None of us had windsurfed in waves since December. Sweet long lefts were breaking 4-6 feet at the Bowl (with the occasional meaty seven-footer rolling through to really catch your attention) in side off winds. The Wolf was out first, and he was back first, as he’d hit the water with his drysuit less than fully zipped.
This is hugely uncool.
Allow me to be alarmist for a moment (John is, was, and always will be fine, but please indulge me): We’re sailing in water cold enough to induce hypothermia and kill anyone. The drysuits change it into a playground, but only if they’re working. Imagine launching with an unknowingly unzipped drysuit…you have a good run out, jibe off swell a few hundred yards out, and catch your first wave. You don’t fall, remain unaware of your unzipped state, jibe on the inside and now head way to the outside where you see some big beautiful waves setting up. Jibing a quarter mile out you fall, and take on three gallons of ice-cold water. Realizing that you never zipped up (as you shout, crosseyed in discomfort) you set up to waterstart as fast as you can. But the wind is a bit light, so you can’t get any power in the sail at all when you’re in a trough, and as some swell brings you back up into the wind, twenty extra pounds of water in your drysuit prevents you from getting back up on the board. The cycle repeats.
After a minute of this you are in trouble. Maybe it’s three minutes before one of your friends (on shore, taking a break during the lull) comes out to check on you. Now you are unable to sail, and your friend has to figure out how to get you on your board and somehow drag your icy ass back to shore before your heart stops beating. (Hey while we’re having so much fun reading this post, hop on over here and read a bunch of stories about hypothermia deaths in cold water.)
Okay, you say, will you please relax? Who hasn’t launched with an unzipped drysuit, Mr. Editor of the Peconic Puffin? Haven’t you?
Of course I have. We all have. And like most all of us most of the time all I ended up with was a cold back and a quick scare. But sailing in the ocean things can get complicated. And at the Bowl yesterday with the currents swirling near the jetty, the winds up and down and forecasted to turn increasingly offshore, the Wolf’s little episode put safety front and center in our minds.
So to the great disappointment of the two seals hanging out on the inside and rating our jibes, we called it a day after a few hours. “I’ve sailed the Bowl for twenty years…I know when to quit,” said the Wolf. And we all resolved to double check our drysuit zippers in the future.
This is hugely uncool.
Allow me to be alarmist for a moment (John is, was, and always will be fine, but please indulge me): We’re sailing in water cold enough to induce hypothermia and kill anyone. The drysuits change it into a playground, but only if they’re working. Imagine launching with an unknowingly unzipped drysuit…you have a good run out, jibe off swell a few hundred yards out, and catch your first wave. You don’t fall, remain unaware of your unzipped state, jibe on the inside and now head way to the outside where you see some big beautiful waves setting up. Jibing a quarter mile out you fall, and take on three gallons of ice-cold water. Realizing that you never zipped up (as you shout, crosseyed in discomfort) you set up to waterstart as fast as you can. But the wind is a bit light, so you can’t get any power in the sail at all when you’re in a trough, and as some swell brings you back up into the wind, twenty extra pounds of water in your drysuit prevents you from getting back up on the board. The cycle repeats.
After a minute of this you are in trouble. Maybe it’s three minutes before one of your friends (on shore, taking a break during the lull) comes out to check on you. Now you are unable to sail, and your friend has to figure out how to get you on your board and somehow drag your icy ass back to shore before your heart stops beating. (Hey while we’re having so much fun reading this post, hop on over here and read a bunch of stories about hypothermia deaths in cold water.)
Okay, you say, will you please relax? Who hasn’t launched with an unzipped drysuit, Mr. Editor of the Peconic Puffin? Haven’t you?
Of course I have. We all have. And like most all of us most of the time all I ended up with was a cold back and a quick scare. But sailing in the ocean things can get complicated. And at the Bowl yesterday with the currents swirling near the jetty, the winds up and down and forecasted to turn increasingly offshore, the Wolf’s little episode put safety front and center in our minds.
So to the great disappointment of the two seals hanging out on the inside and rating our jibes, we called it a day after a few hours. “I’ve sailed the Bowl for twenty years…I know when to quit,” said the Wolf. And we all resolved to double check our drysuit zippers in the future.
Scary! Preflight checklist each other? ("tendon - check!; zipper - check!; lines - check!")
Posted by: Sergey | February 26, 2010 at 04:20 PM
Exactly, Sergey! What you said and I check that the fin is solidly in the box.
The item to check that I think is best (or worst, depending on your perspective) hidden is the boom inhaul line that clamps the boom to the mast. If that snaps what the heck do you do? This is why I sail with safety line behind my reactor bar.
Posted by: Michael | February 26, 2010 at 05:00 PM
Hey Michael, potential situations like this one are exactly why I promote the heavy neoprene surf suits instead of bag style dry suits. There are lots of ways to put a hole in a suit of any construction... at least snug fitting neoprene only allows a bit of water in, and still insulates no matter how wet you get.
Regardless, I'm glad everyone's fine, and glad that you're using a "near-miss" to spread the word rather than waiting for a tragedy to deem it something to be concerned about!
Posted by: Andy | February 27, 2010 at 08:22 AM
skip the skippers meeting Pup, glad you are still with us...look whose calling the kettle black, eh....water feels allot heavier when it fills up your suit, been there! CD
Posted by: cd | March 01, 2010 at 08:18 PM
I do not own a dry suit for this reason, sorry I got on the Wolfs case, this time of year we must make sure all our gear is in top shape and always keep an eye out for each other. CD
Posted by: cd | March 01, 2010 at 08:29 PM
can't you guys teabag yourselves in the drink first before paddling out to sea?
Posted by: bowsprite | March 09, 2010 at 09:30 PM