People who row, sail, and rig often have very hard hands and really don't need gloves. However, all those manly cowboys we see on the silver screen - Steve McQueen andYule Brenner and, yes, John Wayne - wear gloves for roping and shooting so if you don't make a living putting calluses on your hands, gloves are ok.
Alternativly, you could follow my grandfather's advice. Boston Brahmin that he was, his hands and his crews hands were in danger of going soft over the winter, making handling the sheets in a race problematic. He took to patting his hands on anything - car steering wheel, arms of chairs, his desk - a good deal of the time. Could'a been a good conga man. Anyway, that slapping about kept his hands in shape over that part of the winter when he couldn't even row his scull up the Charles.
G'luck
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