The swell last week was six feet

Name: Jonathan Hays

Age: 20

From: Ocean Beach

Location: Ocean Beach

On a December afternoon in Ocean Beach, Jonathan Hays is considering getting a warmer wetsuit.

“Yeah a wetsuit is a must [in the winter]. A lot of people have been buying Vissla's lately.

I buy Quiksilver's because they’re the only ones that have my size,” Hays laughs. “I was thinking about getting booties today because it’s still kind of cold.”

Braving the winter waters has its perks, Hays explains: “There’s usually a lot more swell in the winter, so the waves will be bigger. The swell last week was six feet and in the summer it’s like two feet tops.”

“One time at Black’s when I was in high school, it was like 10 feet and so it was hard to kick out if you had caught a bigger wave. There were a lot of dolphins, and I dropped in on a wave as a dolphin breached in front of me. I ended up hitting it and eating shit. But Black’s is cool."