Check this Sea to Summit half skirt: http://www.seatosummit.com/products/display/151
It has no grab loop. Isn’t a grab loop essential, even on a half skirt?
Is the theory that you would just fall out of a half skirt, so a grab loop isn’t necessary? A friend has this half skirt. I can see getting caught in it on exit.
why would you need a grab loop?
why wouldn’t you just slide out?
Question and
My first reaction is, if there is any concern at all about the skirt, why hasn’t someone who is a friend supported this paddler in practicing a wet exit so that everyone knows it is safe? It’s the first thing we (at least try to) make happen when we run into this issue.
That said, I doubt it’d be an issue. It’s the butt that somersaults out of the cockpit on a wet exit - agree with bowrudder, why would a half skirt get in the way unless it was unusually tight against them?
And it’s a nylon skirt. Depending on the coaming and the material they used for the edge, a good knock with the knees may pull it off anyway.
We have several half skirts and one of
them, a Harmony for a shorter cockpit, does not have a grab loop on it. All the others do giving you the option to hang them for storage either by the bungy or loop.
The half skirts generally are not as tight fitting, around the coaming, as a full skirt, and yes you do just fall out of the skirt should your boat go over. Engtanglement is one of the things you would have to be aware of.
These types (half) of skirts are meant to keep the sun off your legs, though there are some that are made for fishing and we have a couple with bottle holders sewn into them as well as a small mesh, zippered pocket.
The longer half skirts are for our Loon 111’s and short ones for the boats with small cockpit openings.
We use the ones with the bottle holders/mesh pockets more than those that are longer.
Also made to keep some water out
since they all have a so-called “implosion band” these days.
This half skirt in question comes to within a couple of inches of the body (at least on my friend). It fits tighter on the coaming than my full skirt (a sort of flimsy Eddyline).
Anyway, the concensus seems to be that a half skirt doesn’t need a grab loop. For myself, I think I’ll look for one that does have one, since most do.