The weather is cooling down quickly in SC, but I am not wanting winter to end my sailing season, At least not yet. What is the best gear to stay warm on the water. I have been suggested to get a spray top and wet-suit bottoms. I have no experience at all with wetsuits, and I have no idea how effective or in effective they might be on a cat. About the worst conditions I plan to even try to sail in would be about 50 degrees air and 55-60 water. The winds should be pretty high keeping us plenty wet both with spray and capsizing.

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Greenville SC

Offering sails and other go fast parts for A-class catamarans
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under 60 degrees of water and air i would recommend a dry-suite. with different layers under the dry-suite you can adjust to stay not to hot in it. i sail all winter long here on Long Island n.y.

bernd

nacra5.8 sc19

Full length wetsuits are windproof, & warm, the thicker the warmer, but the thicker they are, the more restrictive they are.
Here is a guide for you.
http://360guide.info/wets…uit-guide.html?Itemid=58
http://360guide.info/wets…ure-chart.html?Itemid=19
Remember to use caution. What might be suitable gear for the 1st 10 days of sailing may prove inadequate should you flip the boat, & break something, resulting in being unable to right it & having to spend a couple hours in the water. Or, you rip a wetsuit open in an area of high heat loss, groin, armpits, sides of chest.
You guys have way better Coast Guard coverage than we do, all the same make sure responsible people know how long it will be til you contact them, then stick with your plan. Being stranded on a broken boat in the summer is normally just an inconvenience, once air/water cool down hypothermia is a killer.
I find many people are surprised at how "warm" it can be, & still suffer from advanced hypothermia. If you are lean & skinny, you will succumb quicker than the well padded guy. The majority of hypothermia fatalities are in temps well above freezing.
Many European sailors deal with cold water all year. A dry suit is best, but they are expensive, & less comfortable. I find that for myself,(skinny guy) a farmer John lower, & longsleeve upper is quite comfortable for several hours in 14C (57F) water, but only if it is a sunny day, with air around 16C-20C (60F-68F) Most wetsuits are a dark material, & a sunny day really helps. On those cooler days you will probably want neoprene booties as well, & gloves.
We have some pilots who go to the Carolinas every fall to windsurf & kiteboard. They love the shallow water/high wind conditions. With some proper gear you can easily extend your season. The price of wetsuits has come way way down, now that most are made in China. Ha.ve fun



Edited by Edchris177 on Oct 19, 2011 - 05:29 PM.

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Hobie 18 Magnum
Dart 15
Mystere 6.0XL Sold Was a handful solo
Nacra 5.7
Nacra 5.0
Bombardier Invitation (Now officially DEAD)
Various other Dock cluttering WaterCrap
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After sailing today in 30+ winds and 7-8 foot seas, I will not leave the beach in the winter without a wetsuit...
My crew wasn't paying attention and slipped while out on the trapeze and hit me off the boat, and i spent about 60 minutes with just a spray top on, in the cold water (50 degrees)...My crew has NO experience as a skipper...so...wetsuits are the thing to have...I thought it wasn't supposed to be cold in florida....

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Tyler holmes
Panama city, FL

Boat whore
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I'm assuming you meant 50 degree air temps. I'm sure it was still pretty darn cold with that wind blowing and only a spray top on, but I think an hour in 50 degree water would have been very ugly indeed. Water temps up here in the panhandle are currently in the mid-70s range. 75F is my threshold. If it is sunny I will be OK; if it is cloudy and windy, I'm wearing a wetsuit with a windbreaker over it. Most of the time a wetsuit is too warm here, even in the winter. I usually wear a wetsuit with the top pulled down and tied behind my back. It takes some adjusting the fit comfortably in the harness but at least the sleeves are there in case I go in the water.



Edited by redtwin on Oct 20, 2011 - 07:11 AM.

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Rob V.
Panama City, FL
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A wetsuit and wetsuit booties should do fine. I am a surfer in CA so I have 3/2mm and 4/3mm wetsuits, as it gets colder I'll just where my full wetsuit while sailing, I have never been cold. Sometimes I have to hold onto a trap handle and drag myself along the boat in the water to cool off, when the air is 60-65 and water is 55-60. I haven't flipped over and spent a lot of time in the water, but can't imagine it being much different or worse than when I'm surfing, at least trying to right a boat will work up my body heat rather than just sitting still on a surfboard.

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Redondo Beach, CA
'80 Prindle 16.
(Got it for free!)
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bacho

...What is the best gear to stay warm on the water. ..... About the worst conditions I plan to even try to sail in would be about 50 degrees air and 55-60 water. The winds should be pretty high keeping us plenty wet both with spray and capsizing.

Watching the forecast closely and being selective, I sail all year in a clime similar to yours. A drysuit is the only way to go for the conditions you describe. A full wetsuit/spray top/booties/gloves will definitely extend your season, but not down to 50 deg. air. At that temperature with wind and spray, you might survive, but you will be very cold. A sunny day will be more bearable, but you'll still be cold. While some may consider wetsuits "windproof," the problem is evaporative cooling. Most people I know go with the wetsuit and pick days where we're getting 60-65 rather than 50, and that works. Otherwise, it's a drysuit. In my opinion, they are MUCH more comfortable than wetsuits, and as mentioned above you can vary what you wear underneath to the expected conditions. They are expensive, though. I actually bought a military surplus anti-exposure suit, complete with all seals and relief zipper, off Ebay many years ago. It ain't pretty, but it works really well for the price (somewhere between $50 and $100 as I recall).

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Jerome Vaughan
Hobie 16
Clinton, Mississippi
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That is a great idea. I did not think about mil-surplus. Do you know what model yours is?

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Greenville SC

Offering sails and other go fast parts for A-class catamarans
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bacho

That is a great idea. I did not think about mil-surplus. Do you know what model yours is?

No, but it has a neoprene neck seal, latex wrist seals, integral latex footsies, and waterproof (mostly) front entry and relief zippers. I'm pretty sure the fabric isn't considered "breathable" (not sure they had such material back when it was made), but that's not really an issue. Also, it was used, so the neck seal was cut a lttle large for me. Still works great compared to paying hundreds of dollars for a real dry suit.

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Jerome Vaughan
Hobie 16
Clinton, Mississippi
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