VANCOUVER ISLAND WINDTALK

I have found my winter gloves wear through fast. It first appears between the thumb and index finger (I do ride boomed wings - for now). I wore my 3mm Drylocks way too long (March 21 - Nov 22). After the thumb/index section wore, I kept on with them until the finger surfaces started disappearing. Then I got 3mm Billabong Furnace gloves Dec 2022. They are already shot on the thumb/index connection. Today my hands felt they were going to explode when I was warming up and they were none-too-warm when I was on the water.

I now a local who comes in shortly after starting and warms up hands with warm water, say 15 min after starting, then goes back out. I've also heard coming in for a break and getting your hands moving below your heart 15 min after starting helps. Finally, a harness, which I've never used, allows to decrease hand pressure and get the hand occasionally below the heart. It would seem all these help with circulation, but I've tried none so don't know. As I type my hands are still chilled from today.

1. Anyone have good glove ideas for the winter? (I swear winddoc told me he uses dish gloves)

2. Anyone successfully modify gloves? Saw a few folks doing so here https://www.standupzone.com/forum/index ... ic=37732.0 . One person with the thumb/finger wear was thinking of cementing in a bicycle inner tube on this same spot.

3. Anyone know if there are wing specific winter gloves? (that hopefully don't wear as fast as these neoprene gloves do)

4. Any other cold weather hand tips for wingers? (or as Bobson likes to say wangers, surely a sign of jealousy) . It seems to be my weak spot, temperature wise.

Thanks
(photos of my gloves attached)

There has yet to be a decent winter sailing glove/mitt invented as far as I'm aware. I have tried almost everything for windsurfing in the past. All of them have some thickness of neoprene on the back of the hand which your hand/fingers constantly work against the resistance of the neoprene which in turn quickly fatigues and causes intense forearm cramping and/or loss of grip strength. Pre-curved gloves/mitts help but still too much resistance, palm-less mitts seem to be almost the best except they allow a lot of cold water/air in to freeze the hands. I find now I need gloves or mitts in anything < 6-8 C air temp.

So, a lot of us wear "dish gloves" or the like, as they have very little resistance to flexion/grip and cut the wind chill a bit. Get them fairly fitted on the hand/fingers or they'll be too sloppy. Cdn Tire, Home Depot are good sources. If it's really cold I also use a very thin wool liner glove, even better if you can find a thin "thinsulate" material liner glove, I used to have some for X-Country skiing, that I wore inside a light glove on cold ski days, and they were perfect in a dish glove to retain/generate some heat.

Even after this, if it's really cold you may have to come in and vigourously spin your arms around to pump blood out to the hands, I usually only have to do this once and then my hands stay warm for the day.

I glove up at about 7 degrees and the palmless work well for me although I'm harnessed in usually and can drop an arm and give it a shake often if fingers are getting cold. I use the full mitt (NRS mitts in the picture) when it gets to 1-2 degrees and they work really well. I used them yesterday for an hour and fingers were getting cold at the end but not crazy pain cold and no forearm fatigue at all. I'm wondering if using the dish gloves underneath would keep them warmer.? Might try next time. You can get them at Cadboro Bay surf shop or MEC. The lady at the Caddy Bay place is really nice and I believe they are the same price so nice to support local.
ps. I do secretly wish I could Wing. Maybe, one day.

My go-to system is nearly identical BigRobin's method.
It is a DryGlove system, that uses an inner glove, an outer waterproof glove, and a wide velcro strap as pictured below.
The following applies:

1. Stretchy velcro wrist seal was effective and adjustable so you can balance out tightness for max seal, and looseness to permit sufficient blood circulation to your fingers.
2. Dishwashing gloves are 100% waterproof, any seepage through the wrist was minimal and fingers still stayed warm. Also 100% windproof so you don't get the increased windchill with wet neoprene gloves evaporating in the wind. It's critical to be careful to ensure a good seal between strap and outer glove. Spend the extra time and it will buy you extra time on the water.
3. I have used XC ski gloves, cheap wool/fleece, and 3mm neoprene glove. All worked equally well.
4. DryGlove system is thinner than the thick neoprene solutions. Much less effort to close hands over the handles - less hand tiredness for guys with wussy grips, like me.
5. Crazy cheap. Dishwashing gloves are about $10 and the stretchy velcro about $4/pair. The fancy NRS mitts are $70 on sale! I did get a 2-pack of better quality waterproof gloves for $16. An 8-pack of stretchy velcro from Amazon was $16.

This system is used with a drysuit. Unsure what the wetsuit effectiveness would be. As Robin mentioned, you need to take a break and unstresss the fingers occasionally to let the blood get back to the fingers.
I used it in the end Feb polar period we are in and still worked very well.

