MacGregorOwners.com poses an interesting question:
MacGregorOwners.com wrote:Fall has some of the best weather of the year for sailing. The transitional weather produces some friskier winds than we get in the summer (and some equinoctial gales too!).
But it can get cold, especially now with the advent of November.
Just how cold does it have to get before you say "No Way!"? What's your formula for staying warm while sailing in brisk fall winds?
The questions are:
How cold is too cold to sail?
What's your formula for staying warm?
Last edited by Mark Prouty on Mon Nov 01, 2004 6:30 pm, edited 1 time in total.
I checked the "30 or more block" but my real answer is more like "anything above freezing".
Last year I sailed one time in below freezing temps, and because my feet were actually sitting on solid ice that I was unable to clear out of the cockpit, and the sheets were literally frozen and wouldn't run cleanly through the blocks, it was just too miserable to fully enjoy. I stayed out about three hours, but the only reason I stayed more than a few minutes was that the winds were some of the best I'd experienced all year. I dressed in several layers with a hat, gloves and full windbreaker suit, but I think I'd need better shoes and real cold weather sailing gloves to be really comfortable in temps below 40.
Besides the discomfort, though, there is at least one other important consideration. When the water temp gets down below 50, and particularly when it's close to freezing, there is a real danger of hypothermia if you were to fall in. This is even more important to those like me who frequently singlehand. I kept my autoinflator pfd on at all times in consideration of this danger, but I don't have jacklines or tethers; if I sailed in these lower temps again I think these would be an essential investment, and maybe even a drysuit.
Given the description of the options, the question should be "How warm does it have to be for you to sail."
For us (including wife) that's 60 degrees or more (warmer), but it also depends on the water temperature. Sixties in the Fall may occur with water temperature warm enough to ensure sufficient survival time. Sixties in the Spring may occur when the water temperature would call for a dry suit to ensure survival in the expected rescue time. Since we don't have survival suits, we adjust for that.
For me it is a question of age. About 27 years ago my brother and I bought a 15 ft Macgregor Venture Cat. (I was in my mid 20's) We sailed out of Vancouver Harbour (English Bay) Since the water is cold year round we wore wetsuits especially in winter. Here in the Pacific Northwest it can get pretty cold in the winter but then some of the finest sailing is also available in the winter, sunny days with steady winds, but very brisk. Today I am over 50 and you wouldn't catch me dead out there in that cold stuff even though now my MacGregor is bigger and enclosed and dry. If I have to tolerate as opposed to enjoy then forget it, I'm not ashamed of being a fair weather sailor. I get six months of the year to choose from and that suits me fine.
When it gets below sixty here it's time to break out the parka and sit in front of the fireplace shivering and waiting for the return of the sun..... or to at least sit in the jaquzzi and drink heavily.
Back when I was in college (USNA), I sailed Shields' in the frostbite race series on the Chesapeake (Shields are terrific, old-school, high powered racing sloops with virtually zero creature comforts). I distinctly remember a lot of races when we carried rubber mallets so we could regularly bang the ice off the rigging, and having to fish the spinnaker pole into the cockpit and bang big hunks of ice off it so we could gybe the spinnaker...
We used to wear 2 layers of thermals and sweats underneath full drysuits - I don't recall ever being real cold except for noses and fingers.
My response to this poll was "50 degrees or less" is too cold - that extreme stuff is for the young and invincible imho
even on the cold days here in the south ,it rarely gets and stays below 30 degrees,so like Chip basically any time,day or temp(as long as its not raining ,we dont get snow down here)is a good day to sail
Two consecutive years, it snowed the day I pulled my 26X out. I figured as long as I was already on the boat, I might as well go sailing for a couple of hours, because it would be months before I went sailing again. It was really kind of neat, but cold.
I sailed for a couple of hours before I took my boat out last wednesday (11/03). The temp was 45 and I kept telling my wife maybe I shouldn't take it out yet because the weekend was suppose to be 50. The only problem is the water here on Lake St. Clair is dropping and I'm a little concerned that the water level will get to low to take the boat out if I wait to Christmas .
as opposed to enjoy 
