In the month of June, the water temperature hovers around 60 degrees. The coldness of the water depends on wind, sun, and how willing one is to spend the day in a wetsuit. For the sailing instructors, June is motivation month. Students don’t want to do swim tests, they don’t want to capsize and they don’t want to get splashed, all in the name of cold water. But we, as instructors, spend our day saying things like, “It’s not so bad,” “It’s better if you just jump in,” “The water was a lot colder in May,” and “No I’m not going to do the swim test with you.”
After a windy and somewhat cold morning out on 420s two of my students accidentally turtled their boat. They did a great job but the wind and the wind and waves were too much and I had to make a decision. I had been saying all day that the water wasn’t so bad, but I didn’t have to be the one to get in it. After a few seconds of playing AC/DC in my head (to get psyched up for the plunge) I hopped on their boat and helped them right it. In order to right the boat, I held onto the side while my body was slowly lowered into the water, which in this instance took about 10 minutes. Eventually, after much shivering and numbness, we got the boat upright. I climbed into the boat, made sure my students got in as well, looked over the boat to make sure it was still all in one piece, and took a deep breath. My students and I were soaked to the bone and as I turned the boat to sail back to shore I said out loud, “Man that water’s cold!”
