Difficult conditions

What makes for difficult surfing conditions? Overhead waves? Gusty winds? A blizzard in your face? 36 degree water? Crowds? Sharks?

I'd take any or all of these over a day like this: virtually the only people on the beach are you and your former lover, who gets to the beach two minutes before you and makes a big show of moving 50 yards away from you as soon as you set down your board, then sits there the whole time you're in the water either pointedly ignoring you or staring at you, it's hard to tell from behind the mirrored sunglasses.

Between this asshole and the sloppy sectiony one foot windswell, I didn't do very well. I only persisted because the only other person in the water, obviously an excellent surfer, was getting rides. I got one, just so I could say I did, so I could say C. did not make me give up. But it was not, as you might imagine, fun.