When I was a kid the cold water didn’t bother me, somewhere around 25, I was cold.
Surfing has changed. When I was in high school everyone used long boards no suits of course, now short boards and wet suits.
The part about the territorial of the waves is true.
(There are “legends” that locals blade the edged of their boards to scare off tourists.)
A few years ago, surfers from a beach in La Jolla killed a 17 year old for surfing at “their beach.”