I have manged without gloves for years and just ended up with calluses on my hands at the end of windsurfing season, but now I am sailing further I am wearing even more skin off my hands and I am thinking of purchasing some sailing gloves.
I am interested in the experiences of those who have used them.
Are they helpful, or do they feel uncomfortable and end up discarded?
I tried it a few years ago to protect my lily white hands
but as I was still learning and hanging on for dear life, it did tire my hands and arms a lot. It does widen your grip.
Maybe if you are more experienced you don't grip that hard and a few millimeter more doesn't matter.
My gloves are part of the debris at the bottom of my parts box.
Niel Pryde Gloves.
They have Grippy bits on the palm which allows you a lighter grip
They don't work, just get some of that shiny silver gaffa tape. Works a treat when your hands start to bleed.
Good quality washing gloves. They dont tire you out too quick. Looks a bit silly on the beach though.
I got a set of the Neil Pryde ones when I went to Maui, as I had not sailed through autumn and early winter, and my hands had no condition.
As noted, they have nice grippy bits, and are very thin, so they don't give arm pump or inhibit feel etc.
I've tried the fingerless leather ones in the past, but find they roll up and give me the tom tits. They are also a lot thicker and do contribute to arm pump.
I sometimes wear bicycle gloves and it helps a lot..., when you are all blistered you rather get tired sooner than have bloody hands imo...
No matter how far or how much you sail, your skin will grow fast enough to replace itself.. It's just getting past the first day of wind which is the hard part, after that you should never wear through to flesh..
English people are the worst for going on windsurfing holidays with soft office hands, and getting their hands ripped apart... Like everything, prevention is better than the cure, so regular chin ups or something similar will give you exercise and will keep your hands tough enough to last for a decent session. If your skin holds together on the first day, as I said above, the skin seems to grow fast enough to last until the wind stops.. Avoid getting caught out..
say NO to gloves!
I agree, No to gloves as they increase the boom width and weaken your grip (Arm Pump). Relax your hands and maybe increase the width of your harness lines to take more of the strain
my hands are trashed i think i have half the boom material inbedded on the
blisters over the callises.
Just 6 million years ago we were all swinging from the trees without gloves, without even a harness, we were born for this!!.. Or are we witnessing the Devolution of Homo sapiens??..
bummer on the dissolving hands, put that down to the one exception.
Homo sapiens did not swing from trees anymore, but I see your point... the feeling is better and when the skin hardens its indestructible... I use gloves when I have open wounds on my palms not any sooner :)
No grasshopper, that is what is called Evolution.
We no longer swing from the trees, now we swing from windsurfing booms.
Not sure that any of the apes that weigh 80-100kg do much swinging through the trees anyway. That's more little monkeys and lemurs. Orangs do I guess, but they mostly climb, rather than swing.
Back to the Maui trip, couple of travel companions who eschewed the glove idea had some handy blisters after day one.
I have a soft-hand job, so I use em on and off depending on how much sailing I'm getting, or plan to get.
I have used cheap Bunnings work gloves to protect from sun - I tend to get too much there. The thinner and cheaper, the better.
I don't use'em for grip or blisters, in fact I often cut out the palm.
Evolution was disproved in the 80's, The fundamental principals remain the same, but ground breaking research by the seminal prog rock band, coincidentally named DEVO, Largely discredited Darwin's already shakey Hypothesis.. While it was hard for people to accept we were evolved from other apes, it was impossible to deny the new devolution theory with all the evidence in plain sight.. Evolution is still wildly believed to be true, only because corrupt scientists hide the data to prove it, not because they disagree with it, but because they didn't like the song "whip it".. Its a big conspiracy..
Despite our Rapid decline, which will conclude into some sort of Eukaryotic slime mould, We still have the ability to grow extra cells on our hands and feet, Including fancy 'finger prints' to prevent skin delamination...
Here is video evidence of a Large ape swinging from trees.. looks about 75kg
Whitfords Marine sell various sailing gloves. I bought some with half-fingers, and the blisters have moved up to the mid-fingers.
Then I used diving rubber gloves, which were great, but the material streatched and were quickly destroyed.
Then I was given a pair of "Cheetah" (mechanical) working gloves, and use only them.
They seem to handle sea water well. I wash and then dry them after each use.
www.protectoralsafe.com.au/part/06326404/gloves-mech-cheetah-w935chl-black-l
Once they wear off, I'll get another pair. They work well for me.
Hello,
I've tried various types of gloves Dakine/ NP etc and the cheapest and best I've found are UVeto fingerless. They are made for sun protection which is a bonus.
They are very thin so don't effect grip and last at least a full season. Around $25.
Hope this helps.
..
Some boys like their girls to have soft hands. So go the gloves.
Just coz our ancestors grubbed around looking for slugs and worms to eat along with rotting wilderbeast doesn't mean we should. Humans are built for walking, we are not knuckle draggers.
Devolution is alive and well. As time goes on human brains are becoming smaller. With increased technology our lives become easier and we become softer. Humans in a few thousand years time will probably be weaklings who barely know their name and can't lift a finger, so dependent on technology we will be.
