Stockholm Syndrome, wherein they become reliant on their rubber captors. That’s why you’ll see Santa Cruz kids wearing 4/3s and boots in the heat of a Lower Trestles summer. 

I’m not sure what Shaun Burns thinks of his rubber uniform, but it certainly doesn’t seem to hinder his surfing.