Dawn Patrol:

It was Christmas week so I started thinking about Christmas and surfing which I really hadn’t done much before, other than many years ago I did stuff like get up at 0-dark-hundred on Christmas morning and drive to Rincon, hoping to catch it by myself. It worked a couple of times too, but those days are long gone.

That got me thinking about Christmas at surf spots around the world, so I thought I’d take a virtual Christmas surf check with the help of the Internet and particularly Surfline’s forecasting ( www.surfline.com). The premium membership is well worth it.

Let’s see, Hawaii’s a good place to start. The waves were outstanding for the recent big contests.

OK, for Dec. 25, 80 degrees air temp, 80 degrees water temp (no wonder so many people I know are over there this month) and the surf on the North Shore: 30–35 feet.

Yikes!

That’s going to hard to beat although I don’t know how many people will be paddling out – maybe some extreme tow-in action at “Jaws” on Maui.

I’ll wait for Saturday when it drops to a manageable 20–25 feet. Yeah, right. I’ve never seen a 20-foot wave except maybe at the Wedge this summer, but I know it would take all my courage just to watch from the safety of the beach let alone paddle out.

It looks like it’s been 15–20 feet all week, so will any of that be hitting “Maverick’s” in Half Moon Bay? Doesn’t seem like it.

Christmas is supposed to be only 6-7 feet, 3-5 feet in Santa Cruz, but that’s not exactly flat.

I know there’s a group of hard core surfers who brave the freezing waters of Maine and other East Coast spots in winter but you’d have to think surfing season is pretty much over back there.

What about Atlantic City?

Wow, it’s flat and predicted to stay that way. Just as well with a 40-degree high and rain for Christmas.

How about Florida?

Small, choppy wind swell but the water’s still 75 at my buddy Mike Tabeling’s old home break at Cocoa Beach, and 80 down at Palm Beach. With an air temp of 78 how bad could that be for a Christmas surf?

The Caribbean looks like it’ll be happening – 6-8 feet in Puerto Rico with 84-degree water and air temp to match – nice! I’ve got a surfboard somewhere in Havana Cuba where it’s their best wave season, but I’ll save that story for another time.

Let’s check France – Cotes des Basques near Biarritz. Looks like a high of 47, but the water’s 56, about like here, and the waves should be happening – 12-feet plus!

Well, I won’t be able to get to Oz, South Africa, Indo, Peru and the rest of the surfing Southern Hemisphere where it’s Christmas in summertime, but here in Orange County it looks like we’re going to have 2-3-foot waves with a high near 70.

Hopefully the water will bounce back up to the upper 50’s after being chilled by this week’s storm.

Have a merry Christmas – I hope you get a chance to get wet.

JOHN BURTON’S surf column appears Fridays. He may be reached by e-mail at hot_dogger@mac.com.