Clothing for a transatlantic passage

[goboatingnow]

Well it’s cotton next to my skin and after about 35,000 sea miles I’m happy with my choices.

[donradcliffe]

My Irish fishermen's sweater has been in the closet since I discovered fleece 30 years ago. Try an experiment--but both a fleece top and a wool sweater in a bucket of sea water. Then wring them out and put them on. The wool still has pounds of water left in it and you are cold.

I use cotton teeshirts, with the caveat that if they get soaked in seawater or 5 days old I must rinse them in fresh and dry them before I wear them again. A modern boat will have a watermaker and there will be sunny days.

In warmer climes, I ditch the underwear and use nylon shorts.

Good seaboots and weather gear">foul weather gear are essential outside 35 north or south. Good foul weather gear will let you sit in a puddle or water or constant rain without leaking water in.

Fleece sleeping sacks are the way to go. If salt water gets into a down or cotton sleeping bag, you might as well throw it overboard.

All clothes you bring should be inside ziploc bags.

[R Hutcheson]

It sounds like this will be your first offshore passage. There are lots of sources/opinions on line and in books regarding mandatory and optional gear you will/may want to carry. My advice is: Ask the Captain! If they are qualified to command the ship on the passage you have referenced, they should be able to, quickly and gladly, either provide a list of equipment you should pack, or direct you to a public resource which they find appropriate. If the Captain is unable or unwilling to do so, you may want to reconsider crewing on the voyage. Their ability/willingness to provide the information you need is certainly no guarantee they can get you there in safety, but if they can't/won't help you in this matter it is in my opinion a huge red flag.

[goboatingnow]

Originally Posted by donradcliffe

My Irish fishermen's sweater has been in the closet since I discovered fleece 30 years ago. Try an experiment--but both a fleece top and a wool sweater in a bucket of sea water. Then wring them out and put them on. The wool still has pounds of water left in it and you are cold.

I use cotton teeshirts, with the caveat that if they get soaked in seawater or 5 days old I must rinse them in fresh and dry them before I wear them again. A modern boat will have a watermaker and there will be sunny days.

In warmer climes, I ditch the underwear and use nylon shorts.

Good seaboots and foul weather gear are essential outside 35 north or south. Good foul weather gear will let you sit in a puddle or water or constant rain without leaking water in.

Fleece sleeping sacks are the way to go. If salt water gets into a down or cotton sleeping bag, you might as well throw it overboard.

All clothes you bring should be inside ziploc bags.

In a modern boat why would your sleeping bag ( horrible things ) get wet anyway

[Ringmaster]

If you can't wear shorts it ain't worth going.

[El Pinguino]

Originally Posted by donradcliffe

...................

Fleece sleeping sacks are the way to go. If salt water gets into a down or cotton sleeping bag, you might as well throw it overboard.

All clothes you bring should be inside ziploc bags.

'Dry sacks' are what I use
https://www.seatosummit.co.uk/produc...ight-dry-sack/
Dedicated ones for jocks, socks, tops, bots, etc. Makes life a lot easier.

[Icarus]

Originally Posted by ChrisJHC

A “Sea Rug” is a quilt that was specifically designed for sailors.
It is claimed that you can go to bed in wet gear and the wicking ability will dry you out before your next watch.
Very popular among the Sydney to Hobart race crews.

https://www.searug.com.au

I sailed 30k miles and never heard of it, shows it's never to late to learn..

[ChrisJHC]

Originally Posted by Happ

Great list! I would add your own PFD.

My PFD stays on the boat.

[garyfdl]

Originally Posted by garyfdl

No they weren't wrong, they were cold, wet, and miserable.

And while I don't necessarily disagree about the detrimental effects of plastics, "centuries of seafarers wearing cotton... and wool" wasn't because these were outstanding fabrics for the purpose, it was because it was all they had/could afford!

I'm as much an outdoorsman as a sailor. Grew up wearing cotton and wool through the winter months hunting and fishing, and you know what? We froze our backsides off! It wasn't until the mid/late '70's, with the advent of affordable synthetic fiber/insulation and weatherproof fabrics, that being outside in the cold/wet became more than barely tolerable.

Oh, and one more thing. Regarding the question "do sheep feel the cold on wet mountainside?" You bet they do. They will seek shelter to get out of the wind and rain and flock together to keep warm.

