Discussion: Orienteering pajamas are just fine

I've decided that I'd much rather wear a garish set of orienteering pajamas than many of the ridiculous outfits being worn at the US Open Golf Champs.

Particularly for orienteering.

The objective, whether searching in the woods for an errant control or lost ball, is to look distinctly UNLIKE a deer, in the nearsighted eyes of a gun-toting hunter.

No no no no no no NO!!! The purpose of brightly colored (orange) clothing is not to make sure that you don't resemble a deer. People don't resemble deer. Any hunter who shoots at a person, thinking it's a deer, should have his weapon taken away. The purpose of orange clothing is to make sure you don't blend with the background, so that it you are behind an actual deer, the hunter won't shoot at the deer and hit you if he misses.

(Granted, many people, even some hunters, don't understand this...)

I wear bright colors so when I trip over a log and knock myself out, it will be easier to find me.

Whereas if you are Valentin Novikov running a night leg for a relay, you wear all black to make sure you aren't seen.

I've done both of the above.

Thanks iamstillhungry for this tread. Wearing my pajamas out there suits me in many ways. There are people (including my family) who make subtle but unkind comments about our bright loose fitting togs. It is time we offered a defense . I guess they think we should all look like we stepped out of an REI catalog.

FWIW, median age on this thread so far is 58, an age that has a notoriously low number of f-'s to give about how one looks.

Posting to lower the median age but then all our local Western Australian clubs moved away from the pyjama look a few years ago and have modern running tops.

I still remember milling about before the start of the First Orienteering Race of the New Millennium in New Zealand, just before midnight 1/1/2000, and the local teenagers taunting the old men in torn bright pajamas, really taking the mickey out of them.

Are you sure they weren't taking the mickey out of the deer standing behind them?

Is this distinction between "pajamas" and non-pajamas only whether an O-suit is loose fitting?

I would offer that orienteers who prefer loosely fitting O-clothing, would be much less visually appealing in tightly fitting garb...

It's definitely more about the colors and patterns than the fit, and I think that a fit can be sporty and loose at the same time. That said, perhaps the fact that we are so inclusive of people in ugly clothing is an indicator to the outside world that we don't judge people on superficial things. :-)

I would never suggest that all orienteers should wear tight fitting clothes for orienteering, but I would also never suggest that they shouldn't based on their perceived visual appeal in those clothes. If an o-suit looks good, then it's good for everyone.

Nevertheless if we're trying to attract more young people to O, I think we could pay more attention to our appearances. As suggested by OP iamstillhungry, we could learn something from professional golfers.

For instance, I played golf with a competitive young teen last week who, from head to toe, was modeling himself after Ricky Fowler:

I want to run up and punch it!

I would not feel comfortable picking him up as a hitchhiker.

I don't think Puma could pay me enough to wear an outfit like that. Maybe in green though.

As a previous thread showed, we already have trouble with police wondering why we are running through the woods. An outfit like that would make searching for missing runners a whole lot more complicated.

Edit: I should explain. In the US, orange jumpsuits are often prison garb.

Mostly posting to (further) lower the age average, I'm just 56. :-)

O clothing isn't really a problem is it?

We all know that your short-slewed club top (probably made by Trimtex) with black running tights is the only possible choice, right?

(Add something underneath for warmth and to pad the battery pack holder when running a Jukola night leg!)

For O shoes Inov8 X-Talon 212 is the canonical answer imho.

As mentioned by origamiguy: Alternative orange jumpsuit...

In orienteering, all the cool kids hate the pajama look. But in baseball, all the cool kids embrace the pajama look (the nickname for the loose-fitting, lower-cuffed pants that most major leaguers wear these days).

Here's a reminder that O-USA is collecting images for a gallery of club jerseys, which you can view here.

I guess they think we should all look like we stepped out of an REI catalog.

Close enough.

Hey, those BAOC PJ's look pretty good when Sofi is modeling them.

Hey, those BAOC PJ's look pretty good when Sofi is modeling them.

I think that's Carol.

It is, but how did you know that?!

I've seen that photo somewhere else before, but without your head cropped out.

[edit: here.]

I'd like to point out that all O-clubs with any kind of self-respect of course have pajamas for both day- and night-use: http://tuna.lofas.se/webbshop/images/O-topnightsho...