Eye Protection/Sunnies

So it’s been on my mind in the past.

Eye protection/sunnies should ya wear it, could the eyewear break and cut your eye up even worse than if you did not wear any?

I have always believed that standard sunnies were a nono because of this, but safely glasses or the kite surfing goggles, like seaspecs, I was not sure.

Well its finally happened to me mate, but i still don’t really have an answer, He was wearing safety glasses, the kind ya get for working on building sites, "good quality" (he's a self-employed builder).

He was doing a water start, over cooked it, went over the board (not a biggie) and somehow managed to get the bar to smash into his eye wear, which then broke and cut his eye lid and cheek.

He is ok, but not without a pretty scary wait for the doc's to confirm his eye will be fine.

The doc believes that the eye wear saved him from losing his eye.

I am not so sure, I wonder if the glasses needed to be more impact resistant.

Anyways i have done some google'ing, but I’m not really any closer to a conclusion.

I personally have some seaspec's, but i hardly wear them, I get fed-up with the spray on them and i just don’t like wearing sunnies anyway.

At the moment IKO do not state that eye protection should be worn in the sea, and actually state that sunglasses can be worn while learning onshore.

So what’s your opinion? Do ya have any personnel experience with this?

Please don't start a flame about why did he fall over the board, he should have had lessons (which he has had) blah blah. We have all done it, either from water starts when we were 1st learning or from more advanced stuff, like landing jumps/tricks wrong. I saw him do it and it was not a biggie, i have done and seen much much worse, just luckily not had the bar smack me in the eye.

Meant to add - just smear some dishwashing liquid inside and outside the lens and rinse. This really does help to shed the water. Make sure you don't get sunscreen on the lenses as this can really ruin your day!

helmet + oakely xmetals + rubber strap held to back of head, sunglasses are not going anywhere unless my helmet manages to destroy my head and in that case who gives a ****

Sorry for your mate, never good to have any sort of injury, especially to the face.

Some days, I can't stand to use sunnies, and other days my eyes are feeling fried I wear em. After 2/3pm when the sun is strong and in you face, sunnies are great .. midday, not much glare, can go without.

Biggest drama is the dreaded fogging, which is got around via using washing up detergent, mr sheen, rainex, any number of rain-repellent coatings. They need to be re-applied now & again.

The biggest change I've made is wiping the sunscreen out of my eyebrows! Took me a while to figure out, but I was going out with the ol eyebrows loaded up with sunscreen, and as soon as my first hit into the water, it would wash it all over the lenses and vision was wrecked!

To get around this, wipe your eyebrow with your finger first, and dive in or splash you face with water to get rid of any excess sunscreen waiting around to ruin you vision.

Enjoy

p.s. I've taken to the Seabreeze lenses with a hammer, and they did not break/shatter.

p.p.s. Beware of some safety glass styles - those ones with a little rubber nose mount, but have exposed edges of lenses. These aren't made for face impacts! I tried them out many years ago, and soon realised (after a faceplant), that the edges will quickly slice your face/gouge your eyeballs out.

The Blue eye Squids have drilled holes at the top of the lenses which is meant to reduce fogging.

I thought it was a bit of a d!cky gimmick, but it actually does work and I get virtually zero fogging.

Works for me.





EDIT:
I forgot to add that (as recomended) I put 2 discrete spots of supaglue on the L+R edge of the lenses to hold them into the frame - for wipeout protection. Have had no dramas in 3 yrs.
The squids have a non-elastic band that can be done up as tight as you like, so possibly less likely to get ripped orf ya noggin too. I wear a helmet (Protec) so not much chance of losing em for me anyway.

Just lost my 3rd pair of seabreeze sunnies out at sea, turning into an expensive habit. Each one have had the standard strap plus an added lanyard around the neck into the wetsuit. Seems the lanyard comes loose from the wetsuit, few wipeouts later, usually when being shot down wind feet first without the board, sunnies gone.

any tips/advice on how to fix the dam things to your body without loosing them. i'm pushing myself pretty hard doing some big stacks but can't really do without them over here you'll burn your eyes out.

Thinking i'll just buy an el-cheapo pair next, seriously are they that much worse or is it just a confidence trick to get you to fork out for expensive sunnies??

late last year had sun burnt eye balls, 3 days inside with blinds pulled couldn't watch tv or look at computer to blury to read constantly sore doc said was like a really bad welding flash and not to let it happen again, worth wearing.stiched old bridle loop to rashie other end loops over strap so far so good. before this lost 2 seabreeze and 2 cheap pairs of sunnies

sunnies are a must as anoying as they can be. eyes are so easily damaged...then you get those big white/red growths across your eyes. if you ever feel like you have sore eyes after kiting thats why

To stop fogging you can cut up a raw potato and rub it on your lenses, then rinse it off - something to do with the starch apparently changes the surface tension of the water and it runs straight off... Seems to work pretty well for me - I do it about once a month.