First two months in Texas. Typical temperatures: 60s. Typical wetsuit: 3 mm short sleeve. Nice.
Then two weeks in Dahab. Typical temperatures: 70s. Typical wetsuit: 2 mm short sleeve. Nice!
Today on Cape Cod: 45ºF (7ºC). Water a couple of degrees warmer. Except for the water coming from above, but that was just a light drizzle. It did not even hurt when 30 mph gusts made it go sideways. Yes, of course - I just had to go windsurfing in such inviting conditions! I will not let a slight drop in temperatures keep me off the water!
East wind and nobody else out means East Bay. Perfectly safe, quite flat, but a bit gusty. So I rigged a bit bigger - 7.8. The shoes were a bit fatter - 5 mm. So was the suit - I'd rather be too warm than to cold, so the Ianovated suit with tubes was called for. The mittens took some getting used to, but at least they were palmless.
Fun it was. And work. Or rather, a workout. A good workout. The Kalmus wind meter showed only 23 mph averages gusting to 28, but some other nearby meters showed a few miles more. The 7.8 felt big, so I'll believe the other meters. But maybe it was just the gloves. And the low tide: some sections in East Bay can get to shallow for 33 cm fins at low tide. Thanks to the drizzle and my glasses, seeing where it was getting to flat was impossible. That kept the session short. But the cold was beaten! I was warm or hot the entire time. Nice.
Back to Dahab:
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| Reef and mountain view at Speedy in Dahab |
The two weeks there were fantastic. Meeting lots friendly, laid-back people restored my faith in humanity. It did not matter one bit that their faith differed from the faith I was brought up with. Windsurfing was also great: 9 of 13 days planing, mostly on 5.x (4.x for Nina), plus a couple of days with nice light wind sessions, and a couple of days of snorkeling. Nina liked it even more than I did, since she had plenty of company from other freestylers working on everything from Vulcans to Flakas and Kabikuchis. Travel warnings for Egypt almost killed tourism for the last few years, but southern Sinai is Beduin country, far removed from the trouble areas. I have never felt safer than in Dahab. Really nice.
