Sailing can be a relaxing cruise along beautiful coasts, anchoring in quiet coves along the way. It can also be exciting fun in fast dinghies, splashing through the waves, enjoying the refreshing spray. Your choice.

Being close to the water, and often in it, is a refreshing experience. Sailing for pleasure can involve short trips across a bay, day sailing, coastal cruising, and more extended offshore or 'blue-water' cruising. These trips can be singlehanded or the vessel may be crewed by families or groups of friends. Sailing boats may go on their own, or be part of a flotilla with other like-minded voyagers.

If you like it wet, dinghy sailing is for you. There is lots of spray, the occasional capsize and frequent fully clothed swims. See below for clothing tips that work well on and in the water.

Clothing Tips

Only on very warm days are a long T-shirt and jeans a good choice to protect against sunburn. Beware, wet cotton cools you a fair bit. Some wear jeans and hoodies over a wetsuit to protect the delicate neoprene from deck fittings and other hazards.

Overall

One-piece dinghy suits are quite good as they stay put when you move around, protecting your back from cold. Swimming is easy as well in these overalls. Underneath wear quick drying sportswear like thermals and tracksuits. This is in our view the most comfortable outfit when it is not too cold. Great for swimming too.

Wetsuit

On cold days it is advisable to wear a wetsuit under your dinghy suit. When you go into the water, it enters the suit, but then a thin layer of water is trapped between the suit and your skin, and your skin quickly warms this water and insulates you from the cold.

If you have a wet suit and know you're going into the water, put it on in the shower so there is already a thin layer of warm water inside the wetsuit. Make sure it reaches everywhere, legs, arms and body. Put your rashvest on first while you're still dry. Wet Lycra is not so easy to put on. Wear your dinghy suit on top to keep the wind chill off, and you're ready for a dip.

Drysuit

If you have trouble dealing with the cold consider buying a drysuit. They're pretty expensive, from around €200, but if you're serious about sailing in the winter cold, it is money well spent. Most drysuits are breathable and let the air through, but they do keep the cold water out.

Swim Test

Whatever clothes you choose, go for a swim test. Jump into a pool or lake with all your sailing kit on. Swim 50 meters or more to see if you can handle that and if the clothes feel good when wet.

by Craig from Wales

Inspired by your website, my friend Andy and I went to a watersports center in Spain and had a blast. Sun, sea, and more, just what we needed.

In the mornings we got dressed in our boating kit, either nylon pants, sports shirt and anorak, or a thin one piece nylon suit, like you recommended. Then we went for a swim in the pool, doing several lengths in these clothes to get fit. Andy also enjoys swimming in his boating kit. It's huge fun and really gets you fit.

After the swim we had breakfast at the open air poolside buffet. We enjoyed our cereal and fruits while our clothes dried in the sun.

Boats in the Morning

Next up was the boating session on the beach. We could choose from kayaks, canoes, sailboats, windsurfers and stand-up paddle boards.

While out on the water our dry clothes soon got a bit too hot from the sun and exercise. So we either rolled the kayak, splashed each other, or simply jumped into the water to get our clothes wet again. That was always fun and refreshing.

After the boating session we went for the showers to rinse the sea water out of our clothes, and jumped into the pool again. Our wet clothes kept us cool during the pool side lunch buffet, but dried out soon. During the midday heat we went to my room to take all our kit off and relax on the bed.

Catamaran Sailing

In the hot afternoon we went catamaran sailing. This is a fast paced splash sport. We were asked to wear jogging suits for extra weight on the trapeze, not the loose fitting nylon kit from the morning. Andy was dressed all in blue, I chose blue jogging pants, tee-shirt and a white hoodie. That looked hot, but by the time we got to the beach it felt quite hot. Time to cool off.

Before we went out, we had to carry the catamaran into the sea about waist deep and get our clothes completely wet for the session. The heavy wet clothes made the trapeze work better. Andy took the helm, I was in the trapeze hanging just above the water moving fast, spray hitting us all the time. Whenever we hit a wave, I got briefly dunked into the water. We swapped places a few times so Andy got dunked as well. When we got back to shore we were still dripping wet and went for a swim in our joggings suits. Awesome experience.

Dinner and Pool Party

For dinner and the following pool party we dressed in loose fitting pants, polo shirts and hoodies or trendy anoraks. Before we went to the buffet we often took a sunset walk along the beach, sometimes wading knee deep into the shallow water. A couple of times we went for a swim in our dinner clothes, just couldn't resist it.

The dinner was always delicious vegetarian food. After relaxing for an hour or so, the pool party got under way. It didn't take long before the first guests were in the pool. Because we looked cute in our hoodies, we usually got pushed into the pool early on and really enjoyed that. Life's good.