Just getting into the cat sailing. Any recommendations for footwear?
Depends upon where and what beach conditions you're sailing around.
If rocky sand, I'd suggest booties that cinch above the ankle, or have snug-fitting neoprene to help keep the sand out. Almost nothing worse than sanded, abraded feet. Zhik, O'Brian,Gill, etc. Depends upon what fits you well, too.
Most West Marine stores have decent booties.Â
If no rocks where you sail, or you have tough-enough feet, then you could easily go sans booties. I only wear booties if their are nasty rocks. Good booties may help you 'stick' to a smooth, wet hull while trapping, better than bare feet. SeaDeck PE/EVA foam sheeting on your decks makes a great seat and provides great foot-grip.
https://seadek.com/product/seadek-full-sheet-embossed-texture/
If your hands are soft, I'd get some sailing gloves as well. I've always gone for the cheaper West Marine brand gloves as they fit the best (in the past) for the least cost.... any glove will wear out soon enough.
My wife/crew just purchased/returned (online) some Zhik sailing gloves.... they fit very strangely. Thumb to first finger crotch didn't allow the thumb to move outward very far as it's position was very strange... also the glove was very stiff with too much padding.Â
PFD's.... get something very low profile, but that will fit over your trapeze harness, and any cold-weather gear that you may wear eventually.
Trapeze harness: I have an old, good quality Hobie-brand harness that I used a lot in the 1980's-2000's. It's still going strong. Murray's sell some nice harnesses.
@cat-scratch Thanks so much for the great advice and recommendations! Will post when I have my gear.
Zhik gloves are not designed to allow your hands to open wide. Â If they opened wide, then they would have excess material bunched up when you are gripping the line. Â They are contoured to provide maximum grip when holding a line and padding if you are wrapping the line around your hand as so many of us do.
Zhik gloves are not designed to allow your hands to open wide. Â If they opened wide, then they would have excess material bunched up when you are gripping the line. Â They are contoured to provide maximum grip when holding a line and padding if you are wrapping the line around your hand as so many of us do.
Cool info, thanks. Wrapping a line around your hand is a good way to damage some phalanges, Im sure you can guess how i know. 😉
Zhik gloves are not designed to allow your hands to open wide. Â If they opened wide, then they would have excess material bunched up when you are gripping the line. Â They are contoured to provide maximum grip when holding a line and padding if you are wrapping the line around your hand as so many of us do.
Sometimes, and in the worst of times, you're not merely grabbing and manipulating mere lines or ropes. It could be a real detriment to safety and performance to not have full range of motion of the thumb when things go sideways and when larger objects need to be firmly grasped.
Also, in hectic scenarios where a sailor might have to grab a winch handle, a boom, a mast, or something in a hurry while moving quickly, without good line of sight or in darkness/low-light, a person typically opens their hand, thumb and fingers as wide as possible to ensure positively grasping the object.
Too much padding can also be a detriment. That's possibly the reason behind the 'bunching-up' scenario.
I figure that sailing gloves are much like work gloves in that they are consumables.
Certainly, one style of sailing glove is not going to satisfy all sailors.