I got called away, but have an addition:

What seems like several lifetimes ago (50+ years) I was in the USN. Standard issue cold weather gear was as follows: a knitted, wool 'watch' cap (just thinking about it makes my forehead itch, 5 decades later), a double breasted, wool, silk lined 'pea' coat, leather gloves - lined with cotton (probably) or wool (maybe). If you needed a pea coat that meant the 'uniform of the day' was the winter uniform - a wool jumper and wool bell bottoms. The 'base layer' was a cotton tee shirt, cotton boxers, and cotton crew socks (with a dark stretch sock over to hide the white). Footwear was 'boondockers', an ankle high leather boot, made from something that must have died from terminal acne, that we still had to shine so you could see your face in it. When on the sub the boondockers were 'traded' for a pair of dark blue, laced boat shoes (thank God we didn't have to shine those ).

The point of all this? Well, dressed in those 'miracle' fibers? You were still cold if you were outside and the temp dipped much below 60F/15C. Even more so if there was any kind of wind. And if you were wet? Forget about it. All you could wait for was to get below and take a long, hot shower, a luxury that, I'm surmising, isn't going to be found on the average cruising boat.

[seanallen]

If it gets wet and cold, comfortable waterproof boots are the must have. If your feet get cold it’s a big issue. Getting around on deck is dangerous with numb feet. And getting to sleep is more difficult. And so is being happy and enjoying the trip!

[boatman61]

Your sailing across in May... question is, are you going straight across or the chicken run via Bermuda.
If via Bermuda take the foulies..
Azores Weather May
The Azores Weather in May is fantastic. The temperature is comfortable and there is a lot of sunshine to enjoy. And the wetter, cooler, winter months seem to be long forgotten.

Azores Temperature in May
The temperature is fairly moderate in all of the islands. But it does change somewhat through the year with the months of June, July and August being the hottest.

In May, the Azores temperature ranges from 13 to 20 degrees Celsius with an average of about 17.

Days of Sun in the Azores
May is one of the sunniest months. Only July and August beat it out significantly in terms of hours of sunshine.

Rainfall in May
There are always rainy days on the Azores thanks to their location in the Atlantic. But May only has 8 days of rain on average.

All in all, May is a great time to visit the Azores Islands. Now it is just a matter of picking which one!

[CaptainRivet]

The most universal piece of cloth for Transat and long passage is a Midlayer salopette from the 3 layer wet foolie gear of Henry Loyd or Zhik.
They both have a 3 layer foolie system with under, mid and top layer compared to eg Musto where everything is in one heavy and bad to tranport big junky offshore jacket and pants.
The Midlayer is light, warm and water repellent but breathes very well and being a salopette you completely covered. Perfect for the nightwatches at sea where you have damped humid air which gets everywhere... Even a short rain you stay dry... Happened several times i went just sleeping after the shift in it, skipping the blanket.Also when being the skipper u are always and fast ready in emergency as already well dressed. If you get bad weather just put the final layer with the heavy water proof layer over it. If its warm but raining you just put the light final 3rd layer without the midlayer. Like this you really use your foolie gear and much easier to travel with.
Perfect are also the Musto UV40 T-shirts, they feel really like a real cotton T-Shirt but actually are synthetic dry fast and smell repelent too, can wear them a week without smelling bad. And i hate this synthetic running shirts, cannot stand them and the admiral is very sensitive to smell, she smells a fly farting
Other then that take cloth your are feeling comfortable and chilling at home eg jogging pants and hoodies, great are also non skid home socks to keep your feet warm also under deck...
Better sweat than be cold. It takes 10 times longer to warm up when you are freezing compared to just take one thin layer of cloth of when you are sweating...

[poiu]

My choice: Cotton is the most comfortable unless you sweat a lot, so avoid sweating as everything is uncomfortable then, but merino wool is best for wicking sweat and best for comfort if sweating is likely. You don’t get that clammy cold sucking feeling as you do with cotton. It is also best for warmth, especially if used in layers, even more so than the other choices if you get soaked.

Polyester is horrid. It stinks and worst of all, people who wear them don’t know it and it makes everyone else so awkward as no one likes to say: you stink, take a shower and change.

[JanetGroene]

Snore said the magic word. Wool. It's warm even when wet. Snore's advice is right on about cotton too. I also have some (inordinately expensive) silk underwear from Norm Thompson, the travel wear specialists. It's very thin and light, made to wear under tight-fitting ski clothes. It dries fast and does not add bulk under other clothing. Has anyone tried scrubs for featherweight tropic wear? They look sorta dorky on a boat but I like having all those pockets and easy care. Most are a cotton blend. They also take well to spray-on UV repellent treatment that is now available for fabrics.

[MicHughV]

Don't forget to bring a good quality sunscreen and a big wide floppy hat.

Ease into the sun slowly. Consider wearing a loose fitting full sleeved white shirt, for the first few days.

You can get sunburned or windburned as the case may be, even sitting under a dodger or bimini.

I don't wear flip-flops on a boat, as they tend to slide and break at the worst possible time.
I wear strap on sandals, with a velcro strap around the heel. Very secure and won't break or fall off.