Wednesday Night Windsurfers

Wednesday Night Windsurfers: Winter Sailing
by Tom
1/12/2013

I hope everyone is off to a great year. We had our annual New Years Day sail. It was a bit cold but we had some good wind. Afterwards we enjoyed blackeyed peas and brandy. Those that braved the chill in the air and hit the water were: Eric H, Rene B, Hauk W, Manny C, Cliff T, Mark Z, and myself. Most of us were well shielded in neoprene from head to toe. Madman Manny was out there for over two hours with nothing on his feet. I don’t know how he does it.

I don’t remember what prompted it but Rene posed the question of, “Does anybody else sense creatures swimming underneath you when you sail?” Hmmm. It was a rather foreboding day.

Then this past weekend Manny joined Seabrook Sailing Club. He really liked having the hot showers after getting off the water. Then he hit the water. Saturday was a great day to go windsurfing. The weather was warm and windy. That night the cold front moved in and the weather turned crappy. Sunday morning I woke up to watch those fools start running the Houston Marathon. I mean it was cold, rainy, and windy. What were they thinking? Then Manny asked if anyone was interested windsurfing that day. I said I would meet him at 10am.

I was already cold as I rigged up. It was an offshore wind so we had to go out a ways to get to the good wind. Once out there we were blasting across the water. Unfortunately, I quickly lost feeling in my fingers. I knew it was bad when I wiped out and when I went in the water I was warmer. Yes, the air was 43F and the water was 53F. So I sat in the water until I warmed up enough to be able to sail back towards shore. Madman Manny didn’t last much longer than I did (and he still didn’t have any booties on). After quickly derigging I jumped in the hot shower. My fingers started tingling as they began to thaw. While we sat around drinking a well deserved beer my thawed fingers started to swell up like sausages. You gotta love winter sailing.

Manny really knows how to get the most out of sailing. He sailed 61 days last year. That’s pretty impressive. So, I’m thinking if you are looking for someone to go windsurfing with you should give him a call.

I hope to see you out on the water. Stay warm in the meantime.

Cheers,
Tom