Cruising Clothes

• Get two sets of foul weather gear -
  one heavy weight (breathable) for cold weather and real wet sailing, one light weight for tropical squalls (when ANYTHING feels hot)
.


• Invest in good, breathable, fast drying, Polyester clothing and underwear. I use a long sleeve white polyester shirt to snorkel in.



• Wide brim hat plus a good vented hat with sun protection for that thinning hair.
  
  
• Good shoes - Keens are a fantastic all around sandal that I use hiking, in the water, and on the boat. I paid full price when they first came out and felt they were worth every cent (and I'm cheap, or I should say Frugal). Now they have started coming down in price (buy the Nylon ones).
  KT loves her Teva thongs - they last longer and are more comfortable than the cheapie brands.  For hiking she either wears her Keens or Chacos.


• Carry a couple of light weight Dry Sacks in backpack for unexpected rain squalls. Use heavy weight Dry Bags for any camping gear, etc stored long term. They are also good for abandon ship bags (keep an air pocket so they float).



• Sweat rag - clip to backpack to hiking



• Good Polarized Sunglasses , Croakies, a Hard Case, Repair kit, Cleaner, and cleaning cloth
(you may want have more than one pair of polarized sunglasses aboard for when you inevitably scratch or lose them)


• Zipper Lubricant - Make sure you maintain your zippers and use them every once in a while. The longer they sit the worse they get, and for some reason the cheap zippers last forever and the zippers on the really expensive stuff go in relatively short order. We use two types of lubricant: one designed for wetsuits that we put on anything the typically gets salt water on it, and another to prevent corrosion and keep things loose. Try not to store your zippers at either end (keep them positioned in the center). You might need the room to work the zipper loose after a good soaking of Boeshield.
   
• Wetsuit - Yes the water is warm but you'll end up spending some serious time in it snorkeling, diving and just playing around.  Even in the hottest water we still get a chill after swimming around for a couple of hours.  A wetsuit also provides extra protection against the sun and jelly fish. Nothing ruins a good day in the water like a bad sunburn or jelly fish sting.

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