Best kit/ clothes for dinghy sailing

[ageddes]

Hi, I'm going to be joining a new sailing club soon and need to buy a completely new set of kit for dinghy sailing before I join. I can't borrow anything from the club, so I need a buoyancy aid, gloves, boots etc. So, what is the best I can buy for a maximum total of about £100 in the UK?

Also, is there a better option than a full wetsuit? I have previously just used a full wetsuit but they are very uncomfortable. Maybe a short wetsuit, long john wetsuit or wetsuit top and shorts... with a spray top? Is there a short wetsuit that can be used all year round when combined with the spray top and other such things? What's the best type/ arrangement of clothes to wear?

 

[DaveRo]

It depends what boat you intend to sail, where you will sail it (sea, warm shallow lake, cold Welsh lake?), what times of year you intend to sail, and what the club's changing rooms are like.

Minimal is old shorts and a T-shirt, a buoyancy aid, and short boots. In some circumstances a dry suit is the most practical.

 

[TangaraToo]

Really depends on time of year.
Summer I tend to use T shirt and shorts. If cold day i would add a spray top or go for a shortie.
Spring / Autumn its a full (thin) 3mm/5mm wetsuit with spray top as required.
Winter full drysuit.
All of above are used with
- short boots, dont skimp here as cheap tend to fall apart quickly if you use toe straps
- Bouancy aid, preferably get one with a zip pocket to hold spare bits of rope etc.
Boots expect to pay £30 upwards
Short/full wetsuit can be bought (online) from around £25 upwards
Drysuit around £200
Should add that I'm normally sailing high performance dinghy often with trapeze and spinny so getting wet is often not optional.

 

[Sandy]

Personally, I would go for a dry suit every time.

 

[onesea]

As others said depends on what your sailing but:
Buoyance Aid,
Old soft soled trainers (Buy a pair from Branto for £5-00)
At this time of year old Shorts T Shirt,

Once you have been sailing:
Waterproofs (old clothes underneath),
Move to wet-suit boots once you know what you want,
Wetsuit if you can find one for £25 once you have been sailing and know what you want.
Move to wet-suit boots once you know what you want.
Save for a drysuit (never used one but here only good about them).
Gloves when you have done some sailing and seen what people use and want...

For much of this Ebay may well be your friend...

Also once you start sailing in most clubs you would be amazed at what people have in there lofts, garages etc that they will lend/ give you until you are more settled in what you want.

 

[Lakesailor]

I borrowed a dry suit for using in my Solo but found it very uncomfortable. Fitted well enough but I just didn't enjoy wearing it. As I wasn't going to be winter sailing I used a wetsuit I had. Bit warm though.
If you can borrow some gear to try it really would help form your opinions.

 

[alant]

Really depends on time of year.
Summer I tend to use T shirt and shorts. If cold day i would add a spray top or go for a shortie.
Spring / Autumn its a full (thin) 3mm/5mm wetsuit with spray top as required.
Winter full drysuit.
All of above are used with
- short boots, dont skimp here as cheap tend to fall apart quickly if you use toe straps
- Bouancy aid, preferably get one with a zip pocket to hold spare bits of rope etc.
Boots expect to pay £30 upwards
Short/full wetsuit can be bought (online) from around £25 upwards
Drysuit around £200Should add that I'm normally sailing high performance dinghy often with trapeze and spinny so getting wet is often not optional.

Where?

 

[TangaraToo]

eBay. Just checked and several suppliers of gull dry suits new but 2012 model for £179 to £200.
For occasional use if not in hurry you can get some real bargains. I recently bought a musto suit retailing at £350 fo £70. Sold as second hand but unused which it proved to be.

 

[dancrane]

It's worth wearing (and getting used to) a wetsuit...the length of your sailing season will really increase and so the whole cost of sailing will be less per hour out there.

The kit worn by each average individual at my club will have cost much more than my whole boat & trailer. Granted I sailed through the 1980s in shorts & T-shirts and never stopped enjoying it, but the season starts earlier and ends later if you're insulated from the grim cold. For your sub-£100 budget, that can only mean a wetsuit, doubtfully new. I wore mine under chinos and shirt in the spring. I expect I looked like a flooded-out farmer.

Of course there's less need for rugged submersible insulation if you're sailing a sedate boat which generally won't require any swimming. But if you expect it to be exciting, you must anticipate getting wet, and then very cold...

