Plymouth/ Nelson St., Windsurfed, ENE, 10-35?, Solo, 3.5,4.2,5.2,6.2/RW85 & Acid94, sailed from 11:00-2:00, temp- 39 to 43.

Skunks- I went, I rigged, I got skunked. I had about 3 runs, fully powered on the 3.5, jumping chop and feeling lucky to be alive, before the skunks got me. The wind dropped a little, I rigged bigger, then the wind dropped more, I rigged bigger, and on and on into infinity. I planed on every sail that I rigged but not for long. I just couldn't believe that I was getting skunked when the forecast was for winds up to 60. This makes 3 out of 4 sessions in which I have been visited by the wind skunks. Bad skunks! The white stuff is snow, not foam, unfortunately.

Zombie feet- As an experiment to benefit all windsurfers, I tried putting chemical feet warmers inside my booties. With my booties duct taped to my drysuit, water seeps in very slowly, so I thought why not? The warmers fit very nicely in my booties, like insoles, very comfortable. But they didn't heat up. As I sailed I could feel the warmers migrating towards my toes, still no heat. Later, when I removed my booties, the warmers seemed to be gone but there was a smelly, crappy mess all over my feet. It looked like I had been walking in goose poop. Or that my feet belonged to a dead person. I found the paper from the warmers all scrunched up by my toes. I tried to remain philosophical. It was a good experiment. Feet warmers don't work. If this saves others from making the attempt and getting dead, poopy feet, it will have been worth it. Now somebody has to try hand warmers, (Peconic Puffin?).

Nelson St details- ENE is dead onshore, easy to stay in shallow water on a cold day. I left 1 hour before high tide but the water was already very high. It was about 1 or 2 feet away from washing over the rocks into the parking lot. The Plymouth meter was pretty accurate for conditions on the water. The Duxbury meter was off on the wind speed and direction, even though it's just across the bay. The IWindsurf graphs show that some sites kept the wind much longer than others. Pleasure Bay, of all places, was still a solid 20-30 until 4:00.