specs lenses and sunglasses when sailing

floatything

floatything

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I need new glasses - I currently wear varifocals - a little bit of distance correction plus a reading bit down the bottom.. Here's the dilemma...

For sailing I want sunglasses that are polarised (to stop glare), that wrap-around and that stop the dreaded UV. If they floated all the better. Such sunglasses with a corrective prescription seem as easy to find as rocking horse poo. I don't want to keep changing glasses in order to see distance as well as charts, instruments and so on, so an optician suggested I consider contact lenses.

I'm going to try some multifocal contact lenses - which of course mean that I can wear any sunglasses I like.

What experiences have other forum members had with lenses / glasses / sunglasses when sailing - and what would YOU recommend?
 
I am long sighted and wear varifocals. I used to wear distance contact lenses and cheap reading glasses and non-prescription sunglasses. I only wore the contacts for sailing. I bought the contacts on trips aboard.

I travel less now and the over-regulated system in UK means it is uneconomic to buy only a couple of month's worth of contacts a year because you keep having to be examined so I gave up this solution.

Current solution: fairly inexpensive distance-only sunglasses for topside use and change into varifocals for navigation below. This works because its bright enough for the eyes to be stopped well down even with 90% sunglasses that the topside instruments are readable (well, they are to me) at about 1.5m distance.

You mileage may vary, as they say.
 
I'm not sure if this is going to be helpful- but here goes and excuse if it doesn't assist you.

My son is very short sighted, so much so, that it was only last year that I twigged that the reason he wasn't getting much fun out of sailing was that he couldn't see where he was going.

Saying things like" sight something on the land and sail to it" was a real turn off and he didn't let on, poor lad!!

Anyway, off we went to Specsavers and ordered a prescription pair of lizard type sunglasses, with polarized lenses and now he can see and doesn't have to squint in the sunshine either. An expensive solution but worth it for his plain lense needs
 
I have worn soft contact lenses for more than 30 years now, never had any problems with them. I used to surf in them, always open my eyes under water and only ever lost two, both in very heavy surf. Now that old age is creeping on and I have lost some short distance vision I wear one lens with 0.5 less correction than it should be. This enables me to see close up reasonably well while keeping good distance vision.

I'm not sure what multifocal lenses are but my current solution seems excellent. I wear a variety of sunglasses, sub-aqua goggles, swimming goggles without any problems.
 
For normal sailing I use varifocals.
When there is a lot of spray flying I change to ordinary contact lenses, over which I don a cheap pair of reading glasses (non-prescription) below for chartwork.
When it is very sunny and there is too much glare for me (not very often; I am used to it) I opt for normal contact lenses and a pair of RayBans.

This fits my wallet. I shudder to think what your ideal would cost! I imagine that it would be quite beyond me.

I did ask for the type of lens that darkens according to the light (proper term escapes me. photo-chromatic?) but was told that, given the 'strength' of my lenses (-7.5) the effect would be very uneven and very noticeable; therefore very inadvisable.
 
I asked my optician (himself a cruising sailor) about varifocal contacts last year. I'm short-sighted.

They work by having concentric rings, one for distance then one for close-up, and so on. Apparently, the brain manages to make sense of it all, after a while.

However, he did not recommend them to me, because he says they cut down on the light getting through, which he felt would not be advisable on a cold, wet, windy night (personally, I couldn't see why that would matter much as I thought the pupils would open up to compensate - but he wouldn't sell them to me).

Another option he mentioned was to have a lens for near vision in one eye, and for distance in the other (assuming you've got two eyes, of course). Again, he said the brain quickly learns to interpret things. The down side to this, is a slight loss of stereo vision. I didn't like the sound of that, as I do a high mileage driving.

My solution is to stick with decent quality varifocal glasses only - I've never been much of a one for 'shades' (what's the point - if it gets bright, my pupils close up, don't they?).

I think I'm too old for laser treatment, as I'd end up with reading glasses, which I'd keep forgetting to take out with me.

Anyway, good luck. Do let us know if you find the perfect solution.
 
I've just changed to varifocals with photochromic lenses and the shape of the different section of the lense depends on how much you spend; the way it was shown to me is that not all of the lense is either your distance or close prescription and the more you spend the less of a demarcation between these two areas there is.

Having spent an arm and a leg I am very pleased with mine and didn't find them a problem to change to. I also buy contacts a month at a time and a months supply usually lasts me six months, opticians have no problem with me just buying a couple of boxes a year.

Am looking into the option of having different prescription contacts for each eye, mono-vision I think, where the strongest/main eye has the normal prescription and the weaker eye has a much weaker prescription and apparently the brain works your vision out and uses whichever eye it needs depending on distance of whatever you are looking at.

I wear contacts for swimming, kayaking, dinghy sailing, and sailing and have only ever lost one contact when I was busy emptying my breakfast over the side...
 
I have two pairs clipped on the neck of my jumper or in pocket, one for distance, the other for close up. Most of the time I don't wear them but when needed they are easy to grab. I only wear them when needed so it's not normally a case of changing specs, reason being that the spray coats the glass so I can't see anyway, and there isn't normally much that I want to see in the distance so why wear them unless needed. If I need to see where I'm going the specs are close enough to grab, and the same applies if I need to see close up. Also only have cheapo reading specs, and cool shades for appropriate moments /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif
 
Another option he mentioned was to have a lens for near vision in one eye, and for distance in the other (assuming you've got two eyes, of course). Again, he said the brain quickly learns to interpret things. The down side to this, is a slight loss of stereo vision. I didn't like the sound of that, as I do a high mileage driving.

I too wear varifocal specs but recently went down this route with contacts. The brain quickly sorts it out and I have no problems with it. I drive some 2-3k miles a month and have less problems with the contacts than with glasses
 
Swmbo uses multi focal contact lenses. One eye set for reading, the other for distance. She has been using them for a couple of years now and her eyesight has improved as a consequence. As for sunglasses on board, my preference is for the wrap-round safety glasses which have all the advantages of of safety and look as good as any £70 plus fashion items.
 
http://www.thespecsplace.com/product_detail.cfm?id=139&gclid=CJqx-Z-iwpICFQHD1AodC31bbg
went thro' same dilema, Rudy project do several types of glasses for sports that wrap round & have a carrier for optical lenses behind the coloured lense - therefore you can keep altering prescription & have any lense an optician can make in wrap round glasses - we've got 2 pairs here - this web link (no conection) did a great service for a £ deposit he sent several different blank frames for hubbie & i to try on, as quite hard to locate local dealer - choose frames, returned rest, didnt even charge for postage for trials - now i can see on water with out glare also - regards J
 
I picked up a new pair of varifocal sunglasses today. They have standard frames, in my case Police, with prescription lenses. You can specify polaroid lenses if you want. I asked about wraparound glasses but they can be difficult to fit with varifocal lenses. I'm delighted with the results though somewhat taken aback by the price. They might come in useful to prevent snow blindness this weekend !!!!
 
I now have 2 pairs of varifocals, identical except that one pair is tinted. Not too expensive on a Specsavers 2 for 1 deal. This solution works.

Previously I've tried having tinted specs for long-distance only, but found it a pain when I've wanted to glance at a chart in the cockpit. I reckon eyes take a while to adjust to specs with a different prescription.

Tony MS
 
I am on my second pair of Oakleys now: polarized, wraparound and prescription. I suspect my optician is rich, but nevertheless I have been very pleased with them.
In everyday life I have varifocal glasses, but for sailing/driving I simply have the glasses made to the distance prescription. At the chart table I use my normal glasses. Works well for me.
 
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