Spectacles!

[robp]

One of the biggest (if not THE biggest), problems with becoming an "old git", is needing glasses for reading. The problem is exacerbated in inclement weather whilst sailing. (Per Jimi's weather thread).

OK, it's easy to leave a pair of reading glasses somewhere safe by the chart table. But what about reading instruments in the cockpit? I have varifocals but can't stand trying to keep them on with rain or sea spray all over them. If I tie them round my neck, I wind up crushing them, or catching them on a winch or other gear. (Crushed them on Sunday). I'm thinking seriously about varifocal contact lenses. (Or in my case - lense, as one eye is not worth correcting)!

How do short sighted, permanent spectacle wearers manage? What if any, answers have you found? I'd really like to know. Maybe I'm just not taking to glasses well.

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[ccscott49]

I've worn glasses since I was a very little sprog, you just get used to having a clean dry cloth to wipe them on, you can use rain "x" on them, which helps, you can also get those memory metal ones, that you can sit on and they will spring back to shape or you can, like me, have a wheelhouse! Theres no short answer, that I've found anyway. IMHO

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[iangrant]

Rob,

I can see a sparrow at 35 miles range but only just read the second hand on me watch,

Not sure about any help on deck but down below one old git trick for the chart table, is a hand held magnifying glass with its' very own torch, secured on a piece of string (as the pencil and rubber) - saves scrabbling around for glasses/writing instuments when paper plotting..



Ian

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[ccscott49]

Where do I get one of the magnifying glasses with the light innit? I have one, but the leccy has gone belly up, with corrosion, I need another, excellent little gadget.

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[iangrant]

I asked for one for christmas last year and she went everywhere and couldn't find one.

believe it or not best place is an opticians!! Cost me 12 quid.


Ian

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[robp]

Just <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.nauticalia.com/products.php?product=DEP009-03&UNI=1066316939>here</A>

Rob

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[ccscott49]

Thanks Rob, exactly the same as the one I had, I've ordered two! I'll stash one away, in a sealed bag in the chart table!

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[powerskipper]

Have used the B&Q protective plastic goggles, they fit over most glasses, are vented and to read just remove and your glasses are clean.

They are great when there is a lot of spray or strong winds around,

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[davehu]

I have worn glasses all my life, I sailed for more than 40 years, from dinghies to offshore racing. Now I have to use bi-focals. There is no easy solution but in my experience wear them on your nose not round your neck. On your nose you can see better and they are in the safest place, natural instincs will keep danger away from your face The most important thing when on deck is not to try and dry them, you only succeed in smearing them. If its really wet the running water will clear ok if its splashes it will soon dry and you will hardly noticethe dried salt. Thats my experience.

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[qsiv]

I also suffer, and have worn glasses since a teenager. Contact lenses work for me, but they wont address the reading prescription issue as they tend to be for distance/astigmatism. They are also prone to haloing effects on lights after dark. I dont like my varifocals at sea - I'm quite sure the distortion in peripheral vision augments motion sickness onset. I too have one eye less well than the other, often a quick close of the less strong eye renders all clear through the better one.

So - treat the lenses, have copious lens cleaner spray supplies, maybe go for the memory glasses (the optician frightens me silly when he demoes them).

I suspect the perfect answer would be a monocle - less to crush, less to stow, less to clean.

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[Twister_Ken]

Also a since-sprog-spexer.

In real life, I wear spex all the time, except when I need to read, at which point I take them off and get my nose nearer the paper. For sailing I have a fairly robust pair of spex, built on an Oakley shades frame.

But, if I expect lots of spray/rain i wear contacts. Trouble is, with contacts in, the trick of removing my spex to read doesn't work, but never fear. Exclusive shops like Woolies and Boots sell off-the-shelf reading glasses for very little real money. So go into such an emporium, with your eyeballs-lensed, and try out the reading glasses until you find a pair that you can read with, and don't make you look a total pillock*. Then buy several pairs, because you'll loose them. One pair by the chart table, one in a cockpit cuddy, etc.

*Ones I go for are very small and live inside a case that looks a bit like a cigar tube, so are pretty well boat proof when not being worn.

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[qsiv]

My Old Man always preferred <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.optimalowvision.co.uk/schweizer_okolux.htm>this</A> type of illuminated magifier - he maintained that it kept the light constrained over the chart, and damged his night vision much less. He had a some red plastic he slipped over the bulb for night time use, as it was far too bright to use at sea.

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[Chris_Rayner]

I buy mine from here http://www.debspecs.com/
They have a huge range, and even with the postage they are cheaper and usually better quality than you can get on the high street here.

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[Twister_Ken]

Unless you know your reading glass prescription with contact lenses in, though, you do need to try them.

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[qsiv]

<<like a cigar tube>> ??!!?? I gave my wife such a pair - for reading menus when out for a meal.

Trouble was, our friends asked what size battery it needed...

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[ParaHandy]

leather backed motor-cycle gloves? might be chamois leather ... whatever, its quite effective although not tried them yet on a boat .....

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[Salty]

Not much good for long-sightedness, but for a short-sighted fellow like me, I swapped to disposable contact lenses (just for sailing, not everyday) and haven't looked back (so to speak).

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[Martin_Billings]

I've worn specs/contact lenses for years and years. Currently wearing the memory metal specs which I find so practical that I now have a stockpile of unused lenses and solutions at home. Speccies seem to divide into two groups, one of which carries at least one sterile, purpose-designed cleaning cloth at all times no matter what the conditions, the other cleans their specs on shirt tails or similar except once a year when the specs are run under a tap.

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[Aeolus_IV]

I'm short sighted not long (something to do with spending far too many days and nights in front of a "green screen" as a kid), but can recommend the memory metal frames (memoflex?). They are really practically indestructable - so long as you don't demonstrate them at every opportunity.

Jeff.

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[BrendanS]

nice summary

I also wear 'memory metal' specs. These get wiped on whatever is to hand.

Keep planning on going back to contact lenses, probably daily wear disposable, for rough wet conditions. Rethinking this after the 'elite pathfinder' cherbourg trip, where just after two bleedin great waves dumped 1000's of gallons of green stuff on me while helming, Pat asked 'would contact lenses have stayed in during that' The honest answer, probably not, and couldn't open eyes for about 2 minutes as it had washed all the caked salt on my face into my eyes, which were stinging like mad, and contacts would certainly have made it worse.

Have thought about laser correction, but concerned about the 'halo' effect at night which some people report after such surgery

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