Winter Laser Sailing Gear?

WestCoast

New Member
Aside from those of you sailing where it snows (brrrr!) what is everyone going to be wearing this fall/winter?


I wear pretty standard stuff, capilene base, fleece then spray gear.


I have recently been wearing a Lycra/Fleece top from SEA. It's very warm and comfy.


What are you guys and gals keeping warm in this season?
 
flannel shirt, jeans, comfy socks, and a lay-z-boy... I'm going to fall asleep infront of the football game and dream... ease....hike... trim...
 
WestCoast said:
What are you guys and gals keeping warm in this season?

Soon I will air out my dry suit--Kokatat. I wear either lightweight polyester long johns or fleece liners under it when it gets colder. When the water is hard, well :(.
 
Wetsuit for as long as possible, then I have to get a new drysuit as my other one is WAYYY too small for me. Then I'll just wear a rashguard or two with a pair of longjohns under my drysuit.

Tim
 
I wear pretty standard stuff, capilene base, fleece then spray gear.

Sounds more comfortable than a wetsuit, but what about after a capsize?
Does it keep you warm in the water? Does it stay warm enough after
climbing back into the boat?

What I dislike most about the wetsuit, is that you stay wet. It's designed
to do that, but it's not comfortable after a while.
 
You know, unless it's a violent deathroll, where you are thrown from the boat and swimming for a long while, my spray top and spray pants stayed well sealed.

If you did get soaked, it's not great fun, but you don't freeze (anything like cotten or similar). The water here isn't SUPER cold either, so we manage

Also, have been wearing neoprene hiking pants more and more and those are keeping me toasty too.

------
I can't imagine 5 layers + a drysuit, that sounds crazy! I guess if it's cold though.... and you want to sail your laser..... :D
 
What about gloves? I tried frost biting in Newport, RI this past winter and between my feet and hands getting cold I bailed out. It was much warmer cross country ski racing. I was using a Kokotat dry suit but it doesn't have full booties; I thought I could glue in a set of full booties. That doesn't address the cold hands though. I have heard that people use thin neoprene gloves or fleece gloves covered by a set of inexpensive dishwashing gloves. I tied a pair of the Rooster winter gloves and was disappointed - i.e. my fingers were still cold.
 
i would kill, or at least mame for a season where we didn't have to worry about dry suits. however in D21 the ice boat season is longer than the regular sailing season.

I'm going to be new to D21 next year, any ideas as to what to wear in our frigid waters???
 
pirouette- I have a pair of 3 (?) millimeter neoprene diving gloves that work wonderfully. They're neoprene and have some sort of thin fleece-like lining.
 
I just wear a wetsuit with full length legs and no arms (I find wetsuit arms restrict movement). With that I wear a long-sleeved rashie, then a jumper and spray jacket if it's really cold. Also, booties and sailing gloves.

It doesn't get overly cold here though.
 
Laser of the Corn said:
i would kill, or at least mame for a season where we didn't have to worry about dry suits. however in D21 the ice boat season is longer than the regular sailing season.

I'm going to be new to D21 next year, any ideas as to what to wear in our frigid waters???

What Computeroman says in his post before yours--dry suit and high tech layers under, I would guess. That way if you fall through the ice, god forbid, you are still protected. Maybe the ice is so thick there though that people don't worry about it?

The ice boat season in Ohio is usually only about 2 weeks. That's not as great as it sounds. We spend a lot of time melting and being slushy. Ick.
 
Merrily said:
What Computeroman says in his post before yours--dry suit and high tech layers under, I would guess. That way if you fall through the ice, god forbid, you are still protected. Maybe the ice is so thick there though that people don't worry about it?

The ice boat season in Ohio is usually only about 2 weeks. That's not as great as it sounds. We spend a lot of time melting and being slushy. Ick.

Merrily:

Our lake usually freezes for the first time in November and is finally open again in late March/early April, sucks.... Depending on "El Nino" of course??? Our club racing season (which doesn't include Lasers, yuck) only runs from Memorial Day to Labor Day. I've flipped my E-scow over on a Memorial Day weekend before and believe me, when you hit the water it takes your breath away.... :mad:
 
After a short session in the corner crying, wondering how life would go on upon reading the weather forecast I thought I would put things in perspective for the lucky people like WestCoast and Merrily. High of 41* and a 60% chance of snow.... Mind you it's Oct. 10 today. I need to relocate!!!!!
 
computeroman - where did you get the diving gloves? Do they hold up pretty well or are they cheap enough that you just throw them out as they wear?

They could make a huge difference because the first thing that happens when launching is your feet get wet and the 2nd thing is that your hands get wet pushing down the rudder as you sail out to the course from the beach. So before you even start racing your hands and feet are wet and it's cold. This doesn't happen when XC ski racing
 
Laser of the Corn said:
After a short session in the corner crying, wondering how life would go on upon reading the weather forecast I thought I would put things in perspective for the lucky people like WestCoast and Merrily. High of 41* and a 60% chance of snow.... Mind you it's Oct. 10 today. I need to relocate!!!!!

What are you talking about? I live in Ohio! The docks come out soon and the water may or may not ever get hard enough for ice boating and the snow is intermittent--just enough to always be a slushy mess.
 
pirouette said:
computeroman - where did you get the diving gloves? Do they hold up pretty well or are they cheap enough that you just throw them out as they wear?

They could make a huge difference because the first thing that happens when launching is your feet get wet and the 2nd thing is that your hands get wet pushing down the rudder as you sail out to the course from the beach. So before you even start racing your hands and feet are wet and it's cold. This doesn't happen when XC ski racing

Well, as it turns out, a few days ago it was pretty windy and I tore the seam (which was only glued together) out. I think I'm gonna stick with my normal gloves and once it's too cold those gardening gloves I keep hearing about.
 
in florida we never have to use drysuits but on occasion a wetsuit:) . but if it gets really cold i usually wear hiking pants, boots, a rash guard, spray top, and an o'neill wetsuit top. but last cold weather regatta i was in a freind lent me a fleece top and those things are the greatest cause they keep you so warm its rediculous.
 
And Sam could be wearing one of those nifty thick old class sweatshirts if I would just take his care package to the UPS guys....

oops. All he knew about was the old newslettters and some bumper stickers.
 

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