An Incomplete and Non-scientific Guide to Finding Yourself a Sailing Helmet Part 2- Selecting a Sailing Helmet

In view of the colossal failure in manufacturer marketing of sailing helmets, I thought it might be helpful to those with some interest to share what I have learned about available helmets.

The world of helmets is surprisingly large.  There seems to be a helmet for everything – biking, skiing, skateboarding, surfing, windsurfing, hockey, girls’ soccer, kayaking, whitewater rafting, and on and on.  (By the way, when I was young, all of these things were done without helmets.) 

As I started to look around at this multifaceted world, I was lucky to stumble onto some marketing from a kayak helmet manufacturer telling me that their foam padding is wonderful because it does not absorb water.  Foam in other helmets turns into a sponge when wet, and sponges are neither good padding nor comfortable on the head.  Ah ha!  The helmet world is divided, and watersport helmet land is the place to look.

Every kind of helmet I looked at claimed it was rugged and safe.  There is a standard certification, the CE 1385 international standard for headgear for whitewater sports, which indicates if a helmet is safe enough.  They all seem to have it, but one should actually verify.  Mostly I go by the pictures.  If people wear a particular helmet to kayak over waterfalls or surf 40 foot waves, it is good enough for me.  Also, my point of comparison for ruggedness and safety is the baseball hat I have been wearing – a pretty low standard.

Turns out helmet safety is closely related to how well the thing actually stays on the head during impacts.  Helmets that move around aren’t so safe.  One universal in this snug fit concept is that there needs to be support of the occipital lobe, the back of the head a little below the equator.  There are two approaches to this.  One is an adjustable strap and the other is a helmet that extends down behind the head a couple of inches further down than a baseball hat.  The majority of kayak helmets use the first method.  The bowling ball shaped helmets use the latter.

As a laser sailor, I have a very specific need for a low profile helmet.  In any boat with a low boom, there is a tradeoff between seeking protection from a bump and making one’s head bigger and higher to more likely receive that bump.  Minimal distance between the top of my head and the top of the helmet is imperative.  This criterion eliminates many kayak helmets that otherwise appear to be durable and well designed.  The biggest problem is that only a few models are called “low profile”, and even then, the term is undefined.  You are left guessing from pictures that were never intended to show what you are looking for.

A helmet for sailing ought to be comfortable.  It ought to be unobtrusive, lightweight, and not cause overheating or sweating.  Many helmets have holes for ventilation.  For those of us replacing a baseball hat with a helmet, the helmet should have a visor to keep sun out of the eyes.  The internet can show us some of this but determining if a particular helmet is too hot or otherwise uncomfortable requires trying it on and testing it out.

And maybe it matters what the helmet looks like and how it affects our image.  Let’s face it, sailors don’t want to appear dorky.  Since sailing pros are definitely not dorky, I wanted to know what they are wearing.    Part 1 of this blog post covers some of this. So, having determined some of the things a sailing helmet ought to be, I tried a few out.

Shred Ready “Sesh”.  I bought this helmet for kids on my sailing team after a few concussions and weeks of missed sailing time.   It’s a kayak helmet with applicable foam and safety certification.  It is sold in sizes with an adjustable occipital strap to make it secure.  It has no shims, so the fit is not quite perfect, but it is good enough.  It’s lightweight and has a low profile.  The protective foam is covered with a fabric that eliminates the clingy, somewhat sticky feeling of foam.  There are small gaps in the lining that promote air/water flow through the 11 ventilation holes. It’s comfortable and unobtrusive to wear.  In terms of image, it is a skateboard helmet (very round and no visor) adapted to watersports.  Maybe that is a good look for kids.  The price is great, $39, the least expensive helmet I considered.

Predator “Lee”.  This kayak helmet looks like a baseball hat which is apparently a cool look in the adventure kayak world.  Unfortunately, this helmet does not work at all for me.  It is too narrow for my head and even with ample shims, it does not fit right.  Although it was billed as a low profile design, it has a higher profile than any others I tried.  It also feels a bit heavy compared to others.  I had to send this one back.  Price $129.

