Progressive Lenses on Deck?

[astokel]

I too have been using progressives both seeing and sunglasses for about 20 years or more. There initially was a learning curve especially going downstairs or looking at things sideways.

I also learned that there are progressives and progressives. Some only have a tiny area in the centre of the bottom of the lens for close-up work. That may be your problem. Next time try the more expensive ones from a brand-name supplier that give you better range.

[Smokeys Kitchen]

Originally Posted by Paul Elliott

I wear progressives on the boat, both regular glasses and sunglasses. They work great for me. My glasses have rather large lenses (as do most sunglasses) so there isn't a tiny sweet spot.

This is one of the keys for using progressives outside on the boat (or any outdoor activity for me). I've worn glasses for 40+ years and progressives for a lot of that. I've had smaller, "designer frame" type progressives, but I notice that doing outside activity requires a larger sweet spot; hence the lenses are larger and that works well for me.

[Var Korall]

Progressive glasses can be dangerous especially if you are looking down through the 'reading' portion. Stepping off the boat onto a dock lower than the deck tends to cause falls, as you tend to be looking forward through the distance portion when your eyes turn downward to make the step, rather than your whole head turning downward. Same as on land but not so much of a problem as stairs are a standard height, and people tend to nod their head downward to watch where they are going more on land than on water. Also, a big difference for both downward and peripheral if your glasses are not flat, but wrap around. Some people can adjust and some have difficulty. But be very careful while you get used to them if you decide to keep them. Lined tri-focal can help because you become aware of which section you are looking through due to the lines.

[bharney]

I've tried 2 pair of progressives about 15 years apart and could never get used to them, they made me dizzy and nauseous. So now I have 3 pair of single vision glasses, reading, computer and distance scripts. Wish I could get used to progressives, my wife loves hers, puts them on in the morning off at night.

[thinwater]

If you have a close prescription of 2.5-4 and a distance prescription of only 1 or so, consider getting cheap single vision readers. I get mine from the dollar store and they work fine. The best part is that I no longer cry if I drop them overboard. For $1, who cares!


I can wear them for hours at the computer without getting a headache, That's what I'm wearing now. I havn't bought prescription glasses in a decade. The frames were better, but unless you have an astigmatism, the lenses are the same. A honest optician will tell you this.


--


For rock climbing, which is quite critical in the middle distance, I wear a single vision mid correction that gives sharp focus from arm's length to about 6 feet. Perfect for seeing the texture of the rock.



It's not the money, it's the reduced stress of not CARING if I loose them.

[degouwb]

Just 2 quick points...never wear glass lenses, even safety, they do shatter and it is very important that you use a good brand name and the fitter knows how to measure expertly.

[waterman46]

Originally Posted by WanderingStar39

I recently bought two pairs of progressive lens sunglasses. Like many, I had perfect vision until about 40. Reading glasses followed, now I qualify for a distance prescription too, so I got the progressives. One of the side effects of them is blurry peripheral vision. Last week after a day sail, I went forward to do something, and lost my balance twice. I did not fall, but I think it was because the deck and bowsprit appeared to curve. Will I get used to this? Or should I take the glasses off up forward?

Short answer, yes you will get used to it, but there are better options to at least consider IMHO.

Judging from this description, you seem to have best vision at some fixed distance, I'd guess about 10 feet, which is intermediate between distance and close-up, ie you need a correction for close-up (positive diopter) and a negative diopter to correct for distance. Probably since at some age our corneas become inflexible and cant change focus near to far and back.

Seems like you could probably do OK without any glasses at all for most deck work which after all does not require anything like 20/20 vision.

Contact lenses have enabled me, with extreme nearsightedness, to do all watersports from SCUBA to surfing to any kind of sailing, with no peripheral effects at all. Since my eyes are much older than yours, they too cannot change focus much. I have a correction for distance in my best eye and a less powerful correction in my other eye which lets me use that eye for reading. Not a perfect solution, but avoids use of glasses unless I want to read or use computer for a long stretch.

[TrentePieds]

The voice of heresy - or at least of unconventionallity :-):

I've been effectively monocular all my life of nigh on 80 years, having been born with a "lazy eye". Forty years ago I had both retinas come unstuck and they were successfully reattached. Last year driving at night became unsupportable, and the ophthalmologist diagnosed cataracts (of course) but also glaucoma and Fuch's Syndrome. A succession of eye-surgeons, ranked in ascending order of reputation, chickened out and kicked me upstairs to Vancouver's currently preeminent ophthalmic surgeon. He did his successful thing. So:

What do you need eye-sight for aboard your boat? You have to see things, alright, but you don't need to see them clearly, you don't need to see them in perfect focus. The vast majority of the visual information you take in, you take in through your peripheral vision and doing so does NOT require specs - in fact, specs can be an impediment, as all those who try multifocals find out. As you yourself have found :-)

To do your work on deck you are better off by NEVER wearing glasses, because you want to be able to do that work when glasses are not available or have been lost. In other words you need to know the ropes. I've always taught my sailing students that you have to be able to do the work on deck on a pitch-black night. In a howling wind. With green water coming over the deck. And while you are desperately hanging on with the one hand. In circumstances, IOW, when glasses won't do you one blind bit of good and you are wearing them they are just a distraction!

