A Chilling Thought: Some People Say It’s a Perfect Day to Get Wet

Snow whirled in the harbor and the beach was still dark, but Greg Gubser had just one thought: S-s-s-s-s-surf’s up!

And so the dawn of winter found him shredding 58-degree waves at Hermosa Beach while most Southern Californians were cranking up the thermostat.

Never mind that an Arctic storm had frosted Los Angeles on Friday and the flurries on the coastline were the talk of the town. From Malibu to the South Bay, the hardy took winter by storm, greeting the cold snap like, well, a day at the beach.

“It’s a white Christmas, but it’s a white Christmas with whitecaps!” said Dr. Mark Moody, 37, of Malibu, still soaked after two hours of windsurfing north of Leo Carrillo Beach.

Moody said he hadn’t seen windsurfing this good locally since he learned the sport 13 years ago in Chicago.

“It reminds me of Lake Michigan,” he said.

Down the coast in Manhattan Beach, Chantal Toporow stepped from the bone-numbing surf in a red bikini and a pink swimming cap. The ocean was lead-colored, the wind gusting at 35 m.p.h. Toporow scarcely flinched.

“Look at it! It’s beautiful!” the 34-year-old aerospace engineer gasped. “With the comforts of society, our senses get dulled. This is very energizing.”

Her husband, Rob Whitley, and their friend, Bob Wilkins of Santa Monica, said they swim almost every workday, winter and summer.

“It’s a tonic,” said Whitley, briskly toweling his chest. “It’s hard to get into the cold water, but once your skin becomes a little numb, it doesn’t hurt at all.”

Not everyone in the ice water was so hard core.

“It’s time to invest in a wet suit,” said 33-year-old Jane Foyster of Malibu, stepping into a surf shop dressing room at the Beach Asylum near Zuma Beach.

Gubser, 25, of Hermosa Beach, also vouched for the benefits of a few millimeters of neoprene. In his thick wet suit, he said, he barely felt the chill during his 6:30 a.m. excursion into the waves.

But alas, he had no booties.

“My feet were freezing!” he said. “It felt like I had stumps on the ends of my legs.”

Hubler reported from Manhattan Beach and Rabin reported from Malibu.