Inverted Turtle

Did you see me in the paper? I was the absolute tool that decided because it was 25 yesterday, the ocean will have warmed up enough for human enjoyment. I have experienced cold water before and had some spills on a snowboard that put snow where there shouldn't be snow but good golly miss molly! Let me try and explain.

For those that know me, you'll know I don't get in the ocean slowly, in fact I usually dive in when the water is around my shin mark. This is so that I can't girly out of going in and so I don't look like a powder puff on the shoreline going "ooooooooooo its cold". Standard tough guy wannabe behaviour.

Warning 1: As I approached the water I noticed that there were only 3 other people in...........and they all had full length steamer wetsuits on.
Warning 2: The only pair of shorts on the beach were on me and the only t-shirt was the one I just threw onto my towel.

As I dove head first into Antarctica, the first feeling was of course extreme cold but then after about 30 secs the bottom 1/2 of my body went completely numb - quite an odd predicament when the only way to stop yourself drowning is to walk back in! Luckily the numbness didn't last more than a couple of minutes as pure crisp gut wrenching pain took over. I'm talking a thousand tiny needles making a full colour tattoo on your legs all at the same time.

Usually you can get over the cold by catching a few waves, going for a bit of a swim or pissing but none of these worked. All I could do is crawl back to shore and pretend that it never happened! A nice warm day today though so no doubt I'll be heading back to the beach over the weekend at some stage to give it another go!

Glutton for punishment? Yes that's me!

Later Bakers
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