Wet Unsuited

Bravado. Balance. Technique. Surfing demands all three, and it gets even tougher once you’re in the water.

For now, though, let’s consider the unappreciated roadside marvel variously known as the seaside striptease, the terry cloth cabana and the California quick-change--the beneath-the-towel method that Southern California’s surfers use to preserve their modesty while swapping soggy wetsuits for dry clothes.

“It took 15 years of practice,” admits Ken Gluck, 38, of Ventura, pausing mid-change in a parking lot abutting Ventura’s Surfers Point, where the local traffic also includes families on bicycles and tourists in rented surreys. “Now, I can get dressed anywhere and still be legal.”

The keys to dropping one’s drawers outdoors without offending are the right towel--long enough for adequate coverage, but not so big that it can be stepped on and pulled off--and the right anchoring technique.

Most male surfers remove their wetsuits to just below waist level, wrap their towels around their middles and then tuck the free end in at the hip, taking care to roll the top edge down one or two turns for maximum security. “You have to make sure the flap is downwind. If you open up into the wind, it’s all over,” says Andy Killian, 32, of Ventura.

Once the towel is in place, the dresser can reach underneath and tug the rest of his suit off. The same procedure, performed in reverse, is used for squirming into underwear, shorts or sweat pants. “One word,” says Ryan Tauber, 23, of Ventura. “Balance.”

Most women surfers wear bikinis beneath their wetsuits. Hillary Brooks, 18, of Santa Cruz, usually positions her towel around her chest after taking off her wetsuit, then pops a T-shirt on over the towel and pulls her wet top out through the neck.

Getting her underwear on is even more complicated. “If your legs are wet, they tend to roll up. And if you’re standing in a parking lot, you kind of have to shake them out a little to get the [gravel] out before you pull them up.”

Several manufacturers market poncho-like garments designed for easing the transition from surf to turf, but few veteran surfers use them. Where’s the sport in that?