“When the shit hits the fan there’s no superyacht bullshit”

Fabio Brunazzi

If I was a rich man I would get me one of those Musto HPX Ocean Jacket with those fantastic trousers. I had the chance to wear one during various deliveries on big sailing yachts. Nothing against them, it’s robust stuff, warm and comfortable. Oh yes, and all the sailors of the Volvo Ocean Race wear one! But unfortunately for me I am a poor guy and I don’t have 1400$ to invest in the foul weather gear only. Incidentally that’s the cost of a nice brand new mainsail for Tranquility.

What I could do, and I did, was to see if the commercial fishing industry offered serious stuff for something cheaper. New Bedford is America’s #1 fishing port since the start of the 21^st century and fishermen from New Bedford are out in the North Atlantic with any weather. They definitely need resistant clothing, suitable for intensive and aggressive seas.

There is a shop close to the boatyard that is Guy Cotten distributor for the US. After a brief research on the brand and the products we finally stopped on the way to our boat to see if the intuition was true. We were dazed and amazed by the glossy colors of the PVC coated jackets and trousers. There were aprons, waterproof bags, neoprene sleeves, crab fishing duty gloves. The salesman made a good job in keeping us focused on our needs without wasting our money. Yes he suprisingly advised us against too heavy duty garments or too pricy items and guided us through all the sales and fabric descriptions. Here is the result.

For sure it’s not very fancy or made out of high innovative fabric but I am sure it has nothing less than the pricy sailing branded ones in terms of waterproofing and durability. Maybe it won’t be very comfortable or breathable but when all hell breaks loose the most important thing is to stay dry. And I would let the fishes judge if it’s stylish or not.