Winter-wet sailing gloves

Winter is a relative term, temperature-wise, but add water and it's likely to be harder to stay comfortable. Has anyone tried Sealskinz Chillblocker fleece-lined gloves for sailing or another activity? These have the little rubber nubbies on the palms and fingers to help with grip. I received a pair for Christmas that is too small and am wondering if it the board has any experience with these. We've tried ski gloves, but even leather palmed gloves are not particularly durable or waterproof. Plus they're usually too slick for line handling.

Thanks in advance.

While I have not tried them I have hands that are hard to fit. Are you going to part with them?

The size I have are Large and I need Extra Large. Fingers, both length and to some extent circumference, are my usual problems with gloves. No different with this pair. I was going to trade them in, one way or another, unless they get good reviews for sailing and I can't find a larger pair.

I'll let you know.

These were purchased mail-order from Plow & Hearth in Madison, Virginia.

Great Gloves

I know this is not in line with the discussion - but I love my gloves and need to babble...

My winter gloves are from Gill - and I want to say they have kevlar in them - but I think that's over stating it (I got them like six or seven years ago - tells you how much I've had my gear out, I'm afraid...). They have a great palm, etc - are waterpoof and very warm.

I had all my foul weater gear out for this last big storm we had...

//sse

Gloves

Footrope- I own a pain of SEALSKINZ gloves and socks. I love them!!! I live in Wisconsin and have found them to be vary needy for the colder temps. I don't play in the water as you might in WA. I got them at West Marine. You can probably get them other places also. Durable, comfy, worth their skinz., Rob Hessenius

Sean,

Tell us about your sailing adventure. I hope you didn't drag the foulies out and wear them to pace around on your widow's walk during one of our recent blows? Sure is raining hard tonight, and it looks worse up north on the radar summary.

Those Gill gloves look very nice. I wish there was a place (a boat show?) where we could get the major gear manufacturers together and compare their products. I'll have to go visit WM, perhaps, despite their troubles. I am on the verge of boycotting them (see posts on instrument shipping complaints). I talked with an ex-WMer recently and she was quite bitter about how management was treating employees - i.e. looking for excuses to rate them low and then lay them off.

Rob,

Thanks for the endorsement. They seem like very nice gloves. [And I really like it when one of my daughters thinks of something that is ideal for one of my hobbies. That's not a very practical reason to keep them if they don't work.] I have found places online that claim to carry larger sizes, so I will be trying to get the correct size from somewhere else and then return these. Since buying the boat and the diesel heater, I'm ready to get out there in the cold and bash to windward a little. Maybe I should look into the socks, too. I need a slightly oversize sock to fit into my size 12 boots. My two-layer approach leaves my feet too much room to roam. I usually use a Thorlo inner and a wool outer in my boots.

I do have a pair of Polartec gloves that keep my hands warm as long as I stay active, but they are not waterproof or wind-proof. The palm is covered with a plastic layer that melts if I let a line slide through them. For frost-biting we really need a glove that works whether you're helmsperson, trimmer, or railmeat.

Thanks,

You're here in town, Craig - just head on over to Fisheries, and try not to get too dizzy when they ring you up at the register! Although priced at more or less full price, they have everything and more... You can get an account with them, however and save a few bucks (like 5-10%)...

I totally hate WM - I went in there a couple of months ago to get some water proof heat shrink tubing for our fountain, and recalled many memories I'd forgotten about...

On the weather - there's nothing to tell - other than me up on a ladder in 50-60 mph gusts trying to clear out our back gutter that was over flowing. After getting soaking wet, I just decided to get serious and went and got on my foulies... Once I was in those things, the horizontal rain was nothing!

//sse

I Don't Like Sealskinz

I have a pair of the gloves and have found that they leak water fairly quickly upon exposure. I have since gotten a pair of Gill Winter gloves like Sean's and LOVE those.

Laura Bertran
Annapolis, MD

Thanks Laura. Today my wife said she was seeing comments like that on a web forum. Usually the company replaced the gloves and it worked out ok. Makes me wonder how durable they really are for watery and rainy activities where gripping and pulling is involved. They're not marketed as a sailing glove per se. They seem to be sold in backpacking or outdoors stores.

I was going through my skiing clothes today and found my almost new pair of Marmot snowboarder gloves - leather palms. Maybe I'll trot over to Fisheries anyway, as Sean suggests. I'll take along a portable defibrillator and both credit cards .

Glove shopping

Today Ellen and I decided on different gloves and will return the Sealskinz. The reasons are the recommendations here and elsewhere, size availability, and our preferred methods of overcoming perceived shortcomings of each.

She bought a pair of Musto Exoskin Winter gloves, which she thinks will be easy to grip with and stay fairly dry and warm. They are all synthetic with a rough-ish fake leather palm. They are not waterproof. She had to get size JL which is like extra small.

I bought the Gill Helmsman gloves, XXL, which are the best fit for my weird hands. My total hand length seems to be in the XL to XXL range, but my fingers are a bit longer while my palm is slightly shorter. There is room for a liner, either wool or Polartec, which I will need for long exposure on deck. I like the gauntlet style, also.

Now we have to go try them.

We were warned off the Sealskinz because the nubbies make it harder to let lines slip through. I don't see that they are a good choice as a liner, although they do seem like warm gloves.

We appreciate your insights and experiences.

My wife and I frostbite a Jet 14 every other saturday from November to march each year. We often break ice to get out of the basin. I wear the mustos you refered to above. They are not waterrpoof but stay warm when wet. I like the dexterity I get from them. My wife wears seal skins with rubber dishwashing gloves over top. This setup gives the warmth and dexterity she needs. Some days she just wears the sealskins and others she will wear a thin pair of fleece gloves inside the dishwashing gloves. We also have a pair of Alaskan crabbing gloves or so they were billed as. They are heavy rubber go half way up the arm and are thick fleece lined. Very nice for driving the Ericson but useless on a dinghy due to lack of dexterity and small lines. I tried the gills and liked them but not for the dinghy racing, again lack of dexterity. If I was looking for gloves for winter work on the Ericson though I would go with the Gils.

The question of gloves is a very tricky one. In my experience you either have wet hands in gloves with which you can tie knots, push buttons etc or dry hands in gloves which you have to take off to do everything. I have gone for the wet hands and dexterity option. I use Musto Exoskin; they leak as soon as they get wet, but are equally warm wet as dry. They are brilliant in most temperate zone winter conditions and will wring nearly dry. They breath too so no seious wrinling or softening of calloused hands.
Nicki.

I race and cruise in Seal Skins neoprene waterproof socks... I now have 3 pair. I'm surprised their gloves aren't up to snuff...