Best sailing foul weather gear

What is Foul Weather Gear?

Foul weather gear is the common name for what is essentially sailing rain gear or marine wet weather gear. They’re heavy-duty waterproofs designed to withstand driving rain, spray, and rogue waves while sailing. They’re normally made with considerably heavier material than waterproofs used on land because the force of water hitting them from waves and spray is more powerful than rain on its own.

There are two parts that make up the best sailing foul weather gear; the jacket and the trousers or silhouettes. By the way, I’ll use the terms ‘trousers’ and ‘salopettes’ interchangeably throughout the article.

I’m going to group the gear reviewed into three categories; Coastal, Offshore, and Ocean.

Hopefully, the names are pretty self-explanatory but I’ll go through the best use cases for each at the start of each section as well.

Note: Nearly all of the sets I’m going through have both male and female options, if there are extra features or a notable difference with the female option then I’ll add a note. There will be a link to both options separately for each set as well.

What should you look for when choosing your gear?

Ok so the basics that you can probably guess are waterproofness and breathability, that’s the ‘ticket to entry’ as such to be classed as a modern sailing waterproof. Every item I’m going to cover in this article has excellent waterproofness and breathability as a starting point, with the standard of this improving even higher as we move into the high performance offshore / ocean sets.

Some other factors that might not immediately come to mind is:

Color: If you fall in the sea you want to be seen rather than blend into the blue and white tones of the water and waves. As such it’s worth considering the benefit of bright colors such as red, orange, or yellow rather than say black or navy.

Fit: This depends on where you plan to sail. If you’re sailing in colder climates, you’re going to be wearing a number of insulating layers underneath your sailing jacket so you need to factor this in when choosing your sizing and make sure it fits over these.

If you’re sailing in warm climates, a smaller fit may suit better but you might want to ensure the gear doesn’t have too much insulation already built-in so you’re not overheating wearing it.

Racing or Cruising: If you’re racing competitively in a coastal setting then you might want to go for a lighter set since you’ll be moving quickly around the boat a lot more than a cruising sailor would.

Room to move: Even with the jacket fully zipped up over a couple of layers you should still have a full range of motion. If you don’t you should probably go for the next size up.

Hood: A hood is absolutely essential. It’s a good idea to look for one with a stiff visor at the front to stop it flopping down over your face and eyes in the wind.

Reinforcement: For the salopettes, in particular, the knee and seat sections go through a lot of wear from rubbing against deck surfaces. Models that have extra fabric/gussets on these areas can offer longer lifespans as a result.