sailing sunglasses

Another +1 for the Gill £40 floating jobs. Find them great for sailing and sort of flexible so they bend (and spring back) rather than snap or distort if handled a bit roughly. I used to use a pair of very good raybans for the job but they droped off when securing a line and are now somewhere beneath our old berth pontoon so I don't mix up land and sea shades any more. SWMBO insists on wearing her MJs on board though, she hasn't lost any yet....
 
Giblets said:
Perhaps the OP should think about how much his eyesight is worth rather than worrying about conforming to the Yorkshire stereotype! :cool:
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Or, alternatively, how much self determination is worth, without conforming to the label-ista stereotype. Do you buy Nurofen, by any chance?
 
To block UV I had Rayban aviator sun glasses they are not cheap but as you have some macular degeneration they are worth every penny http://www.ray-ban.com/uk/customise/rb-3025-aviator-large-metal-sunglasses penny. If you want to check other places to buy them cheaper make sure the lenses are black some are tinted and that they are genuine Raybans there are many cheap fakes out there. For reef spotting I used polarised glasses. I had a glasses cord on them arund my neck so they can't fall off.
 
A relative runs https://www.eyewear-accessories.co.uk, which I have used a few times and can recommend (not on commission!). I believe he has some particular models aimed at dry eye issues, and have had a pair of prescription sunglasses from them which were excellent, although after a change in prescription I now wear ordinary sunglasses with contact lenses. For sailing, polarised lenses are definitely the way to go, as many others have said, but obviously LCD displays can cause issues...
 
Worth bearing in mind that some common brands of disposable contact lens provide full uv protection from all angles. If you use these anyway you can buy cheap and non-prescription sunnies and not worry too much...
 
Prescription (if you need a prescription) Polaroids are only way to go. How much you pay for them, and whether you want a fancy label, is up to you.
Varifocal if you need that, although I suspect that bifocal is all that's needed for sailing, and I am coming to prefer bifocal as it doesn't distort and there is a wide field of good view. After all, you need good distance vision and good vision for chartwork etc, but not sure you need good vision for intermediate distances - on a boat most things are distant or else up close.
On retaining specs - find that a bit of light line or whipping twine is as good as anything else.
But in sunny weather, Polaroid is a must especially if you are going towards a rising or setting sun. Have not found that liquid-crystal display instruments are really all that difficult to read, but you may need to turn your head a bit.
 
MJWF said:
Worth bearing in mind that some common brands of disposable contact lens provide full uv protection from all angles. If you use these anyway you can buy cheap and non-prescription sunnies and not worry too much...
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No. One reason I lose sunglasses easily is that I dont need reading or distance glasses so I am not "glasses aware" if you see what I mean
 
birdseye said:
Dismal visit to the opticians this morning - I have some dry macular degeneration and early stage cataracts in one eye. Strong recommendation to use sunglasses with a UV 400 filter when out sailing and the young man dealing with me, sniffing commission maybe, got out the Maui Jim brochure. £200 a pop to sit on / lose / break! And to a Yorkshireman used to buying sunglasses for £5 at the local market ............

So what do others do? What make of serious sunglasses , optically serious that is not a fashion statement, do you use? Where do I get them cheap. And how do you avoid sitting on them / losing them overboard etc?
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I use Maui Jim, and they are exceptionally good. I've had them for 4 or 5 years now and they're still as good as new. They were money well spent.
Though I have a back up pair of cheaper floating glasses, made my Gill, they're polarised but I don't know the level of UV protection. They have also been excellent. They're looking a bit second hand now and the lenses are scratched. But I'll be replacing them this summer for the same again. The Maui Jims though, they're still going strong. They're had their fair share of salt water, waves and spray on them.
You do get what you pay for.
 
If you pop into your local TK-Max you will find that they sell a large range of top makes (end of ranges, etc) at rock bottom prices. I have about 6 pairs of sunglasses dotted around the house, car, boat, etc and all are of good quality and the most I have paid is £14.99 ! Love a bargain I do.
 
+25 for workwear. I buy Venitex Brava in pairs of two. I've lost some down the pontoon (they sink... slowly) and broken one in half - no tears shed at £3 a pair. Always keep a spare one on the boat. They even double as safety glasses.

They have excellent UV protection, as evidenced by my tanned face with ghostly white eyesockets - but at least there's no catamarans growing in my eyeballs :cool:
 
If they're certified to be uv400 then they will provide uv400 protection, as long as they're not cheap knock-offs.
The filters and colour of different manufacturers do differ, as do the clarity and and quality of manufacture.
Over the years I've had many different brands.
In order of best to not quite best....
1 Vuarnet PX8000 Nautilux
2 Revo Polarised Glass
3= Multiple pairs of plastic Revos, Maui Jims, Ray Bans, Oakleys
Unfortunately most manufacturers only produce polycarbonate lenses now. The best ones I've had have always been optical glass lenses, somehow the plastic ones just aren't as good.
If I could buy another pair of my old Vuarnets I would do so in a shot, but that was back in the 90's and they haven't made them for years. ��
 
Neil_Y said:
you can get good UV protection from workwear sunglasses for less than £10.00 I use these for dinghy racing where I'm prone to loosing a few pairs a season. Bolle seem to do a few and I found Cebe also had darker tints than this model that I found in local ARCO store. http://www.nothingbutsafetyglasses.com/products/glasses/bolle-mamba-smoke
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Yup. Bought a pair of Bolle contour polarised safety specs for not very much (approx £30). They have superlative optics and do a grand job dealing with glare. Being safety specs, they provide full eye protection, including the sides. Very pleased.
 
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Tried on a pair of Gill bi-focal sunglasses today. Brilliant. For £55 I can now read the course book without having to change sunglasses for reading glasses.
 
If you are going to buy prescription glasses or sunglasses online, how do you get a full prescription and how much do you pay for it. My experience is that the prescription opticians give you is usually missing some info, like pupil distance, and I don't like asking for something not offered when I might have got a discount on the basis I might buy their glasses.
 
Just ask them - you are paying for a service (ie an eye test and a prescription), what you chose to do with that prescription is up to you. If the optician choses to give you a free eye test as an incentive to buy glasses from him, that's their prerogative, but you need to weigh up the free/discounted eye test against the cost of the opticians glasses.
 
Richard10002 said:
If you are going to buy prescription glasses or sunglasses online, how do you get a full prescription and how much do you pay for it. My experience is that the prescription opticians give you is usually missing some info, like pupil distance, and I don't like asking for something not offered when I might have got a discount on the basis I might buy their glasses.
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I don't think the pupil distance is part of the prescription as that would be more related to the person who measures you and fits the glasses rather than the actual optician who carries out the eye test (although in my case they are one and the same). I haven't used online suppliers but did look into it once and you have to give them quite detailed measurements when you place the order along with sending them a copy of the prescription.
 
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