Many of you older sailors will be saddened to hear that Gilian Gray, the founder and owner of Javlin, passed away over the last weekend. Gilian was inspirational at Javlin who, in the 1970's and 80's, introduced comfortable double lined wetsuits, warmwear, fleece and those yellow wellies to weekend sailors and Olympic crews. I had the pleasure of working with her during that time and will always remember her enthusiasm and guidance. Our thoughts are with her family at this sad time.

Thats sad, but whatever happened to Javelin, I still rate is as my best wetsuit, and I had a few of them from javelin in my time.

Javlin was sold about 7 years ago. They left the marine trade to concentrate on the equestrian and outdoor market. With far eastern production, wetsuits etc. became unviable and Gilian was determined to maintain her UK workforce in Sheffield. I am sure there are still some old J boots, jackets and wetsuits out there!

Sorry to hear that Barry. I remember the J-boots so well and my lined Javlin wetsuit was a revelation after the stiff old two piece with jockstrap & poppers. And the fleece jacket was revolutionary. She clearly played her part in giving us better sailing gear.