what to wear

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Laundryman

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I sail for pleasure, mostly weekends and will at some point this year cross the channel for a 2 week cruise along the french coast. So far i havent bought any specific sailing clothing and have survived wearing my 'regatta' jackets with fleece linings etc. Before i waste my money, please tell me , if i buy specific sailing clothes by Gill, Musto, HenryLloyd etc, will they keep me warmer, dryer or safer, or are they just the sailing equivalent of overpriced clothing with designer labels. I personally dont need to wear 'labels' for vanity. Thank you
 
Good for you. But do remember you cant go to sea or be seen in the marina without the correct make of sunglasses, summer or winter. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif You know the kind of prats im on about. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

Buy the best you can afford & dont get conned or sucked into buying expensive rubbish just because its got a certain brand name on it . Like most do.
Good luck
 
YM did a comparison in the Feb issue. Those looked at included some from Aldi for about £60 for a full suit, to Musto, Gill, Helly Hansen, etc at about £800. Cynics will say that of course they found the suits of the advertisers to be the best, but since they all advertise in the mag(except Aldi) I don't think this argument holds water. I thought the comments and scoring were reasonable but personally I don't think any foul weather gear can be worth 10 times that of another. But then, I'm not in the Vendee Globe.

The conclusion was that it's horses for courses. If you are coastal sailing, not wearing kit for days on end, not sailing in winter, then a cheaper set will be fine. In the Med I have worn my Helly Hansen jacket four or five times in the past four years and my overtrousers once, and I could do with the locker space. So I'm going to buy an Aldi set when they come up next, and bring my expensive, bulky ones home.
 
You do get what you pay for to a large extent. One of the things that distinguishes a premium brand like Musto is the after sales service. I bought a set of HPX oilies in about 1995 and when they started to delaminate after about 3 seasons moderately regular use they replaced them (about £500 worth retail at the time so not trivial) without protest of any kind. The cheaper brands like XM are perfectly OK.

What you do get with Musto or equivalent is a very high standard of design and finish. I always remember doing a sail change in my first set of Henri Lloyd 'proper' oilies with high trousers and being amazed that I stayed dry when a wave came over the deck where I was kneeling and washed past me about waist deep.
 
<<< being amazed that I stayed dry when a wave came over the deck where I was kneeling and washed past me about waist deep. >>>

I remember finding the same thing, We were sailing from Dieppe to Boulogne in very unsettled weather, with thunder clouds overtaking us from astern, lightning striking the water less than a mile from us and wind varying from nothing to about force 6. We suddenly got into an area of very short, steep waves and started hobby-horsing violently. I noticed that the bow nav light had come off and was hanging on its cable. In a quieter moment I went forward to recover it, only for the boat to go through another set of them. I was standing on the foredeck hanging on to the pushpit and three or four successive waves came almost to my shoulders. Not a drop of water came into my oilies but the nav light disappeared!
 
FWIW you will see people in just about anything, from the "all the gear & no idea" thro' "professional sailor in sponsor's kit" to "Lidl/Aldi ski gear" and even "PVC fishing jackets". In the Channel, you may not need anything more than a cozzy & sun blocker if the weather is kind. On a one day passage, like that, you would be unlucky to get caught in an unforecast stinker, although it has happened!

I use cheap gear & replace it fairly frequently (approx 2 yearly) at a cost of around £25pa -ish. £500 kit would have to last 20 years to match that & I am more likely to get too fat for it, rip it or just end up looking even more like a tramp than I normally do on the boat.

One of my best buys was a £10 pair of Aldi/Lidl padded ski trousers that I have used for winter cruising - when being dry and warm makes the difference betwen enjoying & enduring a trip. Link that with a reasonable sailing/ walking type jacket at around £30-50 in the sales (last year's style) provides adequate protection for the sort of sailing that most people do. It wouldn't keep me dry if I fell in or if swept by a green one, but that's not a common occurence for me and I sail in Irish Sea which has strong tides, overfalls & shallow banks so is probably worse than you will meet on the usual Channel crossing.
 
I've got Musto, and I swear by them. I probably wouldn't have gone to the expense myself (my parents bought them as a Christmas present), but had I known how good they are, I would have done so. The best thing about them is how breathable they are (and at the same time, completely waterproof), allowing you to work up a sweat, and not subsequently freeze to death because of dampness.
 
I have to mention the abrasion/wear resistance of the "offshore", and more so the "ocean", kit. Sitting and kneeling on non-slip decks and standing leaning against steel standing rigging, in more-or-less constant movement will quickly wear through or even shred quite expensive non-sailing foul weather gear. The outer layer, as well as being waterproof, needs some on the characteristics of industrial work wear. My Musto Ocean suit trousers have just come up for replacement after 12 years. The jacket has years more in it.

By the way, it is always cold in the Channel at night.
 
