Hi. My wife and I just purcased a Hobie 18'. We live in Canada and will be sailing on the Ottawa river. We really need some advice on what to buy for apparel. Here's what I'm thinking so far:



A two piece dry suit, preferrably Gortex, for cold weather -- late fall and spring. A combo farmer john and jacket wet suit, 2 or 3mm, for cool days in the summer. We could wear combinations of the dry suit top and farmer john bottoms, the farmer john alone, the wet suit jacket and swimming trunks and the farmer john and a paddling jacket for various weather conditions, providing a lot of flexibility.



Does this make any sense? Does anyone have any experience that would help us to validate, refine or change this scheme?



Thanks.

see thread entitled "formal attire about 2 weeks ago.

Should answer all your questions.

thanks jim. going to look now.

Hey Kirk



I sailed on the Ottawa river a few years ago for the Youth champs... pretty cool place.



I have no experiance with dry suits, but I am sure that they will do the trick for winter weather. Just make sure you have all of your body covered.

As for a wet suit for the summer, a 2/3 sounds a bit thick in my oppinion. You would bake in the summer... even on cooler days. You could probably wear a 1/2 shorty in comfort during the summer. I wear my 1/2 from about June - Oct... and I sail on the cold Atlantic.



Duncan

Thanks Duncan.



The thinner wet suit for summer sounds right. The reason I was thinking of a farmer john rather than a shorty is for the padding around the knees for crawling quickly from side to side on the cat. Having almost no experience yet, I don't know if this is really an issue or not. Any opinions?

Hey Guys;



I'm quite interested in the responses you receive. I too do a lot of sailing in Nova Scotia and am hoping to do some winter-sailing this year in my CL 16. Have you considered Mustang one piece suit? (survival suit) ? Some of my fishermen friends wear them on the boats and on their ski-doos.





Best Regards,



Robert

crawling around on the knees is a big issue. Farmer johns are great protection for both your butt & knees. But in the summer they're too hot down here in TX. About a year ago I found a type of shorts made of wetsuit material. Really protects my butt more than a swin suit, from trapeze harnesses, cleats, etc. then i just wear knee pads for when I race.

Hi Robert,



Winter sailing in Nova Scotia... Brrr!



I don't know what a Mustang one piece is, but a "survival suit" sounds more heavy duty than I probably need. I'll be sailing on a river that freezes by end of December and I'll probably be finished sailing long before then. My needs are more for the the months of September, October, April and May as far as a dry suit goes. The things that attracting me to a dry suit over a 4/3 steamer are: the conveniece of putting it on over clothes; the ease of getting in and out of it; and the possibioity that a wet suit will cool through evaporation when you get out of the water.

Hi Kirk;



Winter sailing in Canada is definitely not for the faint of heart. Maybe we'll have El Nino on our side



I'm intersted in the drysuit you speak of. Where do you plan to purchase it and what's the cost?



Robert