lol..i thought you meant thermals as in wind columns...i was like "you dont get thermals over the ocean..."

and id suggest getting a drysuit...

or that cool stripey fashion...

you can buy pocket heaters you know, but they are a little bit dangerous, ppls pockets tend to...implode..

Have you bought foul weather gear yet? Are you borrowing it from any one? This is probably the most important because if you wet 24/7 what you wear underneath doesn't matter.

Thermal wear:

Fleece top and bottom (buy the good stuff it's worth it)
Wool or some sort of warm synthetic socks. (Bring extras they don't weigh a lot and start to smell after a while)
Thermal pants and top
Thermal undies (bring extras they don't weigh a lot and start to smell after a while)

Get a couple of vacuum travel bags (the kind you close and then role up to get rid of the air) if you don't any extra cloths you bring will get soaked.

This biggest thing is what ever you buy must be (a) breathable (b) wick moisture away from your body. Good set of sea boots would be nice (but expensive). Most of my thermals and fleece are Helly Hansen that said there's a lot of good stuff out there. But I wore it winter sailing in Canada so it seamed good enough for me. Don't kid your self when the sun goes down and it blowing 45-55 knots of wind its COLD.

From what I've seen and heard the Musto Gear is pretty good (own a pair of foul weather pants from them). It's hard to go wrong with any of the big sailing brands (Musto, Helly Hansen, there's a couple more but I’m drawing a blank).

I gather your doing the feeder race to Hamo Good luck I hope the conditions are a little better for you then the Southport conditions.

Remember: COTTON KILLS, and bring spray on deodorant there's no showers at sea and your crew mates will smell as bad as you!

I wouldn't say that it was fantastic we tosed two sails (Main and JT) in the bin when we got there. What boat are you going up on.

No not headed up this year. Did the up north stuff last year and this year I'm using my vacation time to go on a Kite/Surf trip to Tonga (God Bless Virgin Blue sales).

End of semptember, headed to Va'vau. Should be trade wind season. Spoke to one of the owners of a resort we're going to stay at and there kiters said it was a good time of year for it. Besides whats the worst thing that could happen I'll sit on a white sand beach drinking cocktails getting a tan and swiming with hump back whales.