Gloves, Gloves, Gloves!
Gloves, Gloves, Gloves!
Few people are as hard on their gear as I am. Since joining Murrays, I have made a point of destroying my gear through use. Wing Foiling, Dinghy Racing, Beachcat Racing, Keelboat racing and Foiling all have different requirements. Environmental conditions play a roll too!
The variables:
Warmth:
If you're in cold conditions and your fingers go numb, nothing else really matters. For most people, if it's that cold, it's not worth going out. For others, if the breeze is up, it's always worth going out. Full coverage, open palm, .5mm, 1.5mm, 3mm and 5mm gloves are available. In most cases, if the gloves are not preshaped for the form your hand will be in most of the time, the viscous arm pump will trump and warmth issues that your gloves resolve. In many cases, a pair of shop gloves or dish gloves can cut the wind chill and get you on the water.
I've used the Forward Neo gloves, the Rooster Neo Gloves, and the Manera Neo gloves with various levels of success. Arm pump is an issue in all cases, with challenges arising after 30-45 min of use. The Manera gloves work pretty well with a wind cutting skin and precurved fingers. Great for Winging or other board sports, but light protection for rope abrasion. The rooster neo gloves have great protection and warmth, but they sit a bit straight and should only be considered for sailing.
If you're not sailing in the 30s-40s water and/or air temp, or only for a short time, the disposable shop gloves or dish gloves worn under your regular gloves will likely get you over the morning hours or through a short ride.
The flip side to that is a big thick glove worn in the 90s and up can be murder on your hands too. The Rooster Pro gloves have great grip and durability, but your hands get swampy in the 80s and up and a lighter glove is recommended.
Protection:
Big wind sailors have to fight with torn re-enforcement pads and shredded gloves. A season of sailing small boats in San Francisco bay may require at least one or two new pair of gloves each season. You may need protection from the rope or other boat/ board elements. For the most part the Forward Pro WIP gloves are the only option. We used to sell them, and they are still mostly my favorite glove aside from the premature stitching failures. This may have been resolved in newer versions. Good grip pads on the middle of your fingers and across the palm are very important. Preferably with stitching that grips the pads outside of the wear area. The Ronstan Sticky gloves used to shred after a few uses in previous years, but adjustments were made and now the pads stay in place until you wear through them.
For small boat sailing, big reinforcement on the back of your hand can help with wrapping lines around your hand and reducing fatigue. There are strong opinions for hand wraps in sailing... but after a few decades and many miles. Small boat hand wrapping is OK. Big Boat sailing is not OK! Small boats, and up to about 20-21 foot beach cats are much more easily handled with a couple of wraps in big breeze that can be dropped in a pinch to ease on a gust. This tends to shred gloves and create hand fatigue. Padding around the palm helps a lot!
Utility:
Similar to protection, utility largely refers to what you can do. I'm a big fan of the 3 finger gloves with the thumb and index exposed. This allows sailors to tie and break knots, access split rings and grip shackles. Open palms and prebent fingers help reduce fatigue and facilitate better feel on equipment. Big bulky gloves may not fit well into trapeze systems or let you handle pings and tools properly. If you have to take off your gloves to cut or manipulate something, that's time and potential equipment loss!
Ronstan Fingerless Race Gloves:
These Sticky Race gloves have the fingers all cut off. This allows better feel and can be good for people that struggle to fit gloves. Longer slender fingers can sometimes force people to size up and create a loos palm. Cut off gloves get around that issue. These are a general purpose glove with good reinforcement and ventilation. They dry pretty quickly and are pretty true to size.
Ronstan 3 Ringer Race Gloves
These Sticky Race gloves have 2 of the fingers cut off. This allows for some better feel. The 3 full fingers offer better protection than fully cut off gloves. These are a general purpose glove with good reinforcement and ventilation. They dry pretty quickly and are pretty true to size.
Harken 3/4 Classic Gloves
These gloves have all fingers cut off, but have better knuckle protection than the Harken Half finger gloves. These are general purpose sailing gloves.
Half FInger Sail Gloves
These gloves have shorter fingers than the 3/4 gloves. They are general purpose sailing gloves.
Full Finger Sail Gloves.
These are full finger sailing gloves by Dakine. They tend to be a little lighter duty than other sailing gloves and sizing runs a bit small. They are a great economical solution.
Ultimate 2 Gloves
This is a discontinued model from Magic Marine. They are a great heavier duty 3 finger glove like the Ronstan sticky 3 finger glove, but can struggle to dry in more damp and cold environments. We're limited to stock on hand.
Forward WIP Gloves
These are a general purpose sailing glove with 2 fingers cut off and 3 fingers protected. They have no backside protection and are a great economical glove. Limted to stock on hand.
Forward WIP PRO Gloves
These were/ are a great glove with 2 fingers cut off and 3 fingers protected. The wrist strap was prone to stitching failure and as such are heavily discounted. The protection on the back of the glove was great for impact or line wrapping on small boats.
Aqua Pro Gloves
These are a pretty beefy glove.
All Weather Neoprene Gloves
These are a well reinforced neoprene glove for sailing. There are common wear spot pads for sailing lines and great build quality. The glove has minimal prebend, but would be a great option for cold weather sailing.
Dura Pro 2 Gloves
These are a great 3 finger covered, 2 finger cut off glove from Rooster. Nice build quality and comfort with good stitching and pad reinforcement.
Dura Pro 5 Gloves
Same as the Pro 2 but with all 5 fingers cut off. Great all around glove!
Combi Gloves
This is a cool design that utilizes a mitten style cover that wraps over an otherwise "Aquapro glove" A heavy glove with a neoprene cover that tucks into the backside of the glove. We haven't sailed with these yet, and have some concern about the flap coming out and getting in the way, but it seems like a cool idea.
Pro Race 5 Gloves
Thick gloves with 5 fingers cut off. Probably not for average sailor, but for those racers using small technical lines and shredding their gloves quickly, this may be your best bet!
Rash Gloves Short Finger
These are super light duty gloves to help offer some sun protection. Mostly for boardsports.
Rash Gloves
These are super light duty gloves to help offer some sun protection. Mostly for boardsports.