Warm wingfoil wishes.

velcro elastic cinch straps


I also bought a 2-pack of these waterproof gloves. Size Large worked best for my size Small hands.

My 3m Quiksilver gloves have been holding very strong for almost a year IE no holes at all.

They have less traction on the palms and fingers which I feel usually tugs the neoprene to pieces.

Will definitely be buying these again, and I have been a die hard Xcel everything guy for a long long time.

Gyro Beach Board Shop only has the NRS Mitts in size XS

Thanks for all the creative ideas, wow! So looking forward to dropping the need for gloves soon, or at least simple thin gloves at most. It kept using those same gloves since Feb. Hardly any material around the thumb/index left. I did throw some nitrile gloves underneath, they wouldn't fit over top. When it was colder I filled a 7 gallon Aqua-Tainer with hot water. After 15 min I'd come in and force the hot water through the gloves. This definitely helped and added a bit of time, also got some hot water in the wetsuit, which felt really good. Definitely will try some of various glove solutions next winter.

Anyone ever use this style mitt winging - https://www.ion-products.com/en/product ... 48200-4145 ? Any opinions?

First session with thicker gloves (I sometimes use thin sailing gloves) this fall...used nitrile underneath those worn out 3mm today (ie. the gloves in the pics from Feb). I managed to sail quite a number of hours but it didn't feel nice at first (temperature) and, as the session went on, the forearm fatigue became noticeable. I have been playing around with a harness, which provides some relief from time to time but I'd rather ride without. Maybe I use it for the winter, when gloved up.

I’ve used my vissla 1.5mm wetsuit gloves for a while now and they seem to be holding up quite well.

That or the old standby of no gloves and blow on your hands for a couple mins every couple jibes

Annnnnd looks like vissla stopped making the 1.5mm. Lame. It was (is) honestly the most durable thin wetsuit glove i’ve ever owned and it only has one repair after a full year on the water, and that’s from scuffing my knuckles on some barnacle…

I am about to receive these Ion glove/mitts, which may potentially be the solution I've been looking for. They have a super thin 1mm glove inside the 2.5mm overmitt with opening. Will report on them once tested. The search for the mythical windsport winter glove continues.

BTW i just tested yesterday a pair of Vessi waterproof gloves (they make runners/shoes too), they were very warm, but had too much slip within the knit material and eventually fatigued my forearms, they'll make a very good outdoor glove though.

Slake, I use those ion palmless mitts for winging. I find they're great for the 6C+ range. A lot of keeping your hands warm is in prep/warmup, and keeping the back of your hand protected for winging. Bring warm water to the beach, chill your hands while setting up and then warm them before going out. Start your session with a big long pumpfoil. It's amazing how much that can do to keep you're whole body warm.

The worst part about those mitts is the paddle out. You need to pull the sides in and make a tight fist, or all that prep/warmup goes out the window.

If you raise the fingertip portion of palmless mitts up about a 1cm they will hook onto a grippy boom or hard handles (probably not bare carbon). This makes it easier to hold on to the wing than even bare hands.

Consider downwind paddle ups to start. If you head out on the dw board and try a few paddle ups, you'll be cooking hot! I usually have to jump in to cool off.

ULR's gloves look ideal. Hopefully they get a good review.

UnusuallyLargeRobin wrote: ↑Mon Nov 20, 2023 8:47 am I am about to receive these Ion glove/mitts

These look like a great idea. Are you able to share where you got them from? A quick search shows them for sale in Europe, right now, and one US shop in NC (Banx), which I never heard of. Will call a couple of Canadian ION shops to see if they know the status of getting them here.

It's only November and I'm already disliking the gloves again. Will at least grab some hot water next time and make better use of the harness.

Hey Slake et al, I ordered them from kitesource.ca (Jeff in Calgary). I don't think they show up on the website as they were new and he just special ordered them for me. Just talked with him and he's shipping in a day or 2 (was waiting for an Axis Skinny 365/55 tail to arrive too before shipping, which is now finally here, Yay!!)

Thanks! Funny thing - Jeff was one I reached out (by email - haven't heard back yet). Vince in Vancouver doesn't have them. And I just shot Jesse an email too. He has Ion gloves and mitts (including that open mitt I recently asked about).

Visualizing paddling, pulling in the sides, and making a fist of the open palm mitt (as Smartang described) gave me the shivers thinking of them.

In the meantime I'm still going to give these a try - https://www.homedepot.ca/product/gorill ... 1001692291 that were posted elsewhere. Maybe a bigger sized open palm could fit over those, as another option.