It could be that my pair was defective. I may do a comparison of another pair of the Xcel gloves with the O’neills.
I was out in NJ over the winter vacation, it is weird but you get used to em. rachel it is goignt o get a LOT colder before it gets better
I picked up a pair of C-Skins gloves when I was surfing in Ireland a few winters back. I’m from Hell-A so don’t use gloves often unless I travel somewhere that requires them. I didn’t find any problems with them leaking or getting used to using them. It also seemed like it made paddling in the cold water easier.
The gloves these days are much better than the ones I tried out about 15 years ago which were basically unusable.
Jim, I’d much rather not wear booties, a hood, gloves or for that matter a wet suit. Well, a short john is OK. But, I was proly the first guy in Ventura to wear a full suit in the summer… that was what….almost 3 decades ago. Just don’t like to get cold.
NJ Surfer, thanks for the tip on XCEL. I’ll look around for a dealer here. I’m also wondering now if the medium size O’Neil’s I’ve got are to large and smalls would help with the water thing. Medium Platex type gloves for kitchen use are very tight on my hands for comparison.
Marke, I wear a O’Neil 3-4 that originally was very tight in the wrists, which was probably why my hands suffered to begin with…cut off the circulation. Now my second winter with this suit it’s not as tight. Plus I’ve been pulling the thing as far down past my wrists as possible.
Thanks again for all the response.
Aloha,
D.R.
I gave up on ‘surfers’ gloves…pure garbage, mostly. Check out your local dive shop; I’ve found gloves made with unbelieveable quality…on sale !! They put grippy stuff on the palms (to hold fish ?)…I rub them on the waxed deck to stop them from slipping on the rails.
compare gloves in the shop by blowing them up like a baloon, you should spot leaks pretty quickly
Best gloves i had was a pair of dry gloves .thermo glove inside rubber waterproof exterior glove.No water retention equalled less weight and better paddling.Made them even lighter and warmer with silk glove interior.I think they might have been for divers ,never saw them again when i went looking after losing one, but if you see a pair well worth a go
mpcutback
dennis,
i used to wear gloves all winter in new york. wasnt bad. wasnt good. had both the hard core lobster style ones and the finger molded ones. youl get used to it. its just like wearing booties, it sucks, but if you gotta do it then you gotta do it.
i never had problems with them fiilling with water. you have to put on your wetsuit, then roll the sleeves up, put the glove on under it, and lay the wetsuit on top. done deal.
Dennis,
NJ surfer hit it right on. go with the xcel 2 or 3mm gloves best you can get. trust me it’s cold up here and i’ve tried them all. I wear the xcel 3mm up into december and then switch over to 7mm lobster claws for the winter.
a few things about gloves, they will be heavier and increase the weight of your arms when paddling, but with time you will get used to it. they also decrease the feel you get when you are grabbing your rail to pop up or duck dive, alittle extra wax along the rail in those spots will help. Tuck them under your wetsuit sleeve to reduce water flush and don’t cut the fingers off, you will have just wasted 70 bucks. I wear gloves for 1 year and then get a new pair.
My girlfriend is a massage therapist and her hands are sore all the time. She has this appliance that is full of warm liquid wax that you dip your hands in and it makes a huge difference. (They sell them at department stores)That may be a better investment for your hands than gloves as it is probably working with your hands and playing guitar that is causing the discomfort rather than the temperature of the water.
hope this may be of some help, good luck
cheers
Hi all - Got some new RipCurl 3mm that rule -The key is, for cheap ass master mentality, to have them last. I went through some Excel and others, coming to the conclusion, while the modern “stretchy” neopren may be great for the body, not so good for he palm (not to mention booties).
The thing with the new RipCurls is, they are made of non-stretchy neopren, so the don’t ballon up, and, I am hoping, the palm won’t bow out in a few months. I went with smalls, even though my hand isn’t but they have been great. so warm. That’s my bit. Good luck. Taylor.
Quote:
Not the webbed between the fingers but the regular wet suit ones.
Do you find there is an adjustment period to the feel of gloves versus no gloves?
How do you cope with them loading with water?
Do you find they throw your timing off?
Every time I surf without a wetsuit(or a thinner one)(which adds up to maybe two days with decent surf and decent weather in the summer) I’m blown away with how much better the feel is, quicker movments, with less effort, etc. Just getting ride of the hood helps, getting rid of the boots is a major improvement.
I use lobster diving gloves which have an incredible tight seal around the wrist. I start sweating on my hands long before any water seeps in, they never load with water.
regards,
Håvard
Cold hands run in my family. I’ve found that I really need gloves when the water is below 53 or so and it’s not sunny. No one’s yet come up with the perfect glove, which for me would be 2 mil thick with long, long gauntlets and tacky rubber on the palms and fingers.
Closest I’ve found are 3 mil O’Neill’s with grippy stuff on palms. Just try to keep it away from velcro as it chews up the gloves.
They fit OK, but I have skinny hands with long fingers so there’s a bit of extra material in the palm. For me, if gloves/wrist seal are too tight then I lose circulaltion and get colder. Same goes w/booties. but ymmv.
For 45 deg and under, I have some super deluxe 5 mil dive gloves with long wrist gauntlets and velcro straps. I feel like Lobster Boy but they really work. I don’t usually go out when the water is under 40 and/or air is under 35, so I’ve only used them about 15-20 times inthe past 3 years.
I also have a 2 mil dive hood that looks silly but works great. As an earlier poster mentioned, the dive stuff is much better quality than the surf-specific products.
in my 20s I toughed it out in Monterey County w/out gloves or hood but now i’m nearly 40 and just can’t handle the cold as well.
No doubt gloves are a hindrance in paddling but for me the alternative is frozen fingers. Nothing like not being able to button your fly or unlock your car door…
I never even thought twice about issues with gloves, it’s just not an option to go without if you’re a NY surfer.
I use Quicksilver 5mm lobster claws. I guess they do leak a little, never really bothered me. I just can’t wait for June when I can ditch all the rubber!
nrs has some good gloves…albeit they are designed for kayaking, but they are thin, don’t load up too bad, etc. I’m a former NE surfer who used to where the super thick “mittens” which were impossible (but necessary) …now have some gloves from nrs that are 1mm (?) velcro wrist, grippy palm/fingers, etc…work like a charm…if I need them in relatively tropical Santa Cruz…