From my experience walking the hills, invest in your outerlayer and what you wear underneath can be a £5 fleece from Asda, as I do /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
In 2003 I invested in a Musto offshore jacket and trousers, the following year a pair of Musto short boots.
All have been excellent and are wearing well 5000nm later.
Once when sailing with friends one of them showed me with pride the "Bargin" she had bought for £150 or less I think from a 'friend' at the dinghy club who had bought a job lot from the factory, Jacket and trousers
Oh she had tested them out in the shower for 20 mins and remained as dry as a bone What a sight that must of been /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

Not so in the English Channel after 30mins /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif and 5 days of sailing yet to go.
The following week she bought some others at SBS but not one of the well known makes....a false investment once more??
As I say in some areas like fleeces and thermals you can be well ripped off, so have a look in Tesco/Asda/Aldi and the like for some of that stuff and spend your saved money on a well designed set of outer layers.
Oh a final note one March I was helping to bring a boat back from Kip down to Whitehaven in one go arriving in Whitehaven at 4am. On my 1am watch one of the guys lent me his Ice climbing Gortex mittens while I was on the helm.
'Oh he said if you loose one it's £75 you own me.
They were toasty and I found a seconds pair on the companies website for £35 complete with a fleece linner.
http://www.terra-nova.co.uk/Brand/Terra_Nova
 
If you cross the channel, then you may find that you are out in higher winds and seas and heavier rain than you would choose to sail in if you were just day-sailing and therefore you can experience a lot of water landing on you. On a crossing last year from Cherbourg, a freak wave broke over the boat and over me. In those conditions, you do want to be wearing sailing clothes that keep the water out. They don't have to be the most expensive designer labels - I was wearing an XM Offshore suit and I stayed dry throughout. If you're going to be more active, and the clothes are going get worn a lot, then a heavier duty set might be better.
 
I have a pair of the £30 sailing trousers from Aldi, and they are excellent, but then my judgement may be suspect, as I also sail in green wellies.
 
In my experience, what you get with a top brand (musto in my case) is not one set of kit, but 2! I bought my MPX coastal gear in 2004, and added HPX boots in 2006. And it was excellent stuff, despite an entire winter series spent on the rail I was always bone dry underneath.
At the end of last season the trousuers and the boots were not as waterproof as they once were. I sent them to Musto just after christmas, and yesterday they arrived, the very latest MPX gear and HPX boots, brand new with the labels on!

One Happy punter!
 
Bought the Aldi Top & Bottoms suit for £60, and sail most weekends all year round and they are still doing the job!
At £60 I might be able to afford another new set as spares!
No they were not made in China but the UK other brand names might be good but I have better things on the boat to spend money on.

Mike
 
I agree - get the best you can afford. I bought Henry Lloyd top of the range jacket and high trousers in 1992 and they are still going strong and keeping me perfectly dry when needed. The reflective tape looks a bit sad and the yellow has faded a bit but apart from that, they remain very comfortable and are probably good for another few years. OK - they are not breathable but the equivalent nowadays will be. I don't work up much of a sweat these days anyway, so no problem there! /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
JollyRoger
 
Having risen from the ashes of a previous sailing career we had to start again with new kit.
We have just purchased a set each of Musto BR1 Channel - total cost was about £400. Our plan is to use lots of inner layers as necessary, fleeces at £20 ex M & S etc. Hopefully it will be ok for limited sailing on UK South Coast this Summer until we can go to warmer climes.
If the Musto kit keeps the water out the layers will keep us warm (we hope).
 
I bought XM stuff a few years back for a 2 week delivery to the Caneries in February... my old gear was knackered.

I looks just like Musto in fact I reckon they simply took a Musto apart and copied it piece by piece.. the material is from a top quality manufacturer.

The only difference is in the price.. I got mine at a winter bargain price ...I think about £130 for the 2 pieces ( It doesnt have a harness).

Great gear !

Nick
 
I have a musto ocean offhshore hpx jacket which was very expensive. The internal lining and zip started coming away after hardly any use. I didn't get round to sending it back to Musto but wish I had.

How about drysuits? Apart from the problems of using the heads, who practical are they for sailing for several hours in vile weather? Having had my musto offshore trousers stolen by an ex, I'm considering replacing with a full drysuit.

Dude
 
9000nm, 8 years and my Musto MPX's have never leaked, worth their weight in gold. Got a pair for the Mrs, far cheaper than a divorce, even she said it's the most expensive garment she bought (even more than the wedding dress) she enjoys the protection it gives and rates it as value for money even the first time she wore it.
I started in green wellies and XM suit around 10 years ago, the wellies were fine but the XM didn't last long before they leaked and being of a lighter material they weren't as warm. They tended to flap more pumping out the warmed air.
Getting too warm in the UK is rarely a problem.
Was in Falmouth at the end of August and a young lady came in to the local swindlers with a leaky pair of HH after one years use, I was looking battered and weatherworn in pink oilies was still nice and dry after 2500 miles earlier in the year.
It's a personal decision based on amount of cash and the type of sailing (and amount) you do. Quite a few of my friends have cheapo's and always arrive appearing to be freezing cold and wet, not good value in my books, maybe this is why they don't do as much sailing.
As an earlier poster mentioned, mountaineering gauntlets are great, far more protection and you can easilyslip them off as required for tea drinking with a thin pair on. Great for the British weather, hopefully it'll be a shorts season next year
 
What ever you buy make sure it is not from last years line or you will commit a fau-pas on the pontoons wearing old gear. Stay popular, dress right.
 
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