Palmless mitts with some form of thinner chemical handling glove under is the answer

jn1 said..
...But, during winter, I should do what a lot of guys do here - go to the gym.

+1 Along with it's general positive effects, resistance training really helps with windsurfing. I'll admit being late to the game but it helps not only for muscles but for building up the connective tissue in arms, shoulders, etc. Unless you are consistently sailing 2-3 times per week (or have a physically demanding profession), it's difficult to get the conditioning that time in the gym gets you.

To me the smaller diameter tubes are only helping when using gloves, while without gloves I feel that the finger-tips become colder compared to when using a boom with a larger diameter. I will get "white-fingers" earlier on the slim booms compared to the more regular diameter booms, even in fairly moderately cold weathers.

If it is really cold (around or even below freezing temperatures) then I use the Dakine cold water mittens. Above that it is either open palm mittens or gloves. Open gloves feel a little better as there is still a bit of insulation covering each finger-tip, while with mittens there is instead a water-filled pocket for the finger-tips.

I once had a repaired carbon slalom boom that didn't have a regular grip fitted over the repair. That region (front-hand position) of the boom always felt colder compared to the rest of the boom, so I don't think that you can reduce the grip thickness very much or you will loose the needed thermal insulation from the conductive carbon. On days below freezing I will get ice on the leeward side of the boom, so after a jibe the boom is very slippery at first, until the ice is melted away under my hands. So thermal insulation is also an important property of the boom-grip.

jn1 said..
Hi YH. I know what you mean. I have the same issue with gloves. I have Carpal tunnel syndrome, I find the skinny booms work for me too. The problem with booms is they are built for 85 kg guys, and thin booms flex too much for them. So there is only so much thin'ness they can get while still being functional. Good luck finding something. I measured my thin booms. My 2017 Chinook RDG is 27mm, and Philn complained that this model was a wet pool noodle some years back. So, I got his recommendation (I needed a backup wave boom anyway), and that was a 2021? Goya Carbon Skinny, which is 28.5mm (I'm measuring using my verniers BTW), and I am not a fan of it, because it is slightly thicker, and my Chinook is so nice. But with me, after a dozen summer seabreeze sessions on wave gear, my arm muscles tone up, then I'm golden for big speed gear. But, during winter, I should do what a lot of guys do here - go to the gym. Sails in winter here are few and far between. Work gets in the way of that most of the time. Had two golden sessions this month at a sweet speed strip, but got wasted due to fitness.

There is a chemical you can use to remove the cork from booms. But, I can't think of it. I don't want to say acetone. That strips everything.

28,5 mm is quite thick, or let's say not slim.

Nearly all slim wave booms are 26,5 mm including the grip and the tailend is most of the time 20 mm (by the way I exchanged the tailends from Gaastra, Duotone EPX and (some) Severne).

However Chinook has about 19 mm tailend.

This summer I measured all the booms I could find.

It is a difficult balance between warm and loosing grip and strength / good grip and strength, so thin but cold.

I also realize it is a personal thing, but I guess a minority (10 %) of my friends just use 1 or 2 mm full gloves without any problem, regardless of the size of the hands, although smaller hands and fingers may make it more difficult.

Most windsurfers I know have problems with the gloves.

I also think wingfoiling is easier with closed mittens or lobster mittens just pulling a bar or ropes down, than windsurfing of windfoiling holding a horizontal boom that requires more feeling, dexterity what they describe in German as Fingerspitzengefühl, which is exactly the thing I don’t feel anymore when my fingers get cold and are painful.

Sometimes I get cold, my hands start to hurt a lot but when I go on the pain suddenly disappears and I can go on, but sometimes the pain stays.

Last winter I really experimented a lot :

- Latex, nitril and vinyl chirurgical gloves. Not warm enough. Then trying double layers, mixing all kinds.

- Adding too big oversized open mittens to keep the wind away.

- Playing piano on the boom for blood circulation.

- Shaking hands down to get the blood to the fingers.

- Alternating palm up and palm down.

- Blowing on the finger tops during pause or during windsufing.

- Using 2 tubes to blow warm air in the gloves. I found a good way of connection the 2 tubes to the gloves. Not too bad, but not perfect.

- Pouring hot water from thermos during pause.

- Chemical warmers in a zip sack don’t work because they need air.

- The reusable warmers are too bulky and big.

- Rooster Hot Hands with titanium 0,5 mm liner : to slippery inside.

- I’m sure I forgot some.

- Off the shelf ION Hybrid Gloves 1+2,5 where the “best” in my opinion grip/warm. The water enters immediately because these are like thicker leather summer gloves but they keep relatively “warm” if it is not too cold about 8 °C.

- My personal favorite : GripGrap Merino liners, the smallest possible, with the smallest black nitrile gloves (like for working on a bicycle) over it, then the wetsuit, and to close the opening between wetsuit and gloves : an extra large super strong condom, cut the top of and peel over the opening. Sometimes at the end of the day the nitrile glove is open without realizing it. I guess it good for grip because the merino between the fingers let it squeeze the fingers close to each other (cf the hammer grip).

What I have not tried yet :

- The fully closed mittens or the lobster style mittens.

- Claw gloves or mittens.

- Grease on my hands inside the gloves. I think it will slip. Like the ocean swimmers that grease their body.

- The heating cream for muscles.

- Electrical heated gloves.

- Zippo hand heater.

So this winter I was thinking experimenting with super slim booms and/or booms without cork or grip.

Would the long periods of cold be on the long run bad for our health and arthrosis ?

Determined to solve this enigma.

Here's a possibility. Hockey stick shrink wrap tube, anti slip because those hockey players get a sweat going. Cheap as chips. 0.6mm wall thickness. Works and comfortable enough with bare hands.

^^ Seconded.

I have this tubing on my older booms - definitely reduced the diameter vs the normal grip.

And IMHO the "feel" of the grip is better than anything else on the market (although I haven't tested the cork grip).