It's easy to understand Tom Speyer's love of sailing. He learned to sail as a kid on Cape Cod, and these days he races on Long Island Sound, crewing on a Sonar (a One Design sailboat) out of Noroton, Connecticut. Two beautiful places to sail!
Tom loves sailing so much that when the warm weather ends, he sees no reason to stop sailing. He just keeps racing...all through the winter. Around Mamaroneck harbor, where Tom races in the winter, it’s called “frostbite sailing” –- or simply "frostbiting" -- and with good reason. Imagine yourself bundled up, steering a tiny sailboat through snow flurries. This is a scene I know very well, from my childhood sailing in Northport.
Tom sails with the Mamaroneck Frostbite Association. With 45 registered members, the association is celebrating its 60th year of winter racing. Click the images below to see them larger.
“Individuals who do this, all of questionable sanity, gather in small sailboats each weekend from November till early April, and race. Sometimes there are more than 20 boats on the water. We sail in 9-ft. dinghies (Dyer Dhows)."
Does that sound COLD enough for you? Happily, says Tom, they “capsize only occasionally during the proceedings.”