Low-frequency variability of the mean, standard deviation, and skewness of 6-hourly zonal sea surface wind (u) is considered. It is found that, in general, the standard deviation of u decreases as the magnitude of the mean of u increases. Throughout most of the extratropics, the skewness of u decreases as the mean of u increases; in the tropics, the skewness of u is generally an increasing function of the mean. These relationships are explained using a simple stochastic boundary-layer model with a nonlinear drag law.