Winter RIBBING!

[Alan]

Brian,

What a wimp! Its no fun unless you can't feel your hands, feet, nose etc etc!

The mobile lives in a pocket in my waterproof but a "normal" one still managed to die in this environment a couple of years back. I do have one of these plastic bag thingies but find it a right royal hassle to use the phone in it. Anyway a roughty toughty mobile phone goes with the roughty toughty RIBster image!

Alan

[Brian]

Went to Ravenspring today to pick up my new drysuit.
Discussed gloves. Their best solution was a pair that looked like black industrial washing up rubber gloves. Didn't feel very warm to me although, with tight cuffs, certainly v. waterproof. They recommend wearing woolen knitted gloves under.
Think I will stick to divers neoprene/go back indoors if it is THAT cold.
Jari...... can you put us on to any website that sells snowmobile type equipment?
Lets have a look at that (and perhaps even get to practice our Finnish, although most of the Finns I have met speak better English than I do!)
Alan. If it's image your after, imagine wearing a helmet with "Hannu Mikola" on it? Perhaps even with those Viking Wings on the sides.

[Alan]

Brian,

I have a pair of the Ravenspring industrial rubber glove type tnings. Never worn them as the cuffs are so tight that they cut of the circulation! I think I'll try the Gill Helmsman gloves that Allen referred to. Kicking myself for not buying a pair after trying em on at the boatshow. Ho hum.

Alan

[Brian]

Another piece of useful kit that I have just got my wife to make me, is a cross between a scarf and a hood, a "scood"?
Its an oblong of fleece material sewn like a "boob tube" with elasticated top and bottom.
You then pull it down over your head and either leave it gathered around your neck as a windbreak, or pull it up over your chin/nose or pull the back up over your ears/head. You can experiment with diferent lengths of material to suit.
I find that you must protect your neck area, and although jackets etc. zip up around the throat they are invariably uncomfortable or restrictive when turning your head.
My scood avoids this.
I havn't patented it yet......

[Alan]

Errmm Brian, hate to rain on your parade but this has already been invented and is called a "Snood". Very popular for Skiing and for some reason deeply fashionable in the 80's!

Damn good idea for winter ribbing though!

Alan

[Powerboat]

We have snoods on general issue as Kit in the Army over here . They can also be folded into a skip cap and if worn around your neck under a dry suit allow you to wear normal clothes with high zips ( fleece jacets etc ) with out compromising the drysuit neck seal with sharp zips .

Best wishes ,

Stuart www.powerboat.org

[hugh holmes]

On Sunday three boats from Bangor N ireland
made their first long cold run of the year
most of us had the usual facial protection.
In my case my glasses & beard but of my
friends who has a hardware shop was wearing
a visor for use with a chainsaw.Cheap and
very efficent does not req a helmet.This
could be the artical we have been looking
for. what do you think.

[John Kennett]

Hugh

I had a look at these visors a couple of years ago, but rejected them on the grounds that they would get whipped off by the wind if you turn your head to one side.

How did your friend get on with his?

John

[Allen]

Hugh,
Sunday was my first trip of the year too. We managed to get nine ribs across from the Isle of Man to the lightship in Strangford Lough for a pint. Daft Eddies for lunch followed by a detour to Ardglass for a hot toddy before a choppy trip home.
Donaghadee and Bangor will be on the itinerary shortly.
Helmsmans gloves and ski masks were the order of the day, and worked just fine.

Allen

[Jari Hjerppe]

Winter RIBbing seems to be interesting topic, a lot of discussion.
I tried to find some web sites that have equippment that could be useful when boating cold and wet conditions. Result was not too good. From WWW.YOKOFOR.COM I found gloves that can be one solution for the glove problem. Evolution Glove is designed for motor cycling and it should be 100% water proof (gore tex) and pretty warm also. In the local Zodiac dealer (they sell snowmobiles in the winter time) I saw a neophrene mask: SnowRider, but couldn't find it from web. It could offer a good protection for face. Maybe it can be found in some snow mobile magazin.
Interesting RIBbing for all. We have lakes and sea covered by ice!
J. Hjerppe

[hugh holmes]

John
I asked him how it preformed as the trip back
from Portpatrick was quite lumpie with wind
over tide & about 3/4 ssw. He said that it
was great. I will try to borrow it this
weekend & report back on my findings.