When is water truly considered cold? Well, it depends on who do you ask. People who surf only in warm water, such as Hawaii, Bali etc. may say that anything colder than 25°C (77 °F) is freezing cold. On the other end, surfers in Alaska, Norway or Iceland might say that water is cold when it is below 10°C (50 °F).

Here where I live, the sea temperature is around 3°C (37 °F) in winter (before the water freezes) and it can be as high as 20 °C (68 °F) during summer. I mostly use a 5/4 mm wetsuit with a separate hood, and gloves and booties of various thickness depending on the season.