12 weeks to go now and as part of the preparation for our departure I thought it would be a good idea to have my Musto oilskins serviced. Personally, I think that Musto's sail wear clothing is excellent - they make practical, well-designed technical clothing that works very well when the weather gets nasty.....but mine had seen several years good service and were quite worn and faded in colour. They were no longer "glowing" the bright yellow that they had been when they were new. In addition the salopettes were leaking a bit around the groin area - which is something you really don't want on long passages.
As a minor aside, I can't understand why anyone buys grey or black foul weather gear; in fact I can't really understand why oilskins in such colours even exist! I suppose it must be fashionable - all the top professional crews on TP52's and the like seem to wear various shades of grey. The difference is that when they are racing they are shadowed by innumerable chase boats and support vessels who can locate them and pick up crew pretty rapidly if they fall overboard. If I fall overboard when we are on passage I want to be as visible as possible to my rescuers. It seems insane to choose to wear a grey colour and camouflage yourself in a predominantly grey sea. Day-glo yellow is my favourite colour closely followed by orange or red. Just saying.....
Anyway, back to my Musto oilskins; I contacted Musto on the phone and explained that they were leaking and needed servicing - they gave me details of where and how to send them back. I returned them and hey presto! a few days later I received an e-mail back explaining that the fabric was de-laminating and as a result they weren't able to service or repair them. They went on to explain that because the Gore-tex was guaranteed they would instead send me a new set. Well, since my oilskins were at least 5 years old and the retail price for a new set of Musto HPX Ocean oilskins is currently £1,200 you can only imagine my dismay!
One week later a pair of brand new Musto HPX Ocean salopettes arrived followed the next day by a brand new Musto HPX Ocean jacket.
Both my visibility and waterproofness have returned.......happy days! Personally I think this is pretty amazing service so if you are torn with indecision when purchasing your next item of foul weather clothing, you will understand why I would strongly recommend that you buy Musto.
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