My GoPro was lucky enough to be in Mexico this week

Princess (left) had my GoPro

Unless you've been lucky enough to have been in Mexico for the last week, you've noticed that the temperatures - to paraphrase Bob Dylan - have been "a changin'". And, the changes haven't been good. From our perspective as windsurfers and kiters, Old Man Winter just dropped a giant frozen turd block of ice into Lake Lanier.

Of course, this isn't the first time this season the day time temps haven't broached freezing. Last fall (all two weeks of it), the temperature in early November freakishly didn't do so. But, at the time, the water was still relatively warm. Two weeks prior to that, we'd been racing in shorties. November wasn't only abnormally cold but both November and December offered surprisingly few opportunities to sail. Cold weather usually means the jet stream is in town and, with it, a steady supply of fronts and systems. There should be plenty of chances to get on the water. Instead, we got cold, rainy, windless days one after the other.

This past weekend, we finally got out on the water after a prolonged absence and at the end of the session, someone pointed out the beautiful full moon rising over the trees in the direction of Aqualand.

Wow, what a coinky dink we thought because the last time we were here, the same thing happened... depressingly, we just looked at the picture we took that last time and it wasn't even the previous full moon but the one before that, fifty six days ago.

Like a werewolf, we only windsurf during full moons. Full moon rising over Aqualand as seen from Van Pugh parking lot on November 6, 2014.

Nonetheless, we had gotten on the water and as Barrett Walker remarked, it was such a nice day, there was nothing to complain about. Two days later and we and Chris Pryon were back on the water for more. Our skills hadn't rusted too badly in the time off. We were making most of our turns and, if not for the typical awkwardness of trying to get in and out of the cove at Van Pugh, mostly dry.

The water had been a bit chippy these last couple of sessions but we were already in January and thoughts of sugar plums and spring were almost dancing in our neoprene-covered heads. Thanks to some new rubber (how nice to launch our board and not have our nether regions flushed with ice water), we could almost see ourselves bracing through the next couple of months. We could look forward to nice spring days or trips to Florida or NC.

Well, that's not what happened. Instead, yesterday morning it was all of 10 degrees in Gainesville. Old Man Winter stepped over to the lake and dropped a really big, chilly one in. It's difficult to get good, current temperature readings on the lake water temps (the NWS reading is below the dam), but with ice in the coves, we can approximate a reasonable guess.

Old Man Winter stepping into his "office"

Cat-mas is a distant memory.

Spring will soon be here, then summer. Then, we can resume our whining about the crowds, boat traffic and lack of wind.