Sailing Hiking Pants
SEA Gear's range of Airprene Hiking Pants will help you hike harder for longer when you are sailing. New this year from SEA are their Waist-Lock Sailing Hiking Pants and Shorts. They're a great addition to an already very complete lineup of sailing hiking pants, wetsuits and wetsuit shorts and pants from Sail Equipment Australia. SEA gear is well made and these days is quite affordable, so it's a great option for lots of sailors.
Airprene
There are a lot of sailors who don't like a full length hiking suit during the summer months because they feel they're too hot. Here in Adelaide it's easy to understand why and I'm sure down in Perth and Brisbane, it's probably even worse. The "Airprene" design of the new hiking shorts and pants let you stay a bit cooler without sacrificing the comfort and extra hiking power you get from having battened pads. These sailing hiking pants and shorts are made from SEA's Airprene material, which is basically neoprene with a bunch of little holes punched in it. It helps keep you cooler than full thickness neoprene hikers. Amazingly, you still remain as warm as you need to be, but get breathability of the fabric due to the little holes (that you can't even see from a distance).Waist Lock System
The other thing that makes these sailing hiking pants so great is SEA's new hikers feature their Waist-Lock system which solves the perennial problem with non-suspender style hiking pants - they're not always falling off you. Not only do the velcro straps keep your pants up, they help support your lower back, helping you hike harder for longer. Most sailing hiking shorts and pants have some sort of drawstring or Velcro waist that usually does an ok job as long as in between races and downwind you spend some time pulling the shorts back up. The SEA Waist-Lock system keeps your hikers in place all day long so you can hike hard.
The Waist Lock system on SEA Gear's Hiking Pants keeps your pants in place, but also supports your lower back. The Waist-Lock system works using 4 separate Velcro tabs. Two on either side of your hips that cross and lock together & to the hikers in the front. Then two more tabs wrap around from your back and lock onto the other tabs. This system keeps the waist of the hikers snug all the way around regardless of how much you move around in the boat. All in all these are a great addition to the hiking options out there, especially for those people who don't like to wear the full suspenders style. I predict they'll be the hottest new summer fashion for Laser sailors on the Australian Laser circuit.