Segling Magazine - Suddenly I hear what you’re saying!

EAR PROTECTORS: At Segling’s editorial office, we were a bit surprised when the Windfree ear protectors arrived in the mail. Why wouldn’t we sailors want to hear the wind? The wind is what we live for. The point of Windfree is to dampen wind noise so you can hear other sounds on board. The rig creaking, the mocking cries of the seagulls, or the gust singing. And of course, sometimes the wind surprises you in an annoying way.

The ear protectors are soft and made of foam with a plastic band that
should keep them in place. Despite that, it feels like they constantly want to slide down your neck. Admittedly, I who tested the protectors have a fairly small head, so that might be the reason… There is no smaller size available. They are also difficult to wear if you have a high collar on your sailing jacket.

How do they work? Pretty well, for me as a person with normal hearing. They actually reduce some of the wind noise so that other sounds come through more clearly. I also had a friend who uses a hearing aid try the ear protectors, and he thought they worked excellently. Even modern hearing aids have trouble filtering out wind noise, but Windfree managed it. The ear protectors cost about 450 kronor, a bit expensive if you ask me.