In one hand the best wind during winter sailing is a stabile onshore wind. This allow you to hang in the harness with confidence without having to correct too much with your hands. On the other hand it's easier to load your harness in flat water, and that's unfortunately most often the same as asking for gusting offshore wind. Perhaps this contradiction is one of the reasons why many winter windsurfers prefer coasts with shallow water, where the stabile onshore wind can't built up bigger waves?

No matter how fast the cold conquers your fingers on the water, it's very important to return to the beach within a few minutes to make them alive again. Not sure why, but experience tells that if you get back to the beach to get your hands warmed up after a very short while - even if they haven't been attacked very much from the cold yet - you very often don't have to worry anymore about cold fingers for the rest of your sailing session.

How to warm up your hands? Once ashore any vigorous movement with your hands and arms - preferably at a low level - is a must for windsurfers, who moments before has been standing almost immovable on the board with the hands high on the boom.

Out on the water one hand is most often more "unemployed" than the other one, and with just a little practice you'll quickly find a way to let the relieved hand fall down to your thigh, where a few slaps can wake the fingers alive again.

Other techniques to keep the worst cold away from your fingers are ...

• to form a hook with your fingers in a way so that you avoid squeezing the blood away from your fingers

• to let your fingers "pulsate" on the boom (that is alternately squeezing and relaxing the hold of the boom) so that the blood is pumped through your hands/fingers

When you reach the beach again, don't give in to the temption to stand still small talking with other windsurfers or spectators. Standing still the cold very quickly sneak into the core of your body, and in that state it's almost impossible to warm up again your hands, feet and other extremities. If you absolutely have to stand babbling, at least put on a windtight jacket outside your wetsuit (and have some isolation to stand on!).