A year of open water swimming

As I mentioned once or twice - I like to diversify the sports that I do, and also try to experience a new sport every year or so.
About fifteen months ago I started with open water swimming - at first just body-surfing but later swimming longer distances in various sea conditions. Here in Israel, one can enjoy outdoor swimming almost all year around, except for a few months here there in the summer. The reason is that the water becomes too hot for swimming, filled with jellyfish and the beaches are crowded with people. In winter on the other hand it is much cleaner, cooler and no jellyfish.
Best time to practice is from October to June because even in January water temperature never drops under 15-16°C. It is still possible to swim without a wetsuit if you have trained yourself a bit. Personally I got myself a wetsuit (because I am just a newbie) and use it from January to February - depending on the day and on my mood, but it's not needed rest of the year. Putting on the wetsuit helps because it gives you some buoyancy and helps you to swim faster (and of course keeps you warm).
Going to sea is much more fun than indoor pool swimming provided that you can swim well enough and feel yourself comfortable in the water. Of course you should avoid getting in when it's very stormy, or when you feel tired or dizzy. You must know about the rip current phenomena and how to behave if you find yourself in one. Never swim against the current and always stay calm even when you feel being dragged from the shore. If you feel that there is a current away from the shore, don't fight it  - swim along the shore, diagonally, to get out of the current, usually it takes just a few strokes. I had experienced this a few times (near the wave breakers or where there is a change in depth of the sea floor) and it can be a bit unpleasant at first - just stay calm and swim across the current to get back to the beach safely.
Now I am thinking to try some other kind of water sport like surfing, kite-surfing, paddling or maybe even getting a sailing license one day.