New York City isn't all rich guy condos, pizza joints, and subway rats. It's also a beach town, believe it or not, complete with surfable waves accessible by bus, train, bike, and car, of course. In recent years the city seems to have finally remembered this, and as a result NYC's surf scene has exploded. While this means the beaches of Far Rockaway, Queens erupt into Kookcity like clockwork each June, the surf camps are nowhere to be found in the fall and winter—coincidently when the best swell often comes in.

As such, heading into each weekend our eyes are always on the forecast. And while this recent weekend didn’t promise much wave wise, the unbelievable upper 60s temps had us jonesing for a dip, so we gathered a couple friends, tossed some logs on the old Volvo, and headed east for a proper dawn patrol mission.

To make the whole getting-up-before-the-sun situation manageable, we brought along as much Mizu gear as we could carry. Coffee was flowing this particular morning, making schlepping a host of reusable insulated bottles and mugs well worth it. Hell, even the bagel guy was down for the cause and hooked up a free refill cus we saved him a cup. Now if only some real waves had been kind enough to show up...