Freestyle Mariner Watch

Though I had thought that my search for a racing watch was over with the purchase of my Freestyle Mariner watch I've realized that I ended my search prematurely. Here are my observations after using this for several sailboat races.

The major complaint is the mode button. I'll put the watch into Count Down mode and the next time I look at it it will be in regular time keeping mode. The button gets tripped by the bending of the wrist continously. A huge drawback. I've tried wearing it on the outside of my foul weather gear, but even with my narrow wrists, the strap is too short ( I have mixed feelings about this as I really wouldn't want the strap to be longer for general wear and there is no guaranty that the mode button would not be triggered anyway).

The next try will be to wear it on the other hand in the hope that the buttons won't be accidentally depressed ( I suspect it won't work).

I purchased this after I had lost my Timex Atlantis watch, which I usually kept wrapped around the tiller for the start of a race. Since I am crewing this is not an option. Might have to wear it looped through my harness rings. Otherwise, the watch looks good and I have no further complaints except the big "freestyle" text right across the watch face.

The only reason, besides cost, that I don't go for one of the big "puck" watches is I don't like their looks for general wear, but something like the Ronstan Clear Start watch is beginning to look like the best solution. Now I would just need to have an extra $90 bucks for yet another watch when I'll need sails etc. sooner than later. Guess its a good thing it looks like I'll be crewing for a while.


Update:

So, it turns out that the watch will always return to normal time keeping mode after a certain period of time.  So, if you are waiting in Time Mode for a 5 minute warning for instance, you have to keep setting it to timer mode after a couple minutes.  Once the countdown has begun and the timer is going, then it stays in that mode till you stop it.