Gill Neoprene Knee Pads for Water Sport, Sailing, Paddlesport, Boardsports, Stand Up Paddleboarding & Wakeboarding

Very light duty kneepads, but they fill a niche for water proof kneepads that nothing else really does.

Protects my precious knees when sailing

They do not fit as well as I would have liked

I use these to sail Laser (12 feet) and Catalina Capri 14.2 (14 feet) sailboats (dinghies). Lots of opportunities to get knees bashed or banged while tacking, or even straight line sailing in variable winds. I rarely kneel continuously, usually sitting/hiking(leaning out) most of the time, but rather the knees get banged up changing sides on the mainsail sheet pulley or the centerboard or the bottom of the cockpit on the Lasers. These are HUGE in terms of keeping the focus on the sailing and not on protecting your knees. Comfortable enough to wear without sailing overalls in warm weather, and they stay put over sailing overalls (I like the Gill or even better the West Marine sailing overalls) in colder weather.These seem like they would also work well in canoes, where kneeling is pretty much continuous (does anyone actually like making the canoe unstable by sitting in those silly chairs in the canoes?).

Finding a good knee pad for sailing is incredibly difficult. It needs excellent padding and scuff resistance to protect you from non-skid decks and it needs to be cut ergonomically to stay in place. The neoprene base material on these is only 2-3mm thick so don’t plan on dropping to your knees. The outer layer of fabric seems reasonably durable if the stitching holds up. However, they are not cut ergonomically. There was some effort to contour the abrasion-resistant outer layer, but the neoprene base is cut almost straight up and down versus being taper from upper to lower leg and having a gusset fro where the knee bends. Also, the one size fits all is not going to work if you have a slender build - it’s sized for beefier sailors (grinders rather than bowmen!-)

The fit is average ambit not great. The quality is reasonable but nothing like what I really wanted . A bit disappointing

Not enough padding for older knees looking for padding. Perhaps young people looking to not skin their knees but not at all good for me. I may try to add padding and keep them otherwise not worth getting them.

I've had bad knees since junior high. limiting the kinds of activities I can do. Sailing has been great, until I started racing. Sailing hard tends to bang one around and, especially on smaller boats, you're gonna whack your knees or at least need to be kneeling to trim sails and check for traffic on the low side of the boat. I bought these after another fellow of a similarly certain age swore by them.He was absolutely correct. Despite the fact these are not all that bulky, they protect very well. I banged around on several boats of varying sizes (24' to 35') during races and my knees were great. I've worn them over jeans (don't judge, it was a last-minute thing), Under Armour (best), and on bare skin. They stay in place and don't constrict. Best of all, I never had them slide out from under me on the boat. If you're even remotely serious about either knee protection or sailing, choose these instead of some dime-a-dozen generic kneepad.TIP: The first two times I wore them I over tightened them and got irritation on the back of the knee. You can keep these very loose and they will stay in place. Also try angling both bottom straps down away from the back of your knee in a 'V' shape if you're still being pinched.