Prescription sunglasses for sailing

I went for perscription Oakleys, but I went for Half jackets so I can put normal lenses in when I'm wearing contacts, or perscription lenses in when I'm not. Yes they cost lots, but I've had them for around 8 -10 years now. Easily worth £30-£40 a year
 
Thanks for redirecting me, Merry Girl.

My vision is okay - no glasses required normally. And after decades without sunglasses, possibly the technology has left me figuratively in the dark...

...but what does 'polarising' mean in this context? And UV-protection sounds good - but doesn't any glass give that?

If one normally sees fine without lenses, is it best not to wear any shades? I'm hoping to find something that cuts glare on the water, but not if it may endanger sight.

Cost is a serious issue...:cool:
 
Polarising lenses reduce or eliminate glare from the water.

Not all dark glass lenses give UV protection. Marks and Spencers and Boots' cheap plastic sunglasses are advertised as giving 100% UV protection, something I noticed after the discussion on this thread.

I have never heard that wearing dark glasses can harm your eyes. It's much more likely to protect them.

I have known a couple of experienced sailors who didn't like to wear them, but most people do, and you need to consider whether you will impair your ability to see hazards if you are constantly squinting against bright light.
 
HEALTH WARNING - DON'T WEAR CHEAP SUNGLASSES!

I was diagnosed with wet macular degeneration caused by not wearing the right sunglasses = eventual blindness! (Google it for more info).
After several needle injections into my left eye to repair the damaged retina, the condition has been temporarily arrested - so, people who spend their days in the sun, on the water (or snow), please be warned. Full protection against UVA UVB UVC are essential but none more so than the blue spectrum of light (i.e., the blue sky) which is what causes retinal damage.
Cheap shades from gift shops don't cut the mustard.

The lens colour is important, too (to reduce the blue light). Brown, amber, yellow are best. Grey, not so good.
Maui Jim, Ray Ban, were the only makes recommended by my eye surgeon...
 
Wow! Thanks for these thoughts.

Ray-Bans it'll have to be, then.

Although, if Boots etc, claim 100% UV protection, presumably that's 100% of all types of UV?
 
Basically, as has been said above, cheap sunglasses can often to more harm than good.

My thinking is that I like my eyes, and want to keep them that way. So I'm not going to shy away from forking out £100 for a pair of decent sunnies.
 
One thing I noticed about having polarising lenses is that I get an odd effect from them in late afternoon on sunny days.

The tips of wavelets look black,and it makes it hard to distinguish them from pot buoys.
 
Merry Girl said:
I have never heard that wearing dark glasses can harm your eyes. It's much more likely to protect them.
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I could be talking nonsense (ophthalmologists please chip in..) but I believe the problem is with super-cheap tinted lenses which don't offer UV protection. If visible light is cut by the tint, your natural reactions which normally reduce all parts of the spectrum hitting the cornea (e.g. squinting) or retina (i.e. pupils contracting) won't be so strong, leading to the potential for more harmful UV exposure than if you weren't wearing sunglasses at all.

Decent UV protecting sunglasses sound like the best option. This is one occasion where it's best to ignore ZZ Top.
EDIT: As pointed out above though, pretty cheap UV-protecting sunglasses are available from Boots etc.
 
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roblpm said:
Hi,

I need to get some decent sunglasses for sailing.

However when I look at the Bolle or Oakley ones the prices are unbelievable for their prescription polarising lenses. About £300 online!!!!

What does everyone else do??! I could fork out but I'm sure I would lose them after 2 weeks!!

Regards,

Rob
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I have prescription polarised from SPex4less which are excellent, you choose the frames first, that includes normal lenses, then add an extra for polarized (grey or amber available) or you can have transitions, plus there are coating options. IF you ring them they are very helpful and even polarized transitions are possible but I decided against and stuck to trqansitionson my day to day specs and polarised for driving or boating, that said my prescription is weak enough I can manage with 'Bill King' polarized fishing glasses from Walmart at about $8/pair that are actually excellent, I'm still using ones I stocked up on years back when in the USA, now I can get them anytime. SWMBO Wears polarized clip ons over her varifocals the SPex$less polarized are just 45 quid on top of the price for standard prescription single vision lenses. I have used Spex4less several times over the years and they are excellent value, SWMBO even got hervarifocals from them on line.
 
I am long sighted, so have worn glasses since my teens - many years ago.I have used optilabs to get reasonably priced optical sunglasses. I have found them to be good value, but they do need looking after - quite easy to scratch. My last pair were reactolight, which have been pretty good. You do need a proper prescription of less than 6 months old though.

Neil
 
If you are coming to Southampton Boat Show go to Solent Spectacles on Millbrook Road. They do sunglasses for sailing and sking and do prescription lenses. I have had two pairs over the years and would recomend them and they are half the price of other suppliers as they usede to be wholesale suppliers for local opticians until Spec savers changed the industry.
 
My prescription is about -11 diopter with astigmatism as well. My normal glasses are around £700 but got reduce price raybans at the same time. My main glasses are varifocal but couldn't justify having my sunglasses as varifocal as well. Sailing in the Solent this summer the main sheet traveller got trapped and as I released it it hit me behind the ear and my glasses described a perfect parabola over the side and are now residing at the bottom of Yarmouth harbour. My only spare glasses were my sunglasses which made the night passage to Beaulieu interesting. I think next time I'll have to bite the bullet and get full varifocal prescription sunglasses!
 
I use both glasses and contact lenses, depending on what I'm doing each day.

Contacts for sailing + Gill sunglasses.
 
Some opticians do a 2 for 1 offer, ie you pay for one pair and get another, to the same specification, free. For a small additional payment the second pair can be polarising. A relatively cheap way of getting prescription Polaroids which I find very good for sailing (also for driving with a wet road and a low sun).

If water is clear and not too deep, you can see the sea bed which is disconcerting if it is not very far away.

My understanding is that uv protection is required by law for all sunglasses sold in UK.
 
Dirty Dog are great and have polarised option as well.
My wife as perscription ones as well - for about 100.
 
Hacker said:
My prescription is about -11 diopter with astigmatism as well. My normal glasses are around £700 but got reduce price raybans at the same time. My main glasses are varifocal but couldn't justify having my sunglasses as varifocal as well. Sailing in the Solent this summer the main sheet traveller got trapped and as I released it it hit me behind the ear and my glasses described a perfect parabola over the side and are now residing at the bottom of Yarmouth harbour. My only spare glasses were my sunglasses which made the night passage to Beaulieu interesting. I think next time I'll have to bite the bullet and get full varifocal prescription sunglasses!
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With that prescription, I am amazed you have not been advised to use contact lenses. The improvement in vision over glasses would be considerable, and of course, the cost would be much lower! My vision hovered around that level for most of my life, and I was prescribed contact lenses under the NHS in 1970 because the opticians no longer felt that my vision could be corrected adequately with glasses (there were other issues as well). The reason is straightforward - contact lenses are far thinner than glasses lenses, and so perform much better. Your glasses lenses will be cutting off something like 10% of the incoming light, and will have severe chromatic and spherical aberration except in the centre of your vision; contact lenses, being a better approximation to the ideal "thin lens" do not suffer from any of these problems. Contact lenses can correct for astigmatism, so that is not a problem, though you won't be able to use "off the peg" disposables.
 
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