ProTec “Ace”.  I tried this one on in a local REI store.  They had a grand total of 1 in stock.  Not a big seller.  It is a spherical type with a tight fit all around.  It is sold in several sizes and allows minor adjustments for sizing.  The one I tried was a good fit.  It is low profile and lightweight.  It has 16 ventilation holes and seems like it would do the job.  It does not have a visor of any kind, so it is not right for me, but it is the choice of Emeritus Team New Zealand.  Price $45.  A model with adjustable occipital strap is $65.

Gath “Gedi.”  This is my current favorite, and I wear mine quite often.  Gath helmets are spherical and come from the world of surfing. They seem to be the helmet of choice for surfing, windsurfing, and kiteboarding.  They have the usual foam and safety certification.  They come in several sizes, and the fit is quite snug with three interchangeable wrap around head band pieces to get a good fit.  The “Gedi” weighs less than a pound and its cousin, the “Surf”, weighs even less.  Gath prides itself on being low profile, and they are.  I bought the “Gedi” model because it comes with a removable visor.  It has vent holes at the top, but they are much smaller than those on the “Ace” or the “Sesh”.  I was afraid the snug fitting foam headband and smaller vents would make it too hot, but it was surprisingly comfortable when I wore it in 90 degree weather.  However, when the wind dropped below 5 MPH, it was hot – but isn’t every hat?  I have since tried a sweat resistant headband under the helmet and this feels cooler. The “Gedi” also comes with plugs for the vents when used in cooler months and insertable ear protectors.  Apparently surfers can burst eardrums in a fall, but I currently can’t get my laser to go fast enough to worry about that. In terms of image, I am aware that I am wearing the helmet of AC 45 sailors, but I’m not sure others realize how cool this makes me.

Shred Ready “Supper Scrappy.”  Eric is trying out this model and seems to like it.  It is a baseball hat style, but with a much smaller visor.  In addition to the standard safety certification, Shred Ready uses a different foam that is even better at impact resistance.  I was surprised to discover that it has as low a profile as any I have seen.  It has an occipital strap and shims to get a good fit.  Its baseball hat styling may be less jarring to those not used to seeing sailing helmets.  It looks like another good choice.

Okay.  I have done my best to market helmets that work for sailing, but I’m sure there are more helmets well suited to this purpose.  If there are any manufacturers out there who want an honest opinion and perhaps my invaluable endorsement of their product, you are most welcome to send me a helmet to test drive.

An Incomplete and Non-Scientific Guide to Finding Yourself a Sailing Helmet

Part 1- Where is the Marketing?

Isn’t one of the cornerstones of America culture a rampant commercialism-  the need to sell stuff to people, all kinds of stuff, whether they need it or not, whether they have the money to buy it or not?  Why then, when I truly feel I need something, is no one trying to sell it to me?  Someone is dropping the ball here.

I have been yearning to buy sailing helmet.  Tillerman says helmets are cool.  They make a superior sailing hat.  Volvo ocean racers wear them.  AC 45 crews all have to wear them.  Kids, at the insistence of their parents, wear them to minimize concussions from forceful, unintended contact with a rapidly moving boat part.  There are lots of good reasons.

It’s about time someone started marketing sailing helmets.  I’m not asking that anyone actually give a lot of thought to designing, or redesigning, a helmet just for sailing.  That’s a lot to ask.  Caveat Emptor for the consumers.  But can’t someone just rebrand the helmets they already have and sell them to sailors?  Sailors are curious, if not eager, for information about helmets as they see helmeted sailors in the Volvo Ocean Race and the AC 45’s series.  I’m no expert in marketing, but it seems to me that helmet manufacturers have an unprecedented opportunity to promote themselves as “the” sailing helmet. They need to point out why a sailing helmet is the most urgently needed piece of gear we don’t already own and suggest that their product will best fill that particular void in our sailing experience, making us feel warm and fuzzy all over.  And they need to convince us that helmets are cool.

