Zhik

It turns out that sailing gear has moved on since I last spent any significant time in a dinghy over 20 years ago. There are some things that haven't changed much, it's still wetsuits and dry suits, but what is worn under and over them has moved on.

If you sail a boat that requires a lot of hanging out side side of (called hiking), then your legs get really tired, that is made worse by the fact that the side of the boat squashes your muscles and cuts off the blood flow. Someone had the bright idea of putting stiff pads into a pair of shorts to spread the load in the legs and thus hiking pads were born.

The quality of the fabric used for wetsuits has also improved a lot, it is much more stretchy and apparently warmer which can only be a good thing as there is still too much ice in the harbour to launch the boats.

Yesterday afternoon I met a guy who is the importer for Zhik sailing gear in Denmark. He has stopped sailing for a while as he wants to build a house and is in the process of getting rid of his stock. That meant that I could get kitted out with what I need for 40% off the normal price. Hurray!