What about navigating, you say? MyBeloved steers by degrees because she came late to seafaring. Not until after my recent eye operation could I see the degree marks on the compass rose in the binnacle . Didn't matter. I steer by "points" in the old-fashioned way. And since our cruising is coastal cruising, I steer by landmarks more than by compass (and by the wind, of course, while under sail) And I don't need shore details to be in perfect focus to do that. If I need more clarity, the binoculars come into play. One reticle has a compass, so the binnies are my bearing compass.

Chartwork? No problem. Just put you head where whatever you need to see comes into focus. You don't need glasses for that. Sometimes referring to the Coast Pilot, or some symbol on a chart, I need to see more clearly than the fates permit me to do. Then, in preferrence to digging out and putting on my reading glasses, I just grab the magnifying glass that is part of my navigator's kit.

Nuff said. Glasses are unnecessary. You are better off by training yourself to operate your vessel safely without recourse to a device that can easily get broken or lost.

TrentePieds

[FabioC]

I have been wearing progressive in my glasses and sunglasses for about ten years and still do not like them, but I have little choice, I need them...
As others have said, it depends on the person, some people love them, some do not. In my opinion, either you get used to them fairly quickly, or you do not get used to them...
I have the same feeling as you have, I think my balance is not as good when I wear progressive. I do not have a better solution, though. If you go to the bow and have to do something that requires near vision, you need your progressive lenses, so you can keep track of your surroundings when performing the work... Carrying them in your pocket and changing glasses on the bow when needed is not a very practical solution either...

[AJ_n_Audrey]

I regularly keep "single vision" and progressives on hand when sailing. My sunglasses, which I wear 90+% of the time are single-vision (not progressive). Since I'm near-sighted, I can pull off the single-vision glasses and see most things up close (chartplotter, iPad, book). But, like many, I dislike the progressive lenses tendency to make peripheral vision blurry.

[bcboomer]

To the PO: If you can wear progressives without a problem, fine. But, if you're like me and lots of others, take them off when you leave the helm.

Some of us can't ever get used to progressives or mono-vision.

[desodave]

Originally Posted by astokel

I too have been using progressives both seeing and sunglasses for about 20 years or more. There initially was a learning curve especially going downstairs or looking at things sideways.

I also learned that there are progressives and progressives. Some only have a tiny area in the centre of the bottom of the lens for close-up work. That may be your problem. Next time try the more expensive ones from a brand-name supplier that give you better range.

My experience precisely. I wear tight fitting, large lens prescription sunglasses almost exclusively when on the boat, even on overcast days. I need the protection against "brightness" as well as to read anything ( especially the chartplotter) or do anything fine. I couldn't work on deck without the brightness protection.


You learn to turn your head a bit rather than use peripheral vision and, as Astokel says, to look down when descending stairs. It becomes automatic after a while.



I went straight to progressives when I first needed corrective lenses, and I think that helped. I didn't want to be constantly looking for the right pair of glasses for the task - I wanted them on my face all the time. You get used to them. I think changing back and forth just means that you'll never be comfortable wearing the progressives.

[Cheechako]

You do adjust to progressives. When I first got them a sheet of paper was not a rectangle! But be careful, it's the depth perception that will get you until you adjust. With my first bifocals I stepped off the boat onto a concrete dock and fell face first and cracked my wrist!
I dont seem to have that problem with progressives. Reading glasses will cause depth perception issues though. My wife broke her leg, both bones, a few months ago with her reader's on ....going down two small steps!

[Herb Miller]

This is for a little levity, but is absolutely TRUE.


I tried for 3 months to get used to my progressives. Finally I returned to the optometrist with my complaints. He checked my glasses closely, left the room, and returned my glasses to me when he returned.


WOW! All of a sudden I could see. He swapped the lenses which had been incorrectly assembled. I could see perfectly. That was 30 years ago.


I love my progressives, and I have gotten used to the nuances over the years, but I really like the advice of not wearing them for sailing unless you just cannot function without them.

[Howler]

No issue with progressive lenses. Like may said, they do take some acclamation. However, there's another concern. With polarized sunglasses (prescription or otherwise) certain instruments become difficult to read unless you look at them from just the right angle.