At first blush, it might seem difficult to advocate the need for a helmet without suggesting that sailing is a dangerous sport, but any good marketer should be able to spin “dangerous” into “exciting and adventurous.”  Any exciting and adventurous sport requires gear, and who wouldn’t want all the great gear that goes with it?

Good marketing associates gear with professionals and their accomplishments.  With the latest wave of prominent sailors wearing helmets, how hard would it be to sell us the same headgear our heroes use?  If the pros use helmets, then I want a helmet too!  One would think the manufacturers would at least utilize pictures of these sailing elites sporting their products.  Gath is the only one I have seen do this.  They have a video of Oracle wearing their hats. (Unfortunately, Oracle has since switched to using a Red Bull advertisement on a Bern helmet.)

The Volvo Ocean Race and the America’s Cup 45 races provide lots of marketing images for manufacturers to use.  Let me help some of the companies who are not helping themselves.  Gath and ProTec seem to be the most popular, but many manufactures are represented.  My apologies for any mistakes in my attempt to play Name that Helmet.

Volvo Ocean Racer wearing  a Gath Retractable Full Visor Helmet

Emeritus Team New Zealand with 3 Protec "Ace" helmets and one Predator "Lee" helmet

Oracle with 5 Gath "Surf" helmets and one ProTec "Ace" helmet

Nathan Otteridge of Team Korea with  a Gath "Surf Convertible" helmet

 Lune Rosa skipper with a Sweet Strutter helmet

Close up of a ProTec "Ace" sometimes used by Oracle

 Oracle's new Red Bull helmets by Bern

 Artemis AC Team wearing hard to find POC "Receptor Bug" helmets

So, where is the marketing?  Isn’t anyone proud that the best sailors in the world use their helmets?

 

If the professional racer/ helmet connection is not enough, what about the beautiful bodies connection?   If scantily dressed supermodels wore helmets while sailing off exotic beaches, wouldn’t you be more inclined to use one?

yarg

This Old Hull – Laser Deck Repair with Air Pressure

Somewhat housebound after yet another New England snowstorm this winter, I’ve had the chance to work on my 23 year-old Laser hull with decks adjacent to the cockpit so soft and sagging that they seemed to be structurally unsound. My good friend and fellow Laser enthusiast, Yarg, told me that the problem might be delamination of the fiberglass-foam sandwich deck structure. Pictured below is a piece of the 1/2” thick deck material which I had cut out for an access port some years ago in order to repair a cracked mast step tube.

Inspecting the underside of the deck, using a mirror, and an existing access port next to the centerboard revealed what appeared to be perfectly intact fiberglass. However, pushing on the deck seemed to suggest an airspace as the upper deck surface made a crunching sound when it touched the rough foam surface below. My findings probing through a 1/16th inch test hole were consistent with the delamination theory as well. Perhaps the deck might be repaired by injecting epoxy into the space between the layers, but without easy access to the inside of the hull, clamping the two sides together would be problematic. Pushing from the top only would leave a seriously sagging deck. The answer appeared to be pressurizing the hull with an electric air mattress pump.

I began the repair by cautiously connecting an electric air mattress pump to the stern drain hole applying just enough pressure to cause the sagging deck to rise. Too much pressure, causing the hull to explode, would be counterproductive. Drilling holes in the tubing reduced the air pressure as necessary. After covering the deck with masking tape, I drilled an array of 1/16th inch holes into the soft areas of the deck using a hexagonal pattern, 2 inch hole to hole spacing, and 3/8th inch depth. The hand drill had a stop using a piece of dowel to prevent drilling too deep. Five 1x2s clamped across the deck prevented the deck from rising above its normal flat position when the air pressure was applied.

