Hi Surfermarly,
Thank you for tearing yourself away from that book to write this post! I grew up surfing mostly sandy beach breaks ... but you know - sand can be as hard as concrete sometimes! For the last 20 years I have been surfing mostly over rocks and reefs and love it! I do wear a rash vest to save a little skin loss haha. I have a Gath helmet too - but actually that is more of a sunhat when needed - with dark visor for strong sun it is very useful!
I live in Costa Rica now and the surf is excellent all year round - today 3-5 foot offshore!

Keep well and making your wonderful blog - it is greatly appreciated!

Upvoted and resteemed :D