make sure you have plenty of layers. The Musto sappolettes (bear suite) and mid layer jacket are great, plus beanie and gloves, and boots, they cost a fortune but are worth it.

I bought gill os2 as my first proper offshore water proof jacket and pants. I have done a couple of Geraldton to Fremantle trips and have been more then happy with them for coastal racing.... Would I choose it for crossing bass strait...? Probably, because I already own them and don't have the coin to pay double for the os1. ( not that I have been)

Don't forget your mid and base layers are also important.

When we did S to H I used Musto HPX found found track suit pants and a wool jumper under fine. My biggest problem was cool hands. You certainly need good wind and water proof gloves.
www.sealskinz.com/extreme-cold-weather-gloves-black.htm
You also need good sea boats eg. Dubarry or musto with wool socks.

Musto is better than the rest. MPX is fine.

waterproof socks
good quality thermals, not the poly ones
Layers

Change jocks and have a wet wipes bath as you enter the Strait

Gill has an outlet store in Brookvale. I got an OS1 kit several hundred cheaper than I could find anywhere else, might have been an end of line clearance.

MPX v OS1? I'd say it would come down to best price you can find, I don't think there is really much to say one is better than the other.

You'll pay a lot more for HPX/OC1, I'd invest in better base layers before them.

i did the Sydney Gold Coast race middle of winter and froze with crap gear, the next year got Sharkskin, including their hood, gloves and socks, a lightweight quality polar fleece mid layer, and Gill OS1. Never been so warm, and I think it's a very good combo if you were to end up in the water as none of it gets waterlogged.

Sharkskin is also Australian made!

http://sharkskin.com.au/product-category/chillproof/

^^^
Never cold ?

Bass Bloody Straight?

South Tassie?

Thanks for all the advice, any good shops to check out?

What would everyone suggest for a good head torch and sailing knife?


Now the big one, tips on sea sickness?

Timthesailer said..
Thanks for all the advice, any good shops to check out?

What would everyone suggest for a good head torch and sailing knife?


Now the big one, tips on sea sickness?

As long as the head light has a red light or the helmsman will kill you. I use Black Diamond head lamps.

I've skimped on the outside layer (I'd rather spend money on boats than on clothes) but as long as you are using layers of quality fleece and merino underneath it's all OK IMHO. The last Hobart I did was one of the coldest ever - some boats actually got snowed on near Tasman Island - but Burke Coastal stuff stood up OK. What did perform poorly was the detail design on my mid layer, which had cotton cuffs that got wet when we were blasting across the Strait under storm trysail. The wet cotton then fed back up into the rest of the mid layer, keeping it cold. It only needed some tiny bits of cotton to stuff everything up.

A few years ago i did the shorthanded winter series off Sydney, which is a cold event. A dinghy spray jacket over a quality Marmot fleece jacket over good merino was fine. I just used cycling/hiking light wet weather pants over merino tights and they were also good. It's all personal preferences - I run very cold when I'm sitting around but heat up very quickly and don't like being encumbered with a thick outer layer.

Sealskin gloves work well, as do the cheap blue ones sailing ones made by some British company (sorry I can't remember the name, it was Musto or Holt or some other well known brand), and the week after next I'm going to try my favourite waterproof cycling gloves in a trip down to Eden and perhaps Gabo. The blue gloves work OK even when you are windsurfing when it's snowing.

Years back I talked to a few top guys including Rat Blanchfield and Ed Psaltis. They liked salopettes and tended to buy (or get given) top line stuff, but I think it was Ed who actually used wetsuit boots, because he was still sailing the little MR and he was going to get wet anyway. I think I followed his advice with success.

One odd thing I found out a few years ago was that the cheap little $5 fleece blankets they sell in supermarket seem to work quite well. When I realised I'd left my sleeping bag at home on a midwinter delivery down the NSW south coast I just bought a couple of the little fleece blankets and kept warm as toast. Probably the sleeping bags I'd used on earlier trips had cotton covers that got dank, whereas the fleece kept warm when humid.

Tips on sea sickness? Some of my wife's neuroscientist colleagues have worked in motion sickness, including doing things like flying in free fall in the NASA "vomit comet" space travel simulator. They say that you can, to a large extent, psyche yourself into it and (to a lesser extent) psyche yourself out of. Secondly, what makes people sick varies greatly from person to person so never believe anyone who says any particular trick works.

If you do get seasick, keep sailing and look on the bright side - when it's too rough to cook throwing up is the only way to get warm food into your mouth, even if it's going the wrong way. And once you've gotten over it, you can with compassion and solicitude ask your suffering shipmates whether they want a warm salmon milkshake with lard on top.

shoodbegood said..

Timthesailer said..
Thanks for all the advice, any good shops to check out?

What would everyone suggest for a good head torch and sailing knife?


Now the big one, tips on sea sickness?

Tim, are you really ready to go do the S2H?

Sounds negative and I don't mean to be, but you are asking funny questions for someone who has been going offshore racing?

You're not one of these celebrities who gets a ride on one of the big boys the second time they've been on a boat are ya!

Does anybody know they're "really ready"?

Haha definitely not one of the celebs getting in the way of everything.

Just wanted some good advice on gear.