West Marine extra slow curing epoxy allowed enough time for me to inject all the holes before it thickened. I injected the epoxy using a West Marine syringe with a tapered nozzle that fit snugly into the 1/16th inch holes. I loaded the syringe by removing the plunger and pouring in the epoxy. It takes way too long to try to suck it into the syringe. I injected one syringe-full (about ½ ounce or 15 ml) into only 1/3 of the holes which worked out to holes with a 4 inch spacing pattern. The other 2/3 of the holes allowed for excess epoxy and air to escape. The average epoxy thickness was about 2.2 mm or 3/32th inch. It was comforting to see the excess epoxy and air bubbles flow out of almost every hole when the air pressure was turned on indicating that the epoxy had spread out well. I injected some extra epoxy into any hole that was not oozing.

After leaving the air pressure on for 24 hours (praying the pump wouldn’t conk out before the epoxy hardened) the deck appeared to be quite solid. A few of the holes were leaking air, so the pressure was turned off, and the leaking holes were sealed by injecting a little more epoxy. By the way, pressurizing the hull is a good way to find other leaks as well. Running my hand under the joint between the deck and the hull revealed a previously unknown large leak near the bow with air blowing out. I’ll do a search for smaller leaks at some point. The final step for the deck project was to apply some Gel Coat repair material to the 1/16th inch holes.

The soft, sagging deck is now flat and solid, but will it be good for another 23 years (or even 23 minutes of sailing in rough conditions)? Time will tell.

Eric

Walmart Lasers

Last week I picked up a paper copy of the APS (Annapolis Performance Sailing) catalogue, and in the Laser section, I found a “practice” Laser sail priced just under the price of the infamous “practice” Laser sail from Intensity. Undercutting Intensity by a dollar or two is not exciting, but to think that a Laser Performance dealer has joined in the game of low-priced non-legal Laser parts gives one a moment of pause. Although APS has always carried a practice sail, it never has had one priced at less than $200, so this is something new.

We have been all through the argument of using non-class legal sails before. Hard core one-design believers think the purity of the brand should always be preserved, and some rebels and cheapskates think that $550 is just too much to pay for something that can be had for less than $200. But since almost all rebels and cheapskates have been willing to compromise and use the legal sail at serious regattas, there really hasn’t been much of a ruckus.

It would seem that the undercutting Laser Performance / North Sails game is working so well for others that APS, and maybe some other dealers, are starting to want a piece of the action too. And the action does not stop at sails. The business of making and selling low-priced, non-legal Laser parts is growing faster than weeds in my garden. Just at APS, you can buy a “practice” daggerboard, rudder head, rudder blade, outhaul and Cunningham cleats, boom, lower mast (full, radial, or 4.7), and upper mast. Intensity sells all of that, in some different non-class legal non-one-design variations, and they also sell a “practice” auto-bailer and a “practice” mounting plate for the hiking strap.

I’m still looking for non-legal gudgeons, grab rails, and bow eyes so that I can strip a laser and build a “Walmart” Practice Laser with absolutely no genuine manufacturer approved parts except the hull! Nothing builds a champion so much as practicing in a boat with sails, blades, and spars different than the ones that must be used in real competition.

For those of us who just want to manage the annual operating cost of Laser sailing, it all just looks like the world has gone a little crazy. Sails are one thing. The sail is the most interchangeable part on the boat, the most expensive part on the boat, and the part that wears out the quickest. If, in a five year period, I buy five class legal sails, I spend about $2750. If, instead, I buy four practice sails and one class legal sail, I spend about $1350 while using a legal sail in every important regatta I attend.

How much would I save if I used a “practice” daggerboard? Stupid question because nobody uses a practice daggerboard. But just to play along, if I were an elite racer for whom the wear of the trunk on the daggerboard over, say a five year period caused me to replace it with a new one, I could save a whopping $50 by buying a practice one. If damage were the issue, assuming I managed to damage one daggerboard beyond repair every five years and thus needed two of them in a five year period, I could again save that $50, but if, and only if, I had the good sense to damage the practice one and not the competition one. I seldom exercise this kind of clever planning. The same logic applies to rudders and spars.

These parts are not “practice” parts, they are simply cheaper, non-legal, knock-off parts

Attached hardware gets even worse. Even self deception can’t go far enough to disguise the fact that the boat is illegal all the time! That’s a big compromise! And then there is the issue of quality. We all find the cost of marine hardware downright painful, but reliability and durability are paramount. High price and quality wins every time over low price, low performance and breakdowns. With hardware, less is almost always less..

