{"id":47788,"date":"2026-01-10T11:50:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-10T11:50:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.alananna.co.uk\/blog\/?p=47788"},"modified":"2026-01-10T11:50:15","modified_gmt":"2026-01-10T11:50:15","slug":"winter-waves","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.alananna.co.uk\/blog\/2026\/01\/winter-waves\/","title":{"rendered":"Winter Waves"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignright size-thumbnail is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.alananna.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Winter-Waves.jpeg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"133\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/www.alananna.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Winter-Waves-133x200.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-47789\" style=\"width:300px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.alananna.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Winter-Waves-133x200.jpeg 133w, https:\/\/www.alananna.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Winter-Waves.jpeg 854w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 133px) 100vw, 133px\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Winter Waves<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>It was a bit of a shock to the system after 30\u00baC waters in the Philippines, but there was a nice little wave this morning, so it had to be done. Getting into and out of several layers of neoprene was probably more taxing than the surf itself, and negotiating the lethal frozen pebbles was definitely the most dangerous part of the whole endeavour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It was minus 2.2\u00baC, so the puddles on the path were frozen solid and the pebble bank was covered in a sheet of ice. Usually you can dig your feet in and make a little hollow in the pebbles to give you some purchase, but with them frozen solid and stuck to each other, that wasn\u2019t possible. Instead, they formed a solid, slippery, steep pebbly bank that required all fours \u2014 and sometimes five points of contact \u2014 to conquer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Once on the beach there were patches of ice too, but the sun was just beginning to rise, throwing rays of golden sunshine onto the glassy waves. As the sun hit the water, mist was rising, creating a golden, hazy screen that was difficult to see through and gave the whole place an almost otherworldly atmosphere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Out in the water, a flock of geese were close by, honking at the waves and swimming frantically in circles. The occasional cormorant flew past, skimming the wave tops further out to sea, and the whole scene was backdropped by snow-clad hills.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There was no one else out, and I didn\u2019t catch loads of waves. Those that I did weren\u2019t the best, simply because I had too much neoprene on to really make the most of them. But it wasn\u2019t really about the waves; it was more about being out there in such atmospheric conditions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Getting back up the pebbles was more difficult than getting down them, but I made it home for a nice warm shower \u2014 at least I didn\u2019t have to get changed on the beach. Brrr!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It was a bit of a shock to the system after 30\u00baC waters in the Philippines, but there was a nice little wave this morning, so it had to be done. Getting into and out of several layers of neoprene was probably more taxing than the surf itself, and negotiating the lethal frozen pebbles was&#46;&#46;&#46;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1312,"featured_media":47789,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[13,9],"tags":[1510,1507,473],"class_list":["post-47788","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-surf","category-weather","tag-surf","tag-weather","tag-winter"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Winter Surfing on a Frozen Morning | 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Cole\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.alananna.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/2026\\\/01\\\/winter-waves\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.alananna.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/2026\\\/01\\\/winter-waves\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Alan Cole\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.alananna.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/45ecde6c89b31a9e21f97fdde4c21372\"},\"headline\":\"Winter 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