VANCOUVER ISLAND WINDTALK

http://www.srh.noaa.gov/srh/ssd/html/windchil.htm Example: 7'C @ 30 knots= wind chill of 1'C

Speaking of which. Since my hands have just thawed out from yesterdays outing I can tpye gud agoin.

Does anyone have a suggestion for sailing booties and gloves (mittens) that will keep my extremities from turning blue from Jan - April?

the differences in brands of booties are amazing. the thickest are not necessarily the warmest I have found (yeah, DWD, NOT White's diving booties, ditto for me, too wide, thick and COOOOOLDDDD!). There's lot of threads on gloves but I haven't found a pair that doesn't cause me forearm cramps.....the palmless ones where you can flip your fingers into and back out of a mitten end and cover the top of the hand seem to make most sense.....as does a thermos of warm water to fill boots and gloves to rewarm. A drysuit has the effect of warming the extremeties if your core is superwarm.....also some techniques like "bootie soup" and swinging your arms around like Art does seem to work

Well mb of course it seems cold as you just got back from maui! Thanks for the travel tips btw.

one vote for palmless mittens. toasty warm and the ability to whip out your fingers to tie knots ect is great. I have old Bare ones. dudes with warm drytops seem to not need gloves so much these days.

For booties i recommend NOT the whites 7mm diving booties with the zipper. warm but sloppy fitting and too thick in the sole (cant feel your board). maybe ok for kiting where your feet stay in one spot. They have a 5mm simple pull on version i wish i bought.

Ive found the split toe style booties are great for surfing but when you use them windsurfing you can get painful toe wedgies. any bootie you consider needs a rubber cap over the top or else your toe knuckle vs the footstrap will quickly wear thru plain neoprene. Do a forum search too, i think this was discussed before. happy sailing!

I had an old pair of Bare palmless mitts that worked very well for general sailing, but they were a pain when swimming (they'd balloon up with water). I lost them and never replaced them. DaKine apparently makes some of the nicest palmless mitts on the market for windsurfing. I may order a pair myself. For sure, a drysuit makes the hands and feet stay warmer longer, but my hands were still freezing last CB day (New Year's Day)

For booties, I've really liked my Quicksilver 5mm split toe booties with a midfoot strap and rubber toe cap. Warm enough for winter, thin enough sole for decent board feel. Mine finally have holes big enough to let freezing water in. I'll likely get the same ones again from HtO here in Vic. As DWD says, the split toe for windsurfing can give you some discomfort as the split section gets wedged between the first and second toe when you are deep in the straps. Then again, my old round toe boots mashed all of my toes ( I also have longish toes) . So, pick your poison. Lots of other guys are sailing the Excel booties as well and seem happy.