Boating Eyewear

Avid boaters who don’t wear protective eyewear may find that at the end of a long day out on the water, their eyes feel fatigued or painful. This is because of the prolonged exposure to UV rays and bright sunlight that they experience. This exposure is much more significant when out on a body of water than it is in many other situations. This is because the surface of water is often reflective, bouncing light back into the eye. The reflections multipliy the retina’s exposure to harmful rays by allowing the light multiple chances to strike it.

Boaters should always wear protective eyewear when out on the water. Many may mistakenly think that eye fatigue is simply a minor annoyance, but sunlight can and does cause severe damage to the eyes if given the opportunity.

Protective boating eyewear can alleviate many of the problems caused by bright sunlight with two types of protection. The first is UV protection. This is a chemical coating applied to the lens that blocks out ultraviolet (UV) wavelengths while remaining transparent to visible forms of light. Ultraviolet light is extremely harmful to the eyes, and is known to cause cataracts. The risk of this debilitating eye damage is significantly reduced when eyes are effectively protected by boating eyewear.

The second kind of protection offered by boating eyewear provides a much more visible and immediately satisfying result to the wearer. People who spend a lot of time on or near water will notice that when the sun strikes it at certain angles, it produces blinding white spots. These spots are known as “glare”. Glare is caused by light waves that vibrate in a particular direction, and can be filtered out with specially made lenses. Quality boating eyewear will block these waves, allowing the wearer to see much more clearly, and even see into the water where it would have been impossible before.