Apparel and Accessories

The company that brought the world the Top-Sider continues to up its game with the new GripX performance line, which includes the SeaHiker for dinghy sailors, two different SeaRacer styles for keelboat sailors and the SeaSock neoprene bootie.

With a Deckvest LITE on board, there is no excuse to not wear a lifejacket. Created specifically for inshore use, the Deckvest LITE features a unique tapered profile that allows a full range of motion.

Look good on and off the water with this new CoCo cap from SailFast, which wicks away sweat and provides UPF40+ sun protection while keeping your melon toasty warm.

Women are constantly on a quest for the perfect shoe. And that extends to women sailors as well. SAIL editors MacDuff Perkins and Meredith Laitos went on the hunt to find that Jimmy Choo of topsiders, and here is what they came up with.

From Newport, Rhode Island comes Lemon and Line, a new nautical-themed jewelry company specializing in fashionable and affordable bracelets crafted from genuine marine-grade line.

Pity the designer trying to come up with something truly “new” in sailing apparel. But with its Latitude 90 footwear line, Norway’s venerable Helly Hansen has come up with what looks like a winner. The shoes’ full-grain leather uppers and excellent “Storm Grip” rubber soles make them as functional offshore as on the dock. Available in both men’s and women’s sizes, the shoes come in either

The toughest part of using a life jacket is making sure to put the thing on. This goes double for kids. There’d have to be something seriously wrong, though, with any kid who wouldn’t want to wear a life jacket like this. Opa Cove’s Sea Squirts line includes both U.S. Coast Guard certified life jackets and “swim assist” vests for youngsters still working on their dog paddle. The vests’ neoprene

The Coast high-performance jacket from Gill is available in both men’s and women’s styles and offers excellent protection from the elements, whether you’re cruising or racing. Made from breathable 2-Dot fabric, the Coast Jacket comes with fully taped waterproof seams, a rollaway high-visibility hood with volume adjustment for improved fit and a high collar with faceguard for superior protection.

These are definitely not your grandfather’s boat shoes. With a proprietary “water evacuation channeling” in the midsole, a hydrophobic textile lining and a “lace garage” to keep laces from catching cleats, the SPS Force 8 shoe includes the kind of technology previously found only aboard an America’s Cup boat. The result is a pair of incredibly comfortable shoes with traction on steeply canted

For racers and cruisers who like wearing baseball caps offshore, the Sailors Night Vision Cap may be just the thing after the sun goes down. Each cap comes equipped with a pair of red LEDs and either three or four white LEDs, depending on the model, to provide hands-free illumination on the darkest night. In the words of our tester, Boston-area sailor Bill Jacobson: “I was trimming main (on an