Staying dry and warm are essential for good decisions at sea

Base layer

When it comes to clothing you will need a moisture repelling base layer to keep you dry. Please leave the cotton until you come ashore again! The cotton attracts moisture and makes us cold. Another important aspect is that the breathable material you may use won’t be as effective if you use cotton.

Mid layer

The mid layer should consist of a warm fleece or maybe a Finfill Light overall.

Outer layer

As outer layer you can wear your regular sailing gear or a dry suit.

Life jacket

Last, but definately not least, you need to wear a life jacket. The life jacket should preferably be an inflatable model that turns you head up if you should overboard. Most importantly, the head needs to be held up with sufficient freeboard height between the water and your mouth/nose. The life jacket needs to be checked once a year, so that the cartridge is still functional.

Stay on board

A good way to remain on board is to use the jack stay, the wire that runs from bow to stern if you are on deck. If you use a 3-hook safety wire, you can move around on the deck, and always have one wire attached to your life jacket and the other one in the jack stay.

If you still fall overboard, a thing we would like to recommend is MOB1 (AIS) that allows your crew to see your location, or a PLB with which you can alert the sea rescue service if you realize that you won’t get any other help.
It is also very important to eat regularly to keep the blood sugar at a steady level. It’s smart to prepare the boat with som ready-made food for long sailing trips.

With these simple but essential tips, we wish everyone a fantastic summer season at sea!

/Christina Frii, Seapax AB