Recently this has been my dilemma. I’ve pretty much tried on every pair of hiking shorts in the shop to try and find that perfect pair of hikers. To be honest with you the last time I did any hiking was in 1986 when I sold my 420 (I’d just finished my last year in youth squad). I replaced the 420 with an International 14 as, at the time, they had just adopted twin wires (no asymmetrics then) and that was that, I’ve been in a trapeze harness ever since.
Well as you may already know I’ve recently bought an RS200 so I am back to hiking again after a 25 year break. I’ve tried on some Gul Kinetic Pro Hiking Shorts but I found the legs to baggy for the waist, or was it the other way around? I then tried on some Magic Marine Freedom Pants and I sailed a couple of times with them but I found that the mainsheet kept getting caught on the velcro of the straps over the thighs and they kept undoing themselves. I don’t like the idea of the ones that are belt and braces type so eventually I found these Neil Pryde Elite Hikepadz and they were perfect. I’ve sailed all summer with them, just those on as shorts, a rashguard and occasionally a spray top. They were comfortable, warm and did the job. But now I have a new issue: it was colder on Sunday so wore my shorty and put the Neil Pryde Hikepadz over the top but now they don’t stay up anymore. So do I ditch the shorty and get a wetsuit top instead? So I can still wear my shorts? Or will I have to go back to the Magic Marine ones to wear over the top of the shorty? And then to confuse things even more it wont be long and the drysuit will be coming out again so what will I wear then?
I’m coming to the conclusion that I really need 2 or 3 different pairs, one pair for a dry suit (the Magic Marine ones), one pair for warm weather (the Neal Pryde ones) and then another pair that I can wear under my shorty. I’m going to test the Zhik Power Pads as they are designed to be worn under a wetsuit and maybe even under my drysuit… I’ll keep you posted!