So the non-class legal Laser part industry can offer us some minor savings in exchange for less reliability, less (or unknown) quality, and a thorough trashing of the one-design concept. No self-respecting Laser racer should want to convert his boat into a Walmart Laser. Even recreational users and underfunded community sailing programs might not be served if quality and reliability are compromised.

There has to be some common sense and some middle ground when it comes to this kind of thing. When is the world going to finally start behaving like I think it should? Outrageous!

Flip-flop Laser Centerboard Handle?

There are many ways to rig a Laser, but here is something that I don’t recall seeing before. I’ve been trying a “flip-flop” centerboard handle to help with access and organization of the three Laser sail shape control lines (vang, cunningham, and outhaul). The main idea is to keep the lines close to the gunnel for easy access while hiking. If it happens to be flipped to the wrong (leeward) side, it’s pretty easy to very briefly lean in to flip it to windward.

The flip-flop handle is easily made by folding over some 7 mm line twice so that the shaft is composed of three lines with a triangular cross section. Wrapping with several layers of plastic tape results in an appropriate degree of stiffness. One end of the handle is attached to the centerboard using a hole near the top aft corner. The three control lines are tied to the free end of the handle. It’s about 24 inches long. I believe it should be class-legal.

So far I’ve used it on a couple of race days at a great local club in Duxbury, Massachusetts. It seems to be working out pretty well. Besides the easy access while hiking, it tends to keep the excess line away from the main sheet block which otherwise can be easily jammed. If the control lines become tangled on the deck, a quick whip motion of the handle helps to free them up. When you are positioned aft while sailing downwind, access for the adjustments just before rounding the leeward mark is also improved by angling the handle a bit aft.

If you think it might be helpful, give it a try.

Eric

Less is More – Molting

I feel like a guy who was a day early to the big regatta with “less is more” blogs. I think that I had three contenders, Is This Zen Racing?, Action though Inaction, and Simplified Race Management Tricks, which in the interest of shameless self promotion I have mentioned here, but I completely misread the calendar and published them some time ago. I guess I have to start over with this very un-profound contribution.

Sometime in late April or early May, a wonderful process of shedding sailing clothes begins. It’s a process of molting for the year round, northern climate sailor. The wool winter hat gets traded for a baseball hat. Full fingered gloves are replaced by three quarter fingered ones, and then no gloves at all. Layers under the dry suit become less in number, then the drysuit is shed for a wetsuit, hikers or neoprene shorts and tops. The double and triple layers of neoprene on the feet goes down to just a sailing boot. Traveling lighter, feeling freer. For coastal sailors the process usually stops here.

But, we lake sailors go further. Less cold water and less wave action allow us to be warmer and dryer. We continue the shedding. Shorts and tee shirts are enough. And sometime around July the process peaks when the shirts and boots come off. No shirt, no shoes, no problema. I know this is not US Sailing approved, but with a padded hiking strap, why not be a rebel without a shoe? This is laser sailing at its best, at its simplest, shorts, no shirt, and no shoes. It doesn’t get any better than this. Less is truly more.


The careful reader is thinking “by this logic, wouldn’t sailing naked really be the best?” Good idea, wrong boat….. Now when I had a Pearson 36 and was significantly younger……… it was a good idea, nay, a great idea!

Congratulations, Intensity Sails

From the full page anti-“counterfeit” sails propaganda in the latest Laser Sailor, it looks like you have become far more than a minor annoyance to the powers of Big Laser. You are now a force to be reckoned with, an “increasing trend,” and an “aggressive internet” marketer. Big Laser is out to get you. I think they are afraid of you.

