Personal Gear & Apparel

Whether your mini crewmembers are bound for a weekend family cruise or summer sailing camp, equipping them with the right gear will ensure their days on the water are safer and more fun for everyone. PS editors have put together a list of our favorite, must-have kids products for summer sailing. Some of the items are kid-sized versions of adult products that were top performers in our past lab and long-term tests, and we can vouch for their quality, performance, and durability. Others are products that have survived kid torture testing for at least one season and have earned two thumbs-up.

Social media seems to be stirring up fear that sunscreen is more than harmful than beneficial, without legitimate studies to support this fear mongering....

Skin cancer is a real killer. It’s a rare sailor over 40 who hasn’t had spots removed or knows someone who has. The farther...

Last week, I covered some of the things I suggest you need to think through on the boat before heading out solo. Now, what...

Lots of skippers—in fact probably most—do not want to sail solo and I am the last person to try to encourage them to change...

You have probably heard people say sailing solo is dangerous or irresponsible. How can you keep a proper watch? What happens if you have...

Rain gear can represent a substantial investment, and it always seems to start leaking long before the garment appears worn. Sometimes the coating wears...

Recent fatalities involving racing sailors raised a long-simmering concern weve had regarding the harness and tether design, and the shortcomings of current design when used aboard boats that cruise at double-digit speeds. Although these harness and tethers might keep a sailor from going overboard, the impact loads transmitted via the harness and tether can exceed what the human body can endure (see Building a Custom Safety Tether, PS December 2017).

Man overboard gear standards are behind the times because the sample size is tiny and the facts surrounding an accident are often clouded and disguised by difficult circumstances. But fixing this is pretty simple; piggyback on standards that have been developed for climbing and industry. The following are just some of the steps that a sailor can take to improve his chances of staying on board.

More than a decade ago, we first reported on a problem with popular boat shoes. It didn’t matter which style they were—traditional topsiders or...