extending the sailing season

[Paul Pless]

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[TomF]

Shoulda steered a bit more towards the equator. As is tradition.

[Figment]

sweartogod, some of my best sailing days started by kicking the ice off the mainsheet.

[Ian McColgin]

No such thing as bad weather: Just bad clothing.

[stromborg]

It's going to be a while before the butter melts

[Bobcat]

As a young man, I used to enjoying my wee schooner in the cold weather with a fire in the wood stove. I would pin the tiller and stand in the hatch with my lower body in the heat and my head and shoulders out in the cold.

[Garret]

I guess I'm just a wuss. I find nothing whatsoever fun in sailing in cold weather. Cold & wet make a lousy combo - though 50F & sunny on a beautiful October day is just fine.

[Ted Hoppe]

Looks too cold. I got nothing to prove to sail in snow.

I do have time this afternoon - wind 10 to 20. Estuary run with a stop for a hot butter rum and clam chowder at Pasta Pelican anyone?

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[Jimmy W]

The sail is down, doesn't look to have any wake, snow in cockpit looks undisturbed. Is he just posing holding lines at the dock?

[Figment]

I'm just saying... you learn a thing or three about airflow and slot-effect when you can watch the flakes blow past the sails.

[Joe (SoCal)]

There was a wonderful passage in Sterling Hayden book Wanderer about hand freezing on a rowing skiff set off from the main ship with an old salt, fishing for cod or something. Then getting lost in cold fog for hours never shure they would make it back to the main ship ( they did ) and his hands freezing to the oars. I can’t find the book or the passage, might have lost it in the move. I was a brutal scene and something I know I’m not built for.

[Rich Jones]

I've watched a Frost Bite race from my car in the parking lot.
Does that count?

I have to admit that I am a fair-weather sailor.
Not too hot, not to cold, not too much wind, not too little wind.
That might have something to do with the fact that I no longer sail...

[Joe (SoCal)]

I've watched a Frost Bite race from my car in the parking lot.
Does that count?

I have to admit that I am a fair-weather sailor.
Not too hot, not to cold, not too much wind, not too little wind.
That might have something to do with the fact that I no longer sail...

Since moving to SoCal I will fully admit I’ve become a pussy when it comes to and temp below 65.
Anything below 65 we don’t ride our Vespa’s, SUP, go to the beach, or eat outside without heat lamps and possibly a blanket. Same goes for water temp, although wet suits help. When we moved here I was in short & T shirts in 55 deg weather walking the dog in the morning. Now my blood is water thin.

It actually bothers me that I’ve become the typical micro climate SoCal resident.

[CWSmith]

Since moving to SoCal I will fully admit I’ve become a pussy when it comes to and temp below 65.

That's a pleasant summer's day where I live (until that nasty hot weather arrives).

[Mike.Higgins.94301]

My Dad and I use to race an International 14 in the Frostbite series on Lake Washington. I would to like say that it was fun, but it was not. Once we capsized on January 3, with snow on the lake shore. I was crewing and did not get wet above the knees. My poor Dad was not so lucky.

On the other hand sailing a proper cruising boat, with a wood fired stove in the cabin, could be fun.

[Paul Pless]

There was a wonderful passage in Sterling Hayden book Wanderer about hand freezing on a rowing skiff set off from the main ship with an old salt, fishing for cod or something. Then getting lost in cold fog for hours never shure they would make it back to the main ship ( they did ) and his hands freezing to the oars. I can’t find the book or the passage, might have lost it in the move. I was a brutal scene and something I know I’m not built for.

howard blackburn? he didnt make it back to the ship. . .
he rowed to canada, it took five days

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_Blackburn

[Garret]

Back when mere mortals could afford to belong to a yacht club, my dad did a winter frostbiting series in Dyer Dhows (9' dinghy). At the end of the season, he said "OK, now I can say I've done it." No, he never did it again.