 

[prv]

Drysuit around £200

Where?

I got a surface drysuit for £80 on eBay. Sold as ex-Forces, but it was clearly unused, I guess just held in stores. Seems very good quality, though it's not a specifically dinghy-sailing design of course. Probably intended for boarding parties in RIBs etc, it's black, with thigh pockets and with thin rubber socks instead of built-in wellies so that you could wear combat boots over the top. I just have a pair of cheap canvas shoes, but it would go well with specialist dinghy-sailing footwear assuming there is such a thing (it was all Green Flash plimsoles and jelly-shoes when I sailed dinghies ).

Pete

 

[ageddes]

I wore a full wetsuit again yesterday and I think the most annoying things are the arms and the cold wind. I think I might get a long john wetsuit because then I can move my arms more comfortably, go sleeveless in summer and put a wetsuit jacket over the top when it gets cold in winter. I've found a nice Gul spray top on amazon as well. I could get a drysuit at some point but I don't think I need it now. I don't think I need expensive gloves and I found some old sailing shoes in my cupboard that are a bit tight bit will do for a bit.

The sailing club that I'm joining in October is on a big inland lake. Most of the sailing on the lake is done in open dinghies where I'm likely to get wet. Other sailing is done on yachts at sea but I don't need kit for that right now.

 

[DaveRo]

If somebody gives you an old drysuit and the neck seal and cuffs have perished there are mailorder places which will replace them. Cheaper than a new one.

 

[prv]

If somebody gives you an old drysuit and the neck seal and cuffs have perished there are mailorder places which will replace them. Cheaper than a new one.

At least in the diving world, latex drysuit seals are regarded as a consumable which the owner will need to replace every few years as a matter of course. Should be about a tenner for a pair of wrists or a neck. The usual technique is to put a 2-litre pop bottle in the end of the sleeve, and a football in the neck, to hold the edge of the laminate in place and make it easier to glue on the seal. I think two-part contact adhesive is the usual stuff.

Pete

 

[alant]

I got a surface drysuit for £80 on eBay. Sold as ex-Forces, but it was clearly unused, I guess just held in stores. Seems very good quality, though it's not a specifically dinghy-sailing design of course. Probably intended for boarding parties in RIBs etc, it's black, with thigh pockets and with thin rubber socks instead of built-in wellies so that you could wear combat boots over the top. I just have a pair of cheap canvas shoes, but it would go well with specialist dinghy-sailing footwear assuming there is such a thing (it was all Green Flash plimsoles and jelly-shoes when I sailed dinghies ).

Pete

HM Forces monitor sales of "ex-forces" stuff like that, so need to verify it is properly surplus to requirements, not just a knock-off.

 

[prv]

HM Forces monitor sales of "ex-forces" stuff like that, so need to verify it is properly surplus to requirements, not just a knock-off.

As in, you think it might be a fake "ex Forces drysuit"? Well, it's certainly a drysuit, and whether it has a distinguished military career or not I don't really care about as long as it keeps the water out.

Pete

 

[dancrane]

Didn't AlanT mean, "it may be stolen", hence you may scruple to benefit the thieves by paying them for it?

 

[EBoat126]

I race an F18 Cat so get wet a lot. I don't like dry suits but some swear by them (not at them) I wear a wetsuit with spray top over it to keep wind off (in cold weather). Gloves are a must unless you want shreaded hands. Tight fitting wetsuit boots (with hotsocks for winter) Shock Sailing Trapeze harness (very comfy compared with my last crewsaver one which wasn't bad in the comfort dept).
I beleive you get what you pay for so get the best you can and try not to fall in (upside down isn't fast).

 

[TangaraToo]

I don't like dry suits but some swear by them (not at them)

When we have to run the ribs (safety boats) around for an hour to break the ice before we can start racing the drysuit is def my favoured option!
Why is the best wind always during the coldest time of year

 

[prv]

Didn't AlanT mean, "it may be stolen", hence you may scruple to benefit the thieves by paying them for it?

I guess so, though to me "knockoff" means counterfeit or copied or otherwise non-genuine, not stolen.

Well, I have no reason to think it's stolen, and I think they have better things to do than trawl ebay looking for £80 rubber suits that they're not sure if they've finished with yet.

Pete

 

[dancrane]

I think they have better things to do than trawl ebay looking for £80 rubber suits that they're not sure if they've finished with yet.