paddlers with glasses?

[truckeeboater]

In an effort to not hijack the earlier thread pertaining to ocular surgery, I was wondering if there are folks out there who paddle while wearing their glasses? If so, has anyone used any type of hydrophobic product (like Rain-X) on their lenses to keep them clear? I've already lost a few sets of contact lenses (the disposable kind) and paddling like a one-eyed pirate is obviously no fun! I'm wondering if there is a good combination of lens clearing solution and proper retention device that may be working for folks out there. Thanks in advance for any info!

[Barskekarsten]

I always wear my glasses. I get an allergic reaction when wearing contacts so that is not an option at the moment. I wear a neoprene strap that fits my glasseshttp://www.hikosport.com/straps-for-glasses-411/and have it underneath my helmet. That way there are no way I am losing the glasses on the river. I might break them one day thou. Before I go paddling I always clean the glasses with some window washing spray. I think that makes the drops fall off easelier. It might ruin any expensive coatings on your glasses but I don’t have any of that. I have never had a big problem with the glasses fogging up, I just do a roll and the fog is gone.

[bruce]

Croakies to hold em on & Cat Crap to keep em clear. It's worked for me for 30 years.

[VTBoater]

Yep, Cat Crap and Croakies.

Also, keeping the glasses away from my face and keeping air flowing around them helps a lot. I don't use close-fitting "sport" shades, just small-lens regular frames. In eddys, I slip the glasses way down on my nose and they clear pretty quick.

[the great gonzo]

I use glasses. I use a pair of Recspecs http://www.sporteyes.com/recspecs.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; on the river, they are just about indestructible. The ones with the strap stay on really good as well, especially when worn under a helmet. No matter how much I got worked in the hole, they never came off.
As far as anti-fogging solution, I tried just about every commercial product, and the best and cheapest solution I ffound is shampoo. Apply the night before and let it dry over night, buff it in the Morning until you can see (don't buff it too much or you'll remove everything) et voila, ready to go for a day or more, depending on how much time one spends counting fishies.

TGG!

[arhdc]

As a former glasses wearer on the river my experiences were not stellar (this the corrective surgery).

A pair of heavy duty rec specs my have helped a lot but I found myself being too aware of my glasses in the water. My normal glasses were small rectangular ones with nice flexible titanium frames and cheap ($19/pair ordered from China [http://www.zennioptical.com] and I never lost a pair completely when I used a retainer that could be cinched up tight. What I did loose was lenses. I lost two pairs glasses last year to having lenses sucked out of the frames (kept the frames).

My biggest glasses issues were that I didn't like wearing wet/foggy glasses and they really messed with my roll. I know that a lot of boaters deal with the wet/foggy glasses thing with no trouble but it really bugged me when they would become hard to use at just the wrong time. It was worse in the cold and once on the water there is no good way to dry glasses that I have found. The second issue was that I would get distracted by my glasses moving on my face when setting up to roll in turbulent water. It was something that I became aware of last summer. Days I wore contacts (which I could bear for a day or so to go boating but my eyes were always in bad shape by the end of the day) I was far more likely to get a roll compared to days wearing glasses. The rolling problems may have been alleviated by different glasses but I don't know if they would have been solved.

That is just my experience as a dissatisfied glasses wearing boater. Maybe I was just being too picky. Truthfully there were a lot of other activities that were also not glasses friendly and I was spending too much money on over the glasses specific eye wear. If I did better with contacts things may have been different.

[riverratNE]

I used to always wear glasses, and was practically blind without them (got corrective surgery in May, best thing ever). Straps with floaty things on the back, and they never came off (trust me, I swam a lot). As previously mentioned, air flow helps with the fogging. I occasionally had problems with them fogging up, but nothing severe. I never tried Cat Crap so I can't speak to that either way. Rain-X might ruin the protective coating on the lenses, but not sure about that.

As far as the lenses themselves, mine were getting really scratched on the river. I couldn't get use to contacts (I did have a swim with them and didn't lose them), but a lot of people use contacts on the river with no problem. By the time I did the math over a lifetime of buying glasses and/or contacts, surgery was a much cheaper solution for me personally. I hope that helps.

-Alexis

[truckeeboater]

Wow! thanks for all the help, gang! I have a spare pair of glasses that I keep handy just in case i lose my full time pair (and they too are the really flexible kind albeit with really scratched lenses!) so I'm thinking I may try to make them my paddling glasses. The arms are REALLY thin and regular croakies don't grip the ends super well, so any other suggestions for a burly retention system that works well for under the helmet but won't make me feel like I'm wearing a horse collar? I've seen some rafting customers rocking the duct-tape croakie, not extremely fashionable but will definitely work in a pinch. A lot of my gear is already duct-taped anyway so maybe they'll just blend in!

[canotrouge]

I have a paire of these, http://www.libertysport.com/products_de ... decolo=268" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
With photo chromatic lenses, and they are the cats butt I can wear them in super sunny condition, or low light condition, they are polarized and have a great retention system, I swim a lot, and never lost them... yet!
Cheers
David

[canoemid]

I've got real small side pieces (ear pieces) for the glasses I use on the river too. Croakies too big for them; so, I slid the ear piece into the croakie and sealed it with liquid electrrical tape. Works great! Try it.

[Karl M. Nelson]

Drive to and from the river with the current prescription.
Paddle on the river with the previous prescription.
Carry the prescription previous to that as a spare (with its own retetnion strap)--for just in case.

Sometimes must bend the visor up so I get more airflow across the face. That helps with the fogging.

I quick swipe with a spitty finger helps with the droplets.

[Todhunter]

I wear my glasses. I use a Cablz brand "croakie" to keep them on my head, with my helmet straps going over the earpieces, there is no way they are coming off my head (see attached photo from 2 weekends ago).

I haven't used Rain-X on them, but do have some Sea-Drops and have thought about using that on them for winter paddling where they fog up really bad after getting wet for the first time.

[madmike]

I use rec specs. They fog up bad. Cat crap has not worked for me at all. Rain-x works no better.

[Paddle Power]

I wear glasses, the same pair I wear for everything. (they have an anti glare & uv coating)

I do not use any anti fog product.

I use a retainer strap. Never lost a pair of glasses yet. Even without a helmet my glasses stay on. With a helmet they are very secure for rolling or getting a little worked.

I bring along an old pair as a spare b/c I really need glasses for vision.