Boating while kilted?

[ccga3359]

I've often threatened my crew with wearing my kilt on our rescue boat. Me standing on the foredeck speeding to a rescue at 38 knots with spray in my face guiding the way.

[kevinkinney]

I wear a skirt in a boat. Kilt's just don't seal all that well- even the regimental weight.



Cheers,

Kevin

[Alan H]

I sail a lot...though only a couple of times since last summer. This past winter, Piper George and I did a very light air race, kilted.

However, you just have to accept that the kilt is not the optimum piece of clothing to wear ALL of the time for EVERY activity. I wouldn't sail on one.

Look, would you wear Musto Foulies to the Highland Games? I didn't think so.

[Fit2BKilted]

How did our ancestors in the Hebrides get by? ;-) Perhaps they weren't so modest or squeamish.

Didn't wear kilts, that's how.

The léine (the elder gaelic unbifurcated garment) didn't really fit Victorian sensibility, coverage-wise, either, AFAIK.

[vmac3205]

You missed my kilted sailing post. There were no prioblems with the Neo-kilt, and no worries. The canvass is sturdy abd heavy enough to handle all situations.

[twsutton]

How about just placing a temporary safety pin between the center rear pleat and the front under-apron - kinda like Utilikilt's "modesty snap."

[The Guy in the Kilt at UC]

I once went out in a paddle-boat kilted. That was a lot of fun for everyone of the lake that day.

[Alan H]

First of all, our Hebridean Ancestors almost certainly didn't wear a great kilt while sailing around the coast, hauling in fish and so on. Pants and trousers are a LOT more practical on a boat. I mean, the idea of a Great Kilt or anything even vaguely like it on a boat is just nuts, and hang the modesty issues..

Look, I sail out of San Francisco. I sail a LOT, I've done it for decades on small keelboats, up to 45-50 foot racers. I've sailed solo to Hawaii, twice in small (27 - 29 foot) keel boats.

I really love my kilts. AND, I have actually sailed with Piper George in this years edition of the Three Bridge Fiasco, both of us wearing kilts.

But I'll tell you right now that there's no way on earth I'm wearing a kilt on a Farallones race, out the Golden Gate, in for example 20+ knots of wind with a nice 8 foot ground swell and 2 foot wind waves on top of that. It's cold as hell, the kilt is all over the place, you get soaking wet, and the kilt is just plain dangerous. In fact, it's INCREDIBLY dangerous.

COULD I do it? Sure I *could* do it, and I'd probably come back alive. But you know, I'm a lot more likely to come back alive if I wear clothes made for the job at hand.

Kilted on cruise ship? Great.
Kilted on your 50-foot cruising sailboat where you never leave the cockpit and the electrical system runs the sail furling gear? Fine. Strip off your shirt and enjoy. have a nice fruity drink while you're at it, and the cheese and crackers won't tumble off of the settee, either.

Kilted on a 50-foot powerboat on a river? Sure.

Polyester-viscose kilted or Utilikilted on a laser or escape or other 10-15 foot dinghy? Well, it's silly fun, but fine, fine if you really want to.

But going kilted in the kind of sailing I do is nothing but lunacy.