It’s fine that Big Laser wants to reiterate the case for single source equipment as a means of maintaining lasers’ “one design” quality. But it is unfair propaganda to call alternative sails “counterfeit.” The word counterfeit implies an intention to defraud. Every ad I have seen for these sails clearly states (usually in capital letters) that they are NOT CLASS LEGAL. I have never met anyone using these sails who have been confused about this. There is clearly no fraud here. My I suggest a new logo to make things clearer?

There is a giant disconnect between a professed concern for class legal equipment and the needs of laser sailors to have high quality, reasonably priced sails. As the article concedes, these low cost sails are helpful in putting more boats on the water and growing local fleets. Ironically, at the local level, unofficial sails have been a primary means of meeting the goals of “one design” classes: equal boats and minimal reward for greater spending on better equipment. These sails have been wonderful in promoting better and more competitive sailing at my club. So now Big Laser needs to draw a line in the sand, implore regional regatta organizers to forbid non class legal sails ( don’t they do this already?), and try to scare us all into believing that by saving some money we will undermine the Laser class.

Why don’t other classes have this situation? Did upstart Intensity Sails (and others) cause this problem? I don’t think so.

Big Laser has no one to blame but themselves. They have sown the seeds of the alternative sail industry. They gave it sunlight and nurtured it. For starters, they (the class association, Laser-Performance, North Sails, and the dealers) conspired to create a marketing system where they each get a cut of every sail sold – apparently a big cut. Thus, they have guaranteed high prices. Next, they missed all opportunities to improve the quality of the sail design or the sail cloth as the industry has progressed during the past couple of decades. Lately, they have stonewalled resolving “the well documented failings” of the sails. Haven’t they been implicitly begging for someone to jump into the market with a better or lower cost product?

They argue that the “strict one design” nature of the class is worth a “slight premium.” You bet it is! But that “slight premium” is a matter of a $600 sail (incl. battens and sail bag) versus a $200 sail. Not very slight. If the premium really were “slight,” there would be no appreciable unofficial sail industry.

All this said, I don’t have a problem with requiring single source equipment at big events. Those are the rules. It’s pretty simple. But Big Laser has no business disparaging either the producers or consumers of good stuff cheap. The market place is sending a clear message that the monopolistic practices of Big Laser are not working for substantial numbers of the Laser sailors. It’s about time that the class association and the suppliers began working for the members and the customers.

Do Europeans Float Better than Americans?

Now that I have found a personal flotation device I really love, I have to consider that it is not a PFD, as in a proper name with capital letters, but a Buoyancy Aid, a somewhat distant and estranged cousin of the “real” thing. It seems that the US Coast Guard now owns the phrase “personal flotation device” and it only applies to objects that meet their specific criteria. So is there something suspicious about “Buoyancy Aids,” or are they merely life jackets produced outside the US and sanctioned by a different authority? Do manufacturers just avoid the bureaucracy of the Coast Guard approval, or do they make a lesser product? If the products are inferior, why do I see them being sold by every sailing gear supplier I look at?

The Zhik Buoyancy Aid I have, and many other brands I have seen for sale, are CE approved. This is a European seal of approval similar to a UL product approval in the US. It is a required safety approval for all products sold in the European Common Market. Apparently it is coveted around the world, even in far away New Zealand where Zhik is located. A CE approval is respected globally, so what is the Coast Guard approval vs. CE approval all about?

A brief internet search reveals that the two approvals have clearly different flotation standards. Coast Guard type II, III, and V PFD’s are required to have 15.5 pounds of flotation, while CE approved Buoyancy Aids are required to have only 50 newtons (11 pounds) of flotation. More flotation is probably better (don’t Americans usually think more is better?), but is 11 pounds enough?

Boatsafe.com has an explanation for quantifying the amount of needed flotation. According to them, our bodies are typically composed of 80% water, having neutral buoyancy, and 15% fat, which floats, leaving only 5% of our body weight that needs to be held up by the life jacket. A 200 pound person therefore needs 10 pounds of buoyancy. At 170 pounds, I require only 8.5 pounds.

