Sailing Gloves? Yea or Nay?

[sveinung]

Originally Posted by rbk

I use Mechanix gloves. Lots of variations for different climates, cheaper and more rugged IMO. Neoprene for gloves is garbage, one good slip on a line and it'll cut clean through to your skin. Haul on some chain and they'll shred.

https://www.mechanixwear.ca/

Knitted wool fingerless "bum gloves" , best thing to get anything done in cold weather and very durable. The more you use them the more they'll pack and keep your hands warm. Been using for years in the winter.

[silversailor]

It sounds like most of the comments above are based on cruising. My experience is while racing gloves are very important. The stress on the sheets and halyards is substantial and subject to frequent adjustment. Unless your hands are very calloused (we have one cabinet maker on board who doesn't wear gloves) you'll want gloves. Now, unfortunately, everything that has "sailing" or "marine" in the title increases the price X2-4. I used to buy all my "sailing" gloves at Menard's, a big box hardware store, where they sold leather palm partial finger gloves for under $10 (under $5 on sale). Haven't found them recently.

[leftbrainstuff]

The cut off finger sailing gloves are pretty useless IMHO. Especially those expensive sailing brands.

We do use gloves in cold weather. I find the industrial quality cleaning gloves to be the mose useful. Much cheaper and better quality than overpriced sailing brands that are all made in some cheap asian labor locale.

Otherwise our cockpit is enclosed and most lines lead back to the cockpit.

We are cruisers not racers. We've also replaced most winches with electric. Comfort is more important to us these days than sailing fashion.

[thinwater]

Originally Posted by Macblaze

Actually it started because I thought gloves were an odd choice for gifts for a charterer, male or female

But it seems they are more common that I supposed given my own experiences. Interesting that a lot of people think of them as safety equipment. I wonder if those that do wear their pfds 100% of the time too? (I do fwiw)

I wear a PFD less than 1% of the time. Much less. Harness and tether if it's wild.


In fact, I wear them more on the F-24 tri and less on the cruising cat. It has to do with the size of lines and how they are trimmed. On the cruising cat I used then only for specific things (hoisting, furling, handling anchor snubbers when recovering, jibing in heavy air, and long turns at the wheel in a breeze).

[SuW]

Originally Posted by hellosailor

"Neoprene for gloves is garbage,"
No, neoprene is excellent at keeping your hands warm, cushioned, and warm while wet. It just is not appropriate for cut or heat resistance.
To protect you hands from friction burns and cuts, use kevlar gloves. Yellow knitted gloves (similar to white or brown garden gloves) made form Kevlar, sold in any hardware store for trash handling because they are cut-resistant. About $5. For about $20 you can get pretty silvery "food handling cut resistant gloves" online, they appear to be similar although perhaps not as resistant.
With kevlar gloves you can pay a line out in your hand and if it slips, it won't cut through or take any flesh with it. The gloves are incredible. Also total protection on hot engine parts, as long as they are dry. (They don't stop steam or hot water.)
The various "simulated" or real leather sailing gloves are more stylish but also pricier. They'll burn through if you've been handling lines, way faster than kevlar will. But they still protect you. Getting rope burns on your palms is no fun!

I also use the cut-resistant kevlar gloves for anchor and chain handling. If wet, I'll put a pair of thin neoprene gloves underneath to keep warm. As you say, the outer gloves are really good...I got the ones with PVC dots on. They must be 10 years old and still going strong, worked hard and put away wet - they dry fast.

[Redreuben]

I’m a tradie so hands are rough anyway but when the wind gets above 20 I always go for the gloves, especially when spinnakers or big reaching asymmetrical are involved.

[mikedefieslife]

Many on here seem to be looking a gloves from a safety point of view rather than a comfort point of view.

For those that don't use gloves when handling lines or even cardboard boxes. What does your wife say about your rough dry hands on her smooth soft skin?

[IMACSS]

Lots of ideas here and I can agree with most of them. Here is another . . . .thought . . . to consider perhaps.


Our muscles, bones, knuckles, joints , tendons etc all have a use-by-date and although we can all claim to be "tough" there is that limit that we all will meet one day. Some will go to 90, some to 80 and some only to 70 yo.



I have found "extra strength" sailing with good gloves (perhaps only when the wind gets up a bit) which hopefully means that my muscles, bones, knuckles, joints, tendons etc are not working so hard which should mean that I may avoid the dreaded pains associated with "overworked" hands for a bit longer.


Horses for courses but gloves at times are an absolute must IMHO.


So it is a BIG Yea for me.



Cheers all.

[Jamesw]

Depends where you sail. Even dinghy racing days (being a national champ) never wore them since my 1st pair wore through in the most needed places. My hands took a bashing but developed callouses - After sailing over 60,000 nm the only time was very happy for my(ski) gloves was in the Southern Ocean below 40 south on my cat Mind the Gap.

[zeehag]

i have bad hands and strong boat. i use leather fingerless sailing gloves for traction on lines . i wear bare feet despite breaking a toe occasionally on other peoples boats. my boat has a nice wide deck. no shoes. yes gloves.
in cold--uggs. hahahahaha thankfully my cockpit is a dry one even while bashing into seas, which i work to avoid.
ps me n boaty are same age..hahahahahha

[Maka]

Ive got a box of Nitrile gloves on the boat. Wear them when I have to put my hands in or on something yucky.
And a pair of gardening gloves and winter gloves for when its cold.
Never wear gloves for boat handling.

[jmschmidt]

Glad to see most of you agree. One guy said he uses gloves for everything but boat handling. My response is he must not be handling any serious boats. If you shun gloves, shoes or PFDs when boat handling the you must be talking about the boat in your bath tub.

[thinwater]

The flip side is that if you Google "open 60" or "volvo" you will only see gloves if it is cold.


But those are supermen.


I caused a lot of micro injuries to my hands, climbing too much hard rock for too many years. Gloves became obligatory for several decades. And now that I have backed off on the climbing a good bit... I don't need gloves as much. But I still do specific protective taping when I climb, every time, because I'm too old to recover from tendonitis now.



We see similar trends in pro sports. Some get injuries, some do not. Some have to work through injuries from when they were younger, some do not.


My advise is to listen to your body. If it does not complain, maybe you don't need gloves. If it does complain, find the best ones you can.



I find Ronstan Sticky Race to be the best for me. They wear hard (Kevlar stitching) and improve grip for a while. They seem to have enough leather in the right places (I like the full-finger model). You might like something different. But don't buy the cheapest thing and then complain that they didn't last. I've been disappointed by some purchases.


Regarding safety, there is only one time I really feel that way. I like to wear them going forward in wide weather; I feel like I am more likely to hold on to a wire lifeline or shroud in an emergency, particularly if I start to slide, if I am not worried that I will cut my finger off. For the same reason, I always wear them (rubber faced) climbing the mast. I take them off at the top, of course. Odd, since I never wore gloves climbing rock. The mere suggestion would have been amusing.

[El Pinguino]

I have three sorts of gloves.....all designed for cold weather..

Dry gloves that I wear when handling wet shore lines in the morning...

Warm outdoor gloves that I wear when it is cold and I am on watch...

Warm indoor gloves ... possum wool .... that I wear below if it is cold..

I never wear gloves when handling sheets or halyards... even if it is cold and wet.. or when going forward...

[TeddyDiver]

Originally Posted by jmschmidt

Glad to see most of you agree. One guy said he uses gloves for everything but boat handling. My response is he must not be handling any serious boats. If you shun gloves, shoes or PFDs when boat handling the you must be talking about the boat in your bath tub.

Is 65' Swan serious enough