Clothing for Sailing

Dressing appropriately for weather conditions is an important but often overlooked topic. Weather in the marina may be considerably different from weather beyond the marina and conditions can drastically change during your venture. Preparing for the worst is always prudent.

New Zealander Sir Edmund Hillary and Nepalese Tenzing Norgay were the first to summit Mount Everest in 1953. Compared to today, clothing technology has not even been invented. In 1958, Sir Edmund went on to the South Pole in a Ferguson farm tractor. Can you imagine a wool jumper, nylon jacket, and leather boots with wool socks?

Wet and cold are not your friends. Nowadays, clothing technology is amazing and will do the job of keeping you warm and dry. There are many companies producing very high-quality sailing gear well worth your investment. Gill, Helly Hansen, Henri Floyd, and Musto are a few to name. And compared again to the 1950s, some of it can look quite stylish.

Here is a good description of layering. Tap on each layer. Courtesy of Gill.

If you own a boat, here’s a tip: Take a bag, put a complete change of clothing of various sizes in the bag, zip it up, and stow it on the boat. Then every season, take out the bag and wash all the clothing to get rid of any musty smell. Why? Man overboard! That’s why. The last time we had a man overboard I was very impressed with the owner. Out came the bag and back into the race we went with a very grateful crew member.

Also, keep on board a bottle of sunscreen, spare sunglasses, a few different-sized jackets hanging up in a closet, spare hats, and a blanket including a hypothermia blanket. As a captain, you are responsible for the crew at all times. This includes being prepared for the unprepared crew member.