Had some rain last week (significant), but the weather has been unusually warm right up until a couple days ago.

Went out windurfing yesterday afternoon.  Air temp was in high fifties/ low sixties.  Water probably the same.  I ended up falling in 2 or 3 times in the first 5-10 minutes out, and each time, the water felt pretty chilly as I went into it.  It was only a slight level of discomfort (I could still swim fine and dive, etc...),  not the numbing or "seizing up" feeling that truly cold water (below 50F) will give me.  After the last dunking, I resolved to sail a little more carefully so I could dry out (and hopefully warm up).  Within a few minutes, I was mostly warmed up except for my hands.  They took a lot longer (and even more care to not ever even drop the sail down in the water, as holding onto a freshly wet wishboom was really killing me).  But eventually, with a bit of one-handed sailing (while I tried to flex my fingers in the other hand to get the blood flowing -- it turns out that i'm much better at sailing right handed than i am at sailing left handed), my hands and fingers did warm up.  Of course in that wind, even when my body (except for my bathing suit) is completely dried out, it still feels pretty cold.  Early, as my hands were still numb and there was good wind, it was necessary for me to hang on the wishboom and pull hard to sail through it (which fortunately was pretty aerobic and therefore really had my heart pumping lots of blood).  I found that I could curl my fingers farther over the bar and make a sort of "hook" and lock that in (which meant my numb finger muscles were no longer "failing" in the physical sense (slipping off the bar of the wishboom)).  It was particularly hard to sail one handed with this "hook" because it meant you really had to pick the "perfect" balance point (and in a changing wind, that changes).  The other interesting thing is that the water flowing over my feet and ankles always felt warm.  I'm pretty sure this effect (as well as my cold hands) were my body's automatic reaction to being dunked in such cold water a couple times in a row.  That is, the heart realizes it's got no chance to keep everything warm, so it bails on the extremities, aiming at conserving enough energy to continue trying to heat the core (torso, internal organs, head and brain). 

I did learn a couple things though, as the wind dropped off later (yet I kept trying to keep going, and looked for puffs/gusts wherever I could find them).  Fooling around with jibe turns in the light wind (and playing games like trying to get away from the shore (that the wind is blowing towards) without tacking upwind) caused me to make some good progress in understanding some things:

• The secret to a good quick jibe turn is being able to "twist" the sail when heading downwind.   Always keep the outside end of the wishboom pulled back towards the stern of the board, and this sends the board spinning very nicely.  I even noticed (on both jibes as well as upwind tacks) that the board can get a kind of "angular momentum" that is, the effects of the turning last beyond when I have power in the sail.
  
• When I was initially heading out, the removable stern fin on the bic wasn't in all the way, and I tried to reach my foot back and tap it down while I was sailing. I didn't actually succeed but this caused the stern of the board to sink, the bow to pop up in the air, and for a second, while I was still trying to hold onto the sail, the board started to pivot quickly (because it was in that unstable "non-horizontal" position and the stern was slicing through the water sideways).  I ended up taking a swim shortly, but it reminded me that I had once read about a way to jibe using this effect (go all the way to the back of the board, and when it starts to sink pivot it quickly).  I'm not sure when the optimum time to flip the sail is, but this is something to try after I've gotten a little better.
  

I suppose I should look for a wetsuit, but it may be March before I get another chance (though I'll eagerly try in the next couple weeks if I get a windy day).   Oh well, guess it's time to start thinking about skiing (or maybe iceboat/iceboard?).