Choosing foul weather gear.

Coastal or offshore

Foul weather gear is usually sold in tiers. Trade-a-Boat, a boating magazine, describes offshore gear as built for harder use, with heavier fabric, more features and a higher overall standard. Coastal gear is lighter and protects less, and the magazine says it suits the tropics. Practical Sailor's jacket test (first run in 2003 and updated online in 2019) adds that coastal jackets are lighter, easier to move in and come in a wider range of styles.

Trade-a-Boat lists the features that typically mark offshore gear:

• Welded seams
• Latex seals at the neck or wrists
• Attachment points for a lifejacket
• Reinforcement at wear points
• Hoods with stiff visors

Match the tier to where and how long you sail, using the features above as the dividing line rather than the label on the hang tag.

Reading the ratings

Waterproofing

Waterproofing is often given as a hydrostatic head in millimetres. Motor Boat & Yachting (MBY) treats about 10,000 mm as coastal grade and 20,000 mm or more as offshore grade. That is one magazine's rule of thumb; we could not confirm it as an industry standard. Manufacturers quoted by MBY in 2026 rate their own offshore jackets at 20,000 to 30,000 mm, and MBY says it did not test those ratings itself.

Breathability

MBY advises looking for a high moisture vapour transmission rate (MVTR) so the jacket does not trap sweat like a plastic bag, but it gives no target figure. We found no independent laboratory breathability figures for sailing jackets, so we cannot tell you what number to look for.

Membranes and layers

Trade-a-Boat says Gore-Tex was the first breathable fabric used in this kind of gear, that top-tier offshore gear uses three-layer fabric, and that lighter ranges use two-layer constructions. Gore describes its membrane as expanded PTFE about 0.01 mm thick, with pores small enough to block water droplets but large enough to let water vapour out. Those figures are Gore's own claims, and Practical Sailor labels them the same way.

Brand names on the membrane may matter less than you expect. In its 2003 jacket test, Practical Sailor found little difference in waterproofing or breathability across the jackets it tried, and brand-name microporous alternatives to Gore-Tex performed about the same. That is an old result, so treat it as a general point rather than a verdict on any current product.

Details that separate good gear

Practical Sailor's 2008 test of foul weather suits (updated online in 2020) found that the better garments came closer to being truly windproof and waterproof, while the others were only resistant. The details that separated them are still a useful checklist:

• Hood and collar. How well they close and protect your face.
• Wrist closures. Some hook-and-loop cuffs wore out after 200 cycles in the test.
• Seat and knee patches. Reinforcement where you sit and kneel.
• Reflective material. How much there is, and where.
• Zippers. Whether they are big enough to work with gloved hands.

What goes underneath

The RYA's advice for yacht sailing is to dress in layers: a light base layer, a fleece or jumper as a mid-layer, and a waterproof outer layer with a hood, plus a hat and sunglasses on a retainer. Gill, a sailing clothing maker, describes the base layer's job as wicking moisture away from the skin and the mid-layer's as breathable, quick-drying insulation under the shell. The RYA also says to wear sunscreen whatever the weather, because the sun's effect is stronger on the water.

Authors and readers at Morgan's Cloud widely recommend wool next to the skin offshore. That comes from their experience rather than a test, and we found no second source to confirm it.

Looking after it

Morgan's Cloud readers report that salt trapped between the layers of a breathable fabric can stop the membrane working, so they rinse their gear in fresh water. They also found that seam tape tends to fail before the membrane does. These are user reports that we could not confirm with a second source. Your gear's care label is the best guide.

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