The water is still pretty cold here in Idaho, but I got my first couple sessions of the new season winging this last week...the last one I wore 3mm (Mystic Roam) gloves...and holy hell my hands and forearms just exploded/cramped right away and I had to take them off.
Meanwhile, I also had a chance to ride a new PPC M1 wing in some warm water last month, instead of my 2024 Slicks with the SLS Platinum boom, and the PPC handles were quite small in diameter in comparison with nicely offset angles, and I found my hands and forearms were no longer the limiting factor on how long I could ride. Super nice.
I know a harness can help, and I'm working on that...
This leaves me with a few questions:
1. How are others dealing with this if its a problem
2. What new wings are people liking for smaller diameter handles/booms
3. BONUS - anyone remove the grip on their boom and just leave bare carbon (or use something thinner than the duotone grip covering)???
A harness is everything especially when cruising up wing. All of my strength problems went away when I started using a harness. I can ride for hours now multiple days in a row.
I like thinner carbon booms/handles but it doesn't really matter much to me. The thinner carbon handles can be more slippery when wet though.
3mm is really thick for gloves. I use 1.5mm Oneill gloves and they are much better on the forearms if you can get away with the reduced warmth.
Yeah, I can't ride with gloves and no harness. Impossible for me with the forearm pump.
My Ocean Rodeo carbon handles are super slim. I have sets with thin padding and sets with bare carbon.
Thinner gloves or more grippy gloves are more effective as thinner diameter grips, although a thinner diameter does help.
Like velocicraptor I do think that 3mm is really thick.
I have Ripcurl heatbombs in 1.5 and 3mm, the 1.5 are heaps better in grip and not that much colder (bought the 3mm by misstake)
When it is really cold:
oceaniasport.shop/products/oceania-gloves-orca?variant=47233150615896
They are ugly as hell, and a bit fragile, but with the under gloves you suddenly have really warm hands instead of that the cold is managable.
With the under gloves on I found them really really grippy. Without them they are a bit too wide for me.
I tried gloves but found them wanting both in terms of warmth and dexterity.
Now I ride gloveless in the PacNW winter. I go out when air and water temps are ~45F (7C). Also, I have wicked Raynaud's syndrome.
Here's what I do. I fill a large thermos with 150F (65C) water. I pour a trickle of this quite hot water over my hands before I go out, then each time I come in, until my hands are warm. It's usually takes just a minute of low flow trickle. You certainly could go cooler with the water temp but I find 150F is efficient (you don't need much water at this temp for sufficient warming) and not uncomfortably hot (as long as the flow is a steady drip stream, not a torrent)
I find that if I start with hands warm, then come in to re-warm my hands after being out for the first 15 minutes, subsequent sessions can be extended to an hour without significant numbness.
+1 on the recommendation for harnessed riding.
either use these, or these on top of a very thin glove
www.mysticboarding.com/products/ease-glove-2mm-open-palm-1?variant=49902146847064
