Best Marine Gifts
How to choose the Best Marine gifts
What makes a good marine gift idea for sailor friend or family member — the gift itself or the time and care invested in the perfect selection? Sometimes it can be both… Whether it’s a gift for yourself or your sailing and boating friends and relatives, we put together a list of the best marine gifts!
Here is short list of the best marine gifts:
- Sailing jacket
- Hand tools like weatherman knife
- Connected watch
- Books from sailors and mariners
- Sextant
- Waterproof sunglasses
- A book from Bernard Moitessier
- A book from Joshua Slocum
- A waterproof duffel bag
A sailing jacket: A great Gift for anyone
All sailors have a waterproof jacket in their lockers or wardrobes: the famous sailing jacket. It is often heavy, cumbersome and made for sailing off Cape Horn! As an interesting marine gifts we thought of a light sailing jacket, cut like a jacket. Waterproof and water-repellent, cut close to the body. Ideal for coastal sailing.
With many pockets, these jackets, halfway between a jacket, a hiking jacket and a watch jacket, can be worn all year round, from Brittany to the Caribbean. They can even be used as a mid-layer in very cold weather.
Choose one with a hood, like the Helly Hansen Crew Hooded Jacket, it will be even more versatile.
A Leatherman tool
For those who like DYI, marine gifts for Christmas or any other occasion that can be very useful on board or in a pocket… We thought of this Leatherman Wave II multifunction tool.
Leatherman doesn’t make toys, but real tools that can be used in all circumstances.
A connected sailing watch!
If your sailor friends is equipped with a Garmin autopilot and you’re planning to spend a substantial budget on it, you’ve got the perfect gift at hand: the Garmin Quatix 7 connected watch.
The Quatix 7 includes basic features such as compass, altimeter and thermometer, but adds a host of useful features for tracking sports performance as well as functions dedicated to navigation.
Among these, the possibility of Bluetooth networking with the Garmin handset on board and more specifically with the pilot. Once connected, you have on your wrist a repeater of the Garmin screen capable of displaying all the data on board but also of controlling the autopilot. Perfect to watch from inside, for boats with enough visibility, during cold and wet crossings and perfect for the skipper who can monitor the course even when he is not on watch.
Joseph Conrad complete books: one of the best marine gifts
Joseph Korzeniowski, alias Conrad, captain of merchant ships in the heyday of tall ships, wrote a series of sea books in which one can feel the man’s life and experience. In “Typhoon”, he describes an encounter with a hurricane, a description that would temper any description of heavy weather for a yachtsman!
“As it set, the sun, with its shrunken diameter, had only a remnant of russet radiance, as if the millions of centuries that had passed since the morning had exhausted its reserve of life. A thick band of clouds appeared on the northern side; its olive hue was sinister; it lay flush with the sea; the ship, continuing to advance, would surely run into it. The Nan-shan moved forward heavily like an exhausted beast being driven to its death.” A gifted and prolific writer, Conrad’s complete works add to the list of seafaring gifts that will delight lovers of sea stories and those of fine literature. Franklin D. Roosevelt
A Sextant
After Conrad, it is difficult not to mention astronomical navigation, or the delicate art of observing the stars, of transforming, by calculation, a height into a geographical position, all this without GPS! Astronomical navigation also offers the opportunity to become familiar with the stars and constellations, a cosmic, infinite and natural world.
You have plenty of choices on the market!
Waterproof Sunglasses
Book: “The Long Way” by Bernard Moitessier
This is the favorite book of a lot of sailors around the world along with Joshua Slocun book “Sailing around the world alone”. We recommend both books.
Bernard Moitessier (April 10, 1925 – June 16, 1994) was a French sailor, most known for his participation in the Golden Globe Race in 1968. He did not finish this first non-stop, singlehanded, round the world yacht race because he was so happy to be alone on his boat that he decided not to return to UK . Moitessier was the likely winner for the fastest voyage, but he choosed to continue on to Tahiti, rejecting the idea of the commercialization of long distance sailing. His book The Long Way is one of the best book a sailor can read and surely one the best marine gift.
The Long Way is Bernard Moitessier’s own incredible story of his participation in the first Golden Globe Race. For seven months, the veteran seafarer battled storms, doldrums, gear-failures, knock-downs, as well as overwhelming fatigue and loneliness. Then, nearing the finish, Moitessier pulled out of the race and sailed on for another three months before ending his 37,455-mile journey in Tahiti. Not once had he touched land.
Book: “Sailing alone around the world” by Joshua Slocum
When reading The long way, you will understand that Bernard Moitessier named is boat Joshua after Joshua Slocum, the first person to sail single handed around the world.
His book “Sailing alone around the world” is a must for all sailors. He wrote it in 1900 . Joshua Sloum was born in Nova Scotia and travelled all around the world as a mariner before sailing alone. He was lost at sea in 1909. You will love reading his stories, experiences and thoughts.
A waterproof duffel bag
It is not recommended to bring a suitcase on board. A duffel bag is much better, lighter and easier to carry and store. A waterproof duffel bag is necessary if your boat is at a mooring at anchor because you may reach her with a dinghy. You can find all style and sizes of duffel bags. It can be a bit expensive but it is definitely a good investment. best brands are Helly Hansen or Gill. A 30 liter bag is the minimum recommended size. You can read our blog: How to pack your duffel bag
