Do you get cold sailing?

Originally posted by Ross No such thing as bad weather, only the wrong clothes.

That's what I was hoping.

So what time of year does the sea generally warm up?

i currently have a billabong 5/4/3 steamer wet suit
and i have to say I've not been cold in it yet
in fact on several occasions i have overheated
it's an amazing piece of kit
and it's a surfing suit so it's very flexible

Turning things around a bit, assuming we bought a drysuite, how long into the season do you get before it would start to get too hot?

May-ish. I've sometimes worn a shorty wetsuit in April. I've occasionally felt the need for a drysuit in June. There's parts of the year I'll go to the club with more kit than I need, and decide when I get there what I'm going to wear that day. But then I've built up, over the years, a fair collection of wetsuits, boots, gloves, thermals, rash vests etc.

It also depends what you're sailing. It's fair to say that beginner level boats tend to take a lot less effort to sail than balls-to-the-wall, hair-on-fire high performance boats- and thus when the weather is cold, you need more kit.

There's some sailors, especially, it seems, Laser sailors, take to the water in 3/4 length hiking shorts (so that's bare calves) in snow. They're wrong in the head though.