Goofy Hat Club

Does this hat make me look gay?

No. Really…honest.

SUP surfing is different than traditional surfing in many ways, but one way in particular is that you spend a lot more time on your board. A typical session for a prone surfer lasts an hour perhaps. If they are actively surfing all that time then they are exhausted–it’s a sprint sport and it takes a lot of energy. They go in, get in the shade, chill out, maybe have lunch, put on another layer of sunscreen.

A typical SUP session can last multiple hours. If you’re doing a downwinder or an up and back it’s sometimes all day. I take a two-quart Camelback with me, and a couple of energy bars. I drink all the water in the Camelback and usually wish for more before I’m done (yes, there’s a relief zipper in my drysuit). For all that time you’re standing in the direct and reflected sun. It’s a great opportunity for a nasty burn. Or even just a deep tan. Today’s nice tan is tomorrow’s melanoma.

I had a basal cell carcinoma removed from the bowl of my left ear last year. It made a thumb-sized divot that required a skin graft. No fun, and a lot of hassle in the healing process. I don’t need a lot more of those and neither do you. Since China and India have taken up spewing freon into the atmosphere right about where we left off, there’s not going to be a lot of ozone any time soon to help out. Time to pay attention to sun protection.

We’re researching stuff to stick in our launch/board test Swag Bags, and high on the list is sun protection. A quick coat of SPF 30 and a rash guard really isn’t enough. So far I’ve got five hat samples, and the most effective looking one is also the goofiest. Vented, wide brim, neck protection, SPF 50 protection, floats, and has a tie string. Looks like something Aunt Matilda would wear to garden, but it’s pure function.

One of my boyhood heros was (and still is) Dick Mann who was one hell of a motorcycle racer. Dick wore a wide brim straw hat in the Paddock that he made look so very cool. I wanted one of those hats so I could look like Dick. Turns out he bought them in a Rexall drugstore for 39 cents–ladies gardening hats. He just took off the flowered hatband. Cool is as cool does. Maybe I can get Laird to wear one of these silly hats. As one of my friends said, if Laird wore underwear on his head half the guys in Paia would be sporting fruit of the loom chapeaus, and someone would start selling Jaws Skivvy Hats ™