Working with this simplified physics, it seems that Europeans define the “standard” as a person weighing 220 pounds or less, while the US Coast Guard feels it necessary to float a 310 pound person (a truly awesome sight in a laser or a sailing dinghy). By the estimation of the local sanctioning authorities, it seems that Europeans are considerably smaller and more buoyant than Americans.

So is it un-American for a European sized, more buoyant person to sail with a CE approved Buoyancy Aid? If a Buoyancy Aid makes a capsize less likely and a capsize recovery far easier, isn’t it safer and therefore a better choice? Is it treasonous and defiant to the US Coast Guard to supplant Coast Guard approval with CE approval? Can’t we be accepting of globalization and be citizens of the world so long as we safely obey the law of physics?

I’ll keep my Coast Guard approved type III in my gear bag, just in case. And I’m still on the lookout for a life jacket with the slimmer profile and better fit of a buoyancy aid combined with the Coast Guard approved flotation of a PFD.

The Quest for the Perfect PFD

One of the new challenges in switching from sailing a relatively stable sloop rigged dinghy to sailing a Laser is finding a PFD that really works well. In the sloop, virtually any comfortable PFD will do. It never catches on things or interferes with sailing. It may not even be used on warm, easy sailing days and rarely gets wet. But in a Laser, the PFD becomes an integral part of your sailing clothing, perhaps even an integral part of your physical body.

When I started sailing a laser, I naively thought it would be just fine to use my old comfy, front zip, type III PFD with nice front pockets. It worked fine for a while – until I learned how important it was to crank on the vang when it gets windy and how low the boom becomes when you do that. It must have been funny to watch me tack as the mainsheet caught on the back of the life jacket, the boom was prevented from moving to the new leeward side, the sail loaded up and took the boat over, and I got dunked while struggling to get free. This performance, though hilarious to watch, was painful for me to experience when frostbiting in 40 degree water.

It was there that the search began.

Next in the line of test products was one of those Lotus Designs (now Patagonia) pull over life vests that high school and college sailors wear. I was very hopeful, but this yielded similar results with a slightly longer interval between dunkings. Careful analysis revealed that the high back was the source of the problem and lead to the conclusion that the lower the back, the better it would work.

Then came a Kokatat kayaking PFD with all the flotation very low in both the back and the front. Problem solved!!!!! No more catching on the mainsheet; no more tacking capsizes.

But wait! Although this PFD did not cause capsizes, when I capsized for other reasons, its low but bulky front did an excellent job of catching on the lip of the gunnels and impeding the intrepid dunkee from getting back into the boat. After the embarrassment of capsizing, it seemed excessively humiliating to attempt a flop back into the boat only to be hung up half way by a protruding PFD belly.

There must be a better solution. Should I build a custom hybrid with a low back and a smooth front? No one but me would think that a PFD could be a do-it-yourself project, and even I admitted the notion was wacky.

According to some new products hype from various suppliers of sailing gear, the latest great new thing is the Zhik racer’s buoyancy vest. It is not Coast Guard approved, but hey, it’s from New Zealand. What do they care about the Coast Guard? It is CE approved so it is good enough for Europeans. I treated my self. It was a snug fit, but felt like it would not ride up in the back. The front was smooth and thin and appeared to solve the problem of getting back in.

The first use was not really intended to be a product testing day, but apparently I had forgotten how to gybe in moderate to heavy air, and the new PFD was swiftly put to the test. Although I was embarrassed by my sailing inabilities, my latest and greatest equipment proved to be first rate; the flop back into the boat was as graceful as could be. Another day shortly thereafter, I went out for a relaxing sail with the wind appearing to be about 9, just as forecast. Once on the water, the wind built to about 12 with gusts to 15. I had not learned anything more about gybing since the last outing and gave the product a rather thorough testing, easily slipping back into the boat several times.

It appears that all the practical problems have been solved!!! Good gear is a wonderful thing, a source of real satisfaction.

But what about those silly approvals? Do they really matter? Is there anything substantive there? Stay tuned…………………..

