As a young man I surfed throughout the winter in the Rockaways, with few problems, but…..on an exceptionally warm February day I surfed without a hood, wiped out, was held down by a 6 footer, and when I came up I was blind and couldn’t feel my head. Sheer panic. In a few seconds my eyesight and feeling returned to my head and I paddled in. Didn’t go out again ‘till March. But the real danger is a kind of creeping hypothermia which sneaks up on you and gets you into a semi-sleeping state. At that point, you’d better do something or you’re done.
Hang on! The Rockaways? Isn’t that the East River?