Draft: A Christmas Story of a Boy's First Wetsuit
FIRST DRAFT (30 minutes) My mom took this photo Winter 1984. This was the first winter that I surfed and I'm holding my first surfboard, a Dick Brewer (shaped by Gary Linden). The year before, had started surfing and was hooked. I surfed every day, whether there were waves or not...I was in the ocean thanks to my mom, grandmother, and the parents of my surfing mates. I had sat the previous winter out, due to not having a full suit. As the fall turned into early winter, the water got colder and my Piping Hot 2 mm vest no longer kept me warm; I wanted/needed a full suit. I couldn't sit another winter out. During the summer and fall of 1983 my parents were fighting, probably due to my dad's gambling and unwillingness to get a job, as that would interfere with his bar and poker time. My dad hated that I was a surfer for a variety reasons, mostly due to his ego wobbling under the weight of his son not being devoted to a "real sport...