GIFTS FOR SAILORS

Here are some gift ideas for the boaters in your life. I use and/or own them and found them to be worthy of being on the boat.



I never liked those small Speedo swim googles. They never fit my face quite right and leak pretty badly disrupting my swimming workout. Then I found these Aqua Sphere Swim Mask Googles. They are comfortable, fit over the eyes and don't leak like the small googles I tried in the past. I've been using a pair five days a week for over a year in a pool and they are still holding up well. I bought another pair for on board the boat. I use these for swimming or quick checks of the hull and prop instead of dragging out the mask and snorkel. They could also come in handy checking the lines or anchor on deck when the winds and rains making inspecting the lines for chafe difficult. If you know a boater who likes to swim they should make the perfect gift.



I carried rescue flares on board BIANKA which I never hoped to use and never have. The problem with the flares is they go out of date. Which requires you purchase new ones every few years. Another thing is being incendiaries they can be dangerous in starting fires or damaging fiberglass if used incorrectly.  The SOS LED Distress light gets rid of those issues and meets the requirements night rescue signals. You can still carry flares if you want to. But, this SOS light will last a lot longer without any of the danger of pyrotechnic flares.  It would be a welcome gift for any boater. I bought one for myself and no longer have to worry about if my flares are up to date.





I don't have an elaborate stereo sound system on BIANKA. I prefer the sounds of nature over a powerful music system. But, when I do want to hear some tunes or check on some of the latest news this small radio and MP3 players fits the bill. It has great sound for it's small size. It can also easily fit inside my shirt pocket. It charges up with any USB charger and will last about five hours on a charge. It also has a micro SD card slot so you can play your own selection of tunes when you want. It also has a handy LED flashlight built in too. Even if your boat already has a radio this compact handy radio will come in handy for trips to shore or the beach. In addition to having one on the boat I also bought one for the house to use as an emergency radio

So these are a few quick gift ideas I can recommend for the boaters in your life or if you are a boat owner already you might want to buy it for yourself.

COMFORTABLE SWIM GOOGLES

I spent most of January cruising through the British, U.S. and Spanish Virgin Islands. Did a lot of swimming and snorkeling during that cruise. Several weeks after returning home I began to miss the ability to swim everyday like I did on the cruise. So I decided to see if I could make do with a substitute until the waters warm up enough and I could just jump off BIANKA for my daily swim.  So I signed up for a membership at a local health and fitness club that had a decent sized pool:

This worked out well for me and I soon got into a good routine for an early morning swim. Though I needed to find some type of googles to keep the chlorine out of the eyes as much as possible. While cruising I was mostly using my dive mask and snorkel when swimming. But, in the pool it's a little bulky and does not allow for ones nose to be used for breathing and exhaling.

I find that the swim googles I've seen most frequent pool swimmers use don't really fit my face well:
They tend to leak requiring frequent stops or require me to keep them overly tight. Plus they never fit my eye sockets comfortably.  So I went looking for an alternative that would fit my face.







The solution to my problem is the Aqua Sphere Vista Swim Mask



Unlike other goggle type swim eye wear it is shaped so it seals around ones forehead and cheeks. Yet, it still keeps the nose clear so it is easy to exhale when swimming which is one of the draw backs of a dive mask. It also does not put pressure around the eye sockets like the usual swim googles do.   I've been using them  for several months and find it very comfortable to wear and I can do an entire thirty minute swim without it leaking.  I'm so pleased with it's comfort and use I plan to buy another one to keep on the boat for my frequent cool down swims off of the boat during the summer .