Sailing Knee Pads FAQs
Do I need knee pads for dinghy sailing?
If you kneel through your tacks, yes. That covers the ILCA, Aero, Solo and most other singlehanders, and most crew positions in a doublehander, where you drop a knee on the floor to cross the boat. If you trapeze, or helm a boat where you stay seated through the tack, you probably do not. A good test is whether your wetsuit knees are wearing thin. If they are, your kneecaps are taking the same punishment.
Do sailing knee pads go over or under a wetsuit?
Over. Sailing knee pads are neoprene sleeves with a padded front that pull on over a long john, skiff suit or hikers and sit on top of the suit. That way they take the abrasion instead of the neoprene, and you can take them off between races. Under a suit they bunch up and move around. On a warm day they work fine over bare skin or shorts.
How should knee pads fit?
Snug enough to stay put when you kneel and stand fifty times in a race, loose enough that you can bend fully without the pad digging in. The pad should sit square on the kneecap when your leg is bent, not when it is straight, because that is where you land on the floor. Most come in a few sizes based on the measurement around the knee, so check the chart rather than guessing from your height.
Will knee pads stop me moving around the boat?
Not if they fit. A thin neoprene pad adds a few millimetres and you forget it is there within a race. What you notice is the opposite: you stop hesitating before dropping a knee on a cold fitting, which makes you quicker across the boat, not slower. Thick pads built for other sports are a different matter and catch on everything. Buy a sailing specific pad and keep it thin.
How do I look after neoprene knee pads?
Rinse them in fresh water after every sail and hang them to dry out of the sun. The padded front wears first, so check it every few months, and replace the pair once the padding has compressed or the neoprene around the back has gone baggy. Treated well they last two or three seasons. Rinse them with your wetsuit and they will outlast it.
