Sailing Foul Weather Gear: Layering Basics
Layering is the time-proven method for tailoring your clothing to match your activity level and environment. It allows you to quickly adapt to changing conditions, ensuring maximum comfort at all times. Sailing on a clear, sunny day in San Diego is going to require very different gear than sailing in the Southern Ocean. This article will cover the basics of layering for sailing foul weather gear. In future articles, I will focus on each layer and give a more in-depth comparison of specific garments.
There are three layers, each with a specific function. The base layer is what touches your skin, and is responsible for moisture management. The middle layer provides insulation from the cold. The outer layer protects you from rain and wind.
Base Layer: Moisture Management
The average person produces 1 liter of sweat per day. This can increase to over 10 liters in a day depending on the environment and activity level. The base layer’s job is to get that sweat away from your skin (wicking), to where it can evaporate.
Cotton is not a good material for a base layer, because it absorbs around a quarter of its weight in sweat, and dries very slowly. Keeping that sweat next to your skin will leave you feeling cold and clammy. Cotton socks that are saturated can give you blisters. Don’t wear cotton!
What are some alternatives? The two primary choices are synthetics (polyester) or wool (merino).
Synthetic fabric has many benefits. It is nonabsorbent, quickly transporting sweat away from your skin to where it can evaporate. It dries very quickly. It’s elastic and durable, and relatively inexpensive. Its major downside is that it welcomes the bacteria that put the ‘O’ in BO, making it less pleasant if you wear the same shirt more than a couple of days without washing. On the plus side, it’s easy to wash. Many synthetic shirts also provide significant UV resistance, a real benefit in sunny locales. An example of a quality synthetic base layer shirt is the Columbia PFG Zero Rules Long-Sleeve Shirt.
Merino wool is a special type of wool, with very fine fibers. It feels much softer against your skin than a cheap wool sweater from Target. Wool is actually more absorptive than cotton, but it ends up being a much better base layer fabric. How is that possible? The fibers suck your sweat into their inner cores, which then wicks through and evaporates off the outside of the garment. The outer surface of the fibers stay dry, so your skin feels dry. And unlike cotton, wool traps a lot more air and thus retains body heat much better. As a bonus, it’s naturally antibacterial, so it won’t be as funky after a few days. Merino wool’s biggest disadvantage is that it’s considerably more expensive than synthetics. It’s also more sensitive to proper care when laundering; it can shrink. The Icebreaker Tech T Lite Long-Sleeve Shirt is a great lightweight merino base layer shirt.
Base layers come in different weights to serve different purposes. Micro- and lightweight garments are great year-round choices. They can be worn by themselves in the summer and layered over in cooler weather. Midweight and heavyweight garments are made for when the weather starts getting seriously cold. Keeping your base layer on the lighter side is usually prudent; if the weather is warmer than expected, having a too-heavy base layer can make you uncomfortably warm.
Dinghy sailors make slightly different gear choices than sailors on bigger boats who have a better chance at staying dry. Base layers made of neoprene are most common. Neoprene foam isn’t breathable, but it is insulating; it’s a closed-cell foam, so the air bubbles heat up and retain that heat, keeping you warm even when you’re wet. They call them ‘wetsuits’ because there will be a thin layer of water between your skin and the garment. Neoprene garments should fit very snugly, so that the layer of water is as thin as possible and thus quickly heated by your body, and so that cold water isn’t able to flow freely into the garment. Many neoprene garments have a merino wool or fleece lining, to increase comfort and warmth. Some also incorporate a layer of titanium fibers that help the suit retain heat.
The fit of your base layer is another consideration. In warmer weather, a looser fit will allow more air circulation, helping you stay cool. In colder weather you want a snug fit, keeping air circulation to a minimum to retain more body-heat.
Middle Layer: Insulation
The middle layer traps heat from your body by limiting air circulation. Middle layers are traditionally wool; the benefits of wool apply equally when used as a middle layer. The Helly Hansen Women’s Mountain Wool Sweater is an example of a simple wool mid layer garment.
Fleece is another popular option for a mid layer, and it has a lot going for it: it’s lightweight and breathable, and like wool it insulates even when wet. It also dries faster than wool. Most fleece isn’t windproof, although some garments are made with fleece that has a windproof membrane, which adds wind resistance without affecting breathability. Fleece is available in different weights to suit different conditions. The Helly Hansen Women’s Naiad Fleece is one example of a fleece mid layer garment.
There are some specialized garments in this category as well. For example, the Zhik Men’s Hydrophobic Fleece gear combines an inner fleece lining with a water-resistance face material, resulting in a warm yet light and stretchy garment, perfect for highly-active dinghy sailors.
Outer Layer: Weather Protection
This is the stuff that keeps you dry. Since there is such a wide variety in this category, I am going to keep this section relatively brief. Soon I will have a dedicated outer wear article which will go into much more depth.
The outer layer needs to be waterproof, by definition. Of equal importance to your comfort is breathability. PVC outerwear, such as that made by Grundéns, is waterproof, durable and popular with fishermen because of its easy clean-up. But it isn’t breathable, so eventually your clothing will become saturated and uncomfortable.
Waterproof/breathable outerwear, on the other hand, blocks moisture from penetrating the fabric, but the moisture vapor inside the garment is able to pass through to the outside, keeping you dry and comfortable. There are two basic types of waterproof/breathable material, polyurethane and ePTFE (GORE-TEX). ePTFE is the more breathable of the two, and more expensive.