Ya know, the retro soul vibe gig that has the surf world in a strangle hold of late initially comes off as disingenuous at best, with surfers lugging any bit of flotsom down to the water's edge, or worse, pulling up to the car park with a fishy 5-finner still hot from the Chinese shaping machine that scraped it out.

If you're skeptical of the falsities of goofballs in rubber soul costumes like me, try watching one of Andrew Kidman's neo-retro soul extravaganzas like Believe or Glass Love. You might just fall prey to the charms of riding something new, getting involved in the artistry of your surfboard or seeing what surfing really is: a magical way to grab the essence of natural creation itself.

Yeah, just think about what you do as a surfer. Appreciate the curves of the wave face and the breeze rolling over miles of ocean and the post-ride smile stretched across your face. That's the truth. Even the jittery fear of submerged rocks in shadowy water and shark attacks make you happy on the inside. Happiness is that sense that you are truly alive and truly a surfer.

50 degree water and 40 degree offshores may not sound extreme to those Nor'eastern (or Nor'western for that matter) surfers, but down in Florida, that's hardcore baby. Fullsuits and car heaters are essential

But upon reading this NY Times article, I began to think back to Baja and North Carolina sessions (I'm sure the Great Lakes innovators and Canadian explorers are laughing) and the shock I felt when I hit the water. But the article really nails the culture surrounding surfing in the cold, and there's something satisfying about coming from a frigid surf, like you conquered something raw and captured the natural essence of surfing’s exhilaration before you even caught your first wave. It's like adrenaline explodes from the moment you touch the water. With that first deep breath and stiffening muscle, you know you are alive.

I'm not pretending that a toasty, tropical pointbreak down in Mex isn't much more inviting than a chilly Peruvian headland, but there is something powerful and foreboding and adventurous about the cold, something pure. After all, cold inhibits mold growth and rotting in general, so it must be a power for good. And almost all the surfers from icy origins I've met over the years exhibited a certain internal waveriding compass and an eternal lightness of surfing in which they realized how special and free tropical surfing really is and how lucky we are to be experiencing it. Even with all my changing verb tense and switching topics, I think you get the point. While surfing is an adventure in each session, old man winter ups the stakes with low temps that increase that adventure exponentially. Add in some Great Whites, and you are really living.

Board design and shaping have been a bone of contention in the surfing community over the last decade. But I see the biggest problem in that the surfer and his board are becoming more and more distant as design techniques progress. If we are to go back to the beginning, Hawaiians came together as a community in shaping and building a new surfboard. The finished board was a family treasure and its launching into the water was a community event. Even as materials changed and surfboard shaping became a business, surfers and shapers often stood together in the shaping room in a sort of refinement session where they communicated about the surfer's goal for the board.

The advent of the "almost shaped" blank saw shapers become "scrapers". Mass produced surfboards have brought down some prices, and surfers have lost some contact with their surfboards...that soul connection that inspired me to keep my surfboard in my bedroom so no harm would come to my precious possession. I fixed every ding as it happened and tried to keep it fresh for as long as possible. A new surfboard was like adopting a child. In my mind I gently whispered, "I'll take good care of you, baby."

Today, surfboards have become disposable, and even with attempts at creating more "green" surfboards, it's the attitude of surfers themselves that has changed. We really can't blame the industry for becoming more streamline and more profitable. In reality, it's surfers who own these companies and surfers who are using shaping machines and surfers who are buying up all this stuff. There's no avoiding progress and new technologies and such (and no real reason to), but we can try to stay true to the tradition that gave birth to our culture and art. We need to keep that attitude that surfing is an art first and that no matter where the board under your feet came from, it is the way you connect to the energy of the wave. That's the soul connection. Cherish it and nourish it. Don’t toss your old board. Fix it up. Give it to a kid. Donate it to a cause, and please fix your dings.

On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me... an awesome new softboard for my kid to learn on.

On the second day of Christmas, my true love gave to me...and insane high performance balsa short board.

On the third day of Christmas, my true love gave to me...a bizarre but shred-tastic hybrid fish that catches anything.

On the fourth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me…an affordable and durable shortboard that is perfect for "bigger" surfers.

Okay, I think you get the picture. Make a surfer happy this season and buy your loved one a new board. But make sure you learn how to choose your first board, or how to buy a new board and see what boards are out there that are affordable and worth the bank.