Gloves are needed in high winds, but finding the right kind is very difficult!!! Ones that are not slipperrrrry on the tiller when wet!!! One wants tiller control in high winds and a slippery gloves, dosn;t give a person a since of control!!! What kind of gloves are best for grip? What are you using for gloves?
slippery gloves
- Thread starter David1st
- Start date
Cindy Taylor
Member
I use http://www.apsltd.com/Tree/d3000/e1730.asp, the Sticky Race Gloves by Ronstan (3-Finger ones).
sailorf2
New Member
I've found the ones from West Marine work just fine. The only problem is they start to smell, but you'll have that problem with any glove
As Edboat pointed out, garden gloves (e.g., Atlas) have become quite popular among racers. You cut off whatever you don't need. They won't last very long, but cost far less, and I tend to loose fancy gloves way before they are worn out.
PS: real men don't wear gloves
PS: real men don't wear gloves
We had a tune up race last sunday, the winds were only about 12 knots gusting to 15somtimes more than that and waves were begging to form and I lost one of my leather gloves over board before the start of the race and boy was I glaD I Did,because the only control of the tiller I had was on port!!! I said right then that on high wind days if I couldn't find a stickyer glove, I wasn't going to use any!!! And as wave Dancer said real men don't use them anyway!!! But this is one Man who loves his personal comforts, a stoic I am not!!! I know that 12 to 15 knots Is not considered high winds but high enough that you need a since of control!!! Thanks guys for all your comments!!! Advise taken!!!
Gail
24186
Boy, this thread makes me happy I have a foam covered tiller extension instead of a metal pole!
That aside, I currently am stuck with West Marine gloves and I HATE them. Even the mainsheet slips in them!
The very best I ever had (and it took 10 years to wear them out) were my Harken Black Magic gloves made of Amara, not leather. If and when they got a little odorous, a quick wash of my hands with them on with Joy or Palmolive dish detergent and a dry in the sun eliminated the odor.
Some folks swear by those very cheap truckers' gloves (knit gloves with a sticky rubbery substance drizzled over). Don't know what they're called, but for the price, who cares?
That aside, I currently am stuck with West Marine gloves and I HATE them. Even the mainsheet slips in them!
The very best I ever had (and it took 10 years to wear them out) were my Harken Black Magic gloves made of Amara, not leather. If and when they got a little odorous, a quick wash of my hands with them on with Joy or Palmolive dish detergent and a dry in the sun eliminated the odor.
Some folks swear by those very cheap truckers' gloves (knit gloves with a sticky rubbery substance drizzled over). Don't know what they're called, but for the price, who cares?
I bought a pair of Zhik gloves from Layline last week. They hold the lines really well, they are the stickiest I have ever seen. In lightish air you don't even need to wrap the mainsheet around your hand. The only problem is when the wind pipes up they are too thin for me, so last weekend when the wind was approaching 20 I put on my Gill gloves and put these on top. That was great.
These gloves are full fingered but you can cut the fingers off with a hot knife if you want.
I am going to try them on the bigger boat tomorrow.
These gloves are full fingered but you can cut the fingers off with a hot knife if you want.
I am going to try them on the bigger boat tomorrow.
billmcinnis
Member
Ronstan Sticky fingers work well.
Cindy Taylor
Member
I would not recommend wrapping the mainsheet around your hand. If your gloves have velcro on them the mainsheet could get stuck on exposed velcro and not unwrap when you want it too. I've been in a bad situation at the windward mark with boats around me and could not fall off to avoid another boat because my mainsheet was wrapped around my hand, stuck on the velcro, which prevented me from letting my mainsheet out. I never wrap the mainsheet around my hand anymore. It only happened once but that was enough for me.
Its been nice to hear from every one!! I don't have a problem with holding the lines my harken block works vvery well!!! I have trouble holding the extentsion [tiller]. with just leather gloves!!! Yes Gail quested right I have a metal handel without the foam!!! I am going to try a pair I inherited from my friend and mentor Dave Thompson, God bless him ,he died at the worlds last year and the family gave me all his old gear, including his race sail!!!!! I just looked in his race bag and there were his brand new race gloves that he bought for the worlds!!!
Any glove will work on a metal tiller if you just wrap some tape at intervals around the tiller to give you some friction. I put it on every 3-4 inches and you can hold it bare handed without slipping!! Why waste time looking for the expensive ultimate "sticky" glove that may not retain it's stickyness over time?
Fred
Fred
Gail
24186
Very similar to what I was going to write. I have had "bare poles" in the past and put simple single loops of black electrical tape at intervals (rather than angle wrapping) just to provide that little bit of friction. Another thing I always have done with all hiking sticks is to have something larger at the end so I know when I'm running out of hiking stick. Even just well wrapped electrical tape does a fine job. I recommend against duct tape for this application because it gets gummy and stretches. Some people put a 1/4 dowel type metal pin through and tape it in, some use a tennis ball, just anything so you know where the end is, without having to look.
Gail
24186
Today's black plastic electrical tape, not that old cloth-like stuff (that gets goopy too!). If you want something as large as a dowel, that would be a cheap, easy fix. You could epoxy it in place and then tape over it. I for years and years just went around the end of the hiking stick probably 12-15 wraps so a large enough "ball" was at the end. I would get 3-5 years of use out of a wrapping before it eased out enough it needed to be replaced.