Are the winters wamer nowadays?

It was an awesome start in the new season. Just returned from new year´s celebration and the storm Andrea fully kicked in at Lake Neusiedl. I only sailed on 5,6 or 7,0 and used most of the days my smallest iSonic with 87 liters. We saw 5 great days out of 6 and tomorrow the wind machine will be on again. On the January 6th, the Twelfth Day, the storm had its peak and I was definitely on the limit with 5,6 and 87 liters. The temperatures were ok with 4° to 7° without the windchill. But still, unusual warm for January. Are the winters getting warmer? We saw really low icy temperatures while the previous years. The lake frozen. But 2011/2012 is different. Hopefully not the end of the year ! Probably I just feel less cold due to the fact, that I own a great drysuit now. After the weekend cold artic air from Russia should arrive and then I have to say: game over for a while. It´s time to get on a plane. The first PWA event of the season, which should take place in Vietnam, got removed to the end of the year. There is now enough time to prepare for the start in South Korea, which should happen from the 5th till 11th of May. Overall there are 9 Slalom events on the tourplan with  new events at Reggio di Calabria, Italy in April and Marseille, France in June.

Kerstin got some really nice shots on the 6th, when sailing overpowered on 5,6, testing a new 27 cm long fin, which was too short for the 87, even in the storm. The rest of the shots on the 7,0 were taken by Peter Hörler, one of the top Austrian Formula sailors. This day I was testing new Pfaffi Fins on the 87 in sizes 31,5 up to 33 cm. Thanks to both of them for the nice shots.

© Kerstin Reiger, Peter Hörler 2012, www.wind-guru.cz