[bluedog225]

He’s not sailing. That’s how they found him.

[Bobcat]

What about polar bear swims on New Years Day? Did a couple with the kids. No more of those.

As for winter boating now, I am fine with it, but then again I have a heated pilothouse.

[Joe (SoCal)]

howard blackburn? he didnt make it back to the ship. . .
he rowed to canada, it took five days

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_Blackburn

Those where the days of REAL MEN, damn

[John Meachen]

I raced a handful of winter seasons and have no intention of ever doing so again.

[Ted Hoppe]

Those where the days.

Damn. You was wild in 1986.

[Dan McCosh]

Looks like I used to look when we thought Thankgiving was the target haul-out day. Just stored the boat away today. Much thanks for global warming.

[bluedog225]

93. You don’t quit; you don’t die.

[AndyG]

sweartogod, some of my best sailing days started by kicking the ice off the mainsheet.

Nah.

My worst sailing day ever was a no-wind "icebreaker" Boxing Day regatta. I was in my Enterprise, with the slightly leaky self-bailers. Halfway 'round the course I realised my wetsuit feet were stuck in blocks of ice.

With an hour or two to complete a lap, I decided to Retire.

And thereby saved my toes, if not my face.

Andy

[willin woodworks]

Frostbiting is an excuse for drinking early in the day....

[AndanteEd]

Out here our off season is the summer. Most sensible types stay off the water, but there are a few hardy souls who brave the 120F / 50C midday temperatures to continue weekend racing.

Frostbiting is an excuse for drinking early in the day....

Strangely enough our Summer Sizzler series creates an excuse for the same thing. The summer race series is even sponsored by Heineken.

[Dan McCosh]

The Laser sailers at our club race until the lake freezes. Sometimes that's in January.

[Figment]

Nah.

My worst sailing day ever was a no-wind "icebreaker" Boxing Day regatta. I was in my Enterprise, with the slightly leaky self-bailers. Halfway 'round the course I realised my wetsuit feet were stuck in blocks of ice.

With an hour or two to complete a lap, I decided to Retire.

And thereby saved my toes, if not my face.

Andy

See post #4

[Hugh MacD]

When I was a kid I taught sailing at U of Oregon and the boats were stashed on Dexter Lake...fairly high. Late fall and early spring classes (in C-Lark dinghies) were frequently done with snow down on the deck. I made it a habit of taking my campstove and a big pot to make mulled cider for "afters".

[Keith Wilson]

[The Q]

I've sailed all year round for the last 43 years, in Saudi it wasn't a problem but that was only for 6 years...

I've done races where the sheets froze hard and wouldn't flow through the blocks..

I've hit an ice berg (ok ice flow only a couple of inches thick), it was enough to throw me off the laser, which righted itself and sailed off without me... I ended up in hospital...

Now I sail in an open boat with half a ton of steel keel hanging down below.
With fur lined boots, insulated gloves and wooly hat. A buoyancy suit which has a 1/4 inch of nice warm rubber through out the inside of the suit.

[Joe (SoCal)]

Damn. You was wild in 1986.

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[Dave Hadfield]

I sail Drake in the Fall in Canada. There is a wood stove down below for the cold nights and mornings. But frankly, it's not that much fun unless the daytime temp rises to 10C (50F) or more, with sunshine. You can do it, but the chill outweighs the pleasure.

And this is from me -- who winter camps.

Dave

[JamesCaird]

Joe- the doryman who froze his hands to the oars and rowed north was Howard Blackburn from Gloucester. His dorymate froze and he fetched ashore at Ramea Islands, south side of NFDLND. Wintered over only slightly better than the dory but made it back to Gloucester and eventually opened a bar (no fingers) Later had a boat built, sort of like a MidCoast Maine lobster sloop (Great Republic) and sailed singlehanded across the Atlantic. Famous still in Gloucester- one tough mother, I guess. Sterling Hayden would likely have known him.