Donk107 said..
Hi Tim

what sort of a budget are you working with for the gear you need and do you have any existing gear you can use

regards Don

Well quite frankly Donk, he must have gear because he is going this summer.

Surely anyone who is doing that already has many offshore shorter distance races/deliveries/cruises under their belt.

I feel quite strongly about this, if you are asking what jacket or what knife to carry are not ready to go.

Do you people not agree?

Tim, I'm sorry mate, I don't even know you but surely the crew you're going with have already planned this basic stuff?

As a team member, I would not want to rely on some one who has not done their time, ocean racing is not a place for passengers.

Please carefully consider what may happen, worst case scenario.

Watch the videos, read the books and ask yourself whether you need e few more years experience to deal with this.

shoodbegood said..

Donk107 said..
Hi Tim

what sort of a budget are you working with for the gear you need and do you have any existing gear you can use

regards Don

Well quite frankly Donk, he must have gear because he is going this summer.

Surely anyone who is doing that already has many offshore shorter distance races/deliveries/cruises under their belt.

I feel quite strongly about this, if you are asking what jacket or what knife to carry are not ready to go.

Do you people not agree?

Tim, I'm sorry mate, I don't even know you but surely the crew you're going with have already planned this basic stuff?

As a team member, I would not want to rely on some one who has not done their time, ocean racing is not a place for passengers.

Please carefully consider what may happen, worst case scenario.

Watch the videos, read the books and ask yourself whether you need e few more years experience to deal with this.

shoodbegood, you do realise the point of a forum don't you?
It's to ask questions, get peoples advice, tips, do's & don'ts.

Sounds like many of you have a few S2H under your belts.
It's my first S2H (we all need to get the first one under our belt), i want to be as best prepaired as possible. Many people have said it is different to the other race's i have done.

Thanks for you input shoodbegood

Chris 249 said..
I've skimped on the outside layer (I'd rather spend money on boats than on clothes) but as long as you are using layers of quality fleece and merino underneath it's all OK IMHO. The last Hobart I did was one of the coldest ever - some boats actually got snowed on near Tasman Island - but Burke Coastal stuff stood up OK. What did perform poorly was the detail design on my mid layer, which had cotton cuffs that got wet when we were blasting across the Strait under storm trysail. The wet cotton then fed back up into the rest of the mid layer, keeping it cold. It only needed some tiny bits of cotton to stuff everything up.

A few years ago i did the shorthanded winter series off Sydney, which is a cold event. A dinghy spray jacket over a quality Marmot fleece jacket over good merino was fine. I just used cycling/hiking light wet weather pants over merino tights and they were also good. It's all personal preferences - I run very cold when I'm sitting around but heat up very quickly and don't like being encumbered with a thick outer layer.

Sealskin gloves work well, as do the cheap blue ones sailing ones made by some British company (sorry I can't remember the name, it was Musto or Holt or some other well known brand), and the week after next I'm going to try my favourite waterproof cycling gloves in a trip down to Eden and perhaps Gabo. The blue gloves work OK even when you are windsurfing when it's snowing.

Years back I talked to a few top guys including Rat Blanchfield and Ed Psaltis. They liked salopettes and tended to buy (or get given) top line stuff, but I think it was Ed who actually used wetsuit boots, because he was still sailing the little MR and he was going to get wet anyway. I think I followed his advice with success.

One odd thing I found out a few years ago was that the cheap little $5 fleece blankets they sell in supermarket seem to work quite well. When I realised I'd left my sleeping bag at home on a midwinter delivery down the NSW south coast I just bought a couple of the little fleece blankets and kept warm as toast. Probably the sleeping bags I'd used on earlier trips had cotton covers that got dank, whereas the fleece kept warm when humid.

Tips on sea sickness? Some of my wife's neuroscientist colleagues have worked in motion sickness, including doing things like flying in free fall in the NASA "vomit comet" space travel simulator. They say that you can, to a large extent, psyche yourself into it and (to a lesser extent) psyche yourself out of. Secondly, what makes people sick varies greatly from person to person so never believe anyone who says any particular trick works.

If you do get seasick, keep sailing and look on the bright side - when it's too rough to cook throwing up is the only way to get warm food into your mouth, even if it's going the wrong way. And once you've gotten over it, you can with compassion and solicitude ask your suffering shipmates whether they want a warm salmon milkshake with lard on top.

Great!
Thanks mate

With your budget I would go the following (I have sold and used alot of gear over the years)

Musto MPX Jacket
https://www.musto.com.au/products/mpx-offshore-jacket-red

Musto (or similar range) BR2 trousers
www.musto.com.au/collections/br2/products/br2-trousers-dark-grey

And the money I saved on the trousers get a pair of these, nothing worse than cold feet
www.musto.com.au/collections/sailing-footwear/products/gore-tex-ocean-racer-black

Spot on about the Seal Skin gloves, I would swap out to my sailing gloves depending on what I was doing. Seal Skin socks are the bomb too.

I just found this on the Sunstone website;

"We had bought some expensive gloves from the UK, Seal Skinz, which have proved wonderful. They really are wind and water-proof, Goretex, leather and fleece; the first gloves we have found that really keep our hands dry and warm."

That was in a description of one of their trips to Alaska. The Sunstoners have over 200,000 cruising miles and a lot of ocean racing wins, so it's interesting to see they give Seal Skinz the heads-up.