The clothes make the man - Frostbiting

Sometimes people ask me how I can go sailing in the rain, or in cold weather, or on very cold water, and the answer is always the same – the clothes make the man. With the right clothing, sailing is comfortable, warm, safe, and sometimes dry. One of the keys to happiness in Laser sailing is choosing the right outfit. This is what works for me in the winter…

In frostbiting, the main choices are pretty easy, even though the gear is rather extensive. The water is cold (about 40 degrees) and the air is even colder. The goal is to stay warm, dry if possible, while being able to move around and grip lines. I dress in two to three layers; dry suit on the top, a fleece layer underneath, and a wicking shirt (and sometimes wicking pants) as a base layer.

The drysuit is waterproof with watertight or water resistant seals at the feet, hands, and neck. My drysuit has waterproof booties (that aren’t quite waterproof) made from the suit material, latex waterproof wrist seals (latex seals really are water tight), and a neoprene water resistant collar. The neoprene collar is more comfortable than latex, but water will trickle in when I’m fully submerged.

On my feet I wear waterproof sealskin socks under the drysuit booties, and Rooster sailing boots on top. I wear Rooster AquaPro gloves which have some fleece in them. The whole outfit is reasonably warm when submerged in 40 degree water, and if my neck is above water it doesn’t leak a drop. My feet can get a little cold on days below 25 degrees, and my hands get cold only if I dunk the entire glove in the water. The gloves are way better dry than wet.

The last part of the ensemble is the hat – ski hat under 30 degrees and baseball hat above. A pair of sunglasses and I’m ready to go sailing.

These are my choices, but I know there are variations on this, especially with gloves and boots. What do you wear?

Yarg

Improving Safety

As the yacht club worries about the safety of laser sailing and generally tries to improve on safety, I am struck with how simple safety seems to be in the context of high school sailing. I was thinking about the most important changes required to make yacht club sailing safer, and here are the top five.

1. Always wear a life jacket – on docks, in row boats, in sailboats, in rescue boats, everywhere on the water.


2. Wear the proper clothing. Sailors must stay warm in the boat or in the water. No cotton except in July and August. Wetsuits, drysuits, polypropylene layers, nylon, fleece, spray tops and pants, foul weather gear and combinations of these provide a myriad of good choices. Cold water is a serious safety hazard that is frequently underestimated; it literally leaves you gasping for breath and rapidly saps your strength.


3. Practice and master capsize recovery. Knowing how to right your boat and having the skill to do it makes capsizing an inconvenience rather than a catastrophe.


4. Have skilled rescue boat operators. Training, testing, and practicing are invaluable. Being able to maneuver a motor boat in a rescue operation takes more skill and know how than just being able to drive a boat.


5. Practice rescues. Nothing develops skill like practice, and it seems unreasonable to think that people who do not practice rescuing boats and boaters would be any good at it

Don’t get me wrong. I am not against using radios, cell phones, life rings, lines, towing harnesses, or any other of that good stuff. It’s just that none of those made the top five list.

Several observations about the top five list are relevant here:

• In high school sailing, all of these things are mandatory and automatic. No one – even a grownup – goes on the water without a life jacket. Sailors must wear clothing in which they can capsize and remain reasonably comfortable and functional. Sailors practice capsize recovery before they practice sailing. Rescue boat operators are certified (usually by at least US Sailing), and we practice continually by being on the water so much. By doing the five most important things, we keep it relatively simple and have an impeccable track record (knock on wood) without the extra hands or better equipment that would be nice if public school financing permitted.


• All of these things are improvements in our habits and in ourselves. Enhancing safety is not primarily a matter of better equipment, but it is a matter of improving our own behavior and skills. We are the safety equipment we have been looking for.


• Laser sailors regularly do the first three things on the list, the ones that the sailors can do for themselves. Doing these things make them far safer than sailors who don’t do them.


• Rescue requirements are drastically different for the sailors who are prepared by doing the first three things than they are for those who are not prepared. The prepared sailors need rescue support only for a freak accident, while unprepared sailors can get into serious trouble very quickly even with the most able rescue crew.

Yacht club planners should consider all this when formulating safety plans.

Yarg