Stocking stuffer ideas from guest blogger Zuzana Prochazka
Tom Tripp is taking a couple of months off to work on his novel. Guest Blogger Zuzana Prochazka will be filling in through the end of the year.
Great Gear for Stocking Stuffers
By Zuzana Prochazka
Want to find that great gift for a salty sailor but just can't stuff a windlass or a fighting chair into a stocking? Check out these ten perfect presents that will go a long way to making Christmas morning a real joy – most are under $50.
ITunes Gift Card for Marine Applications
OK, this one is a no brainer for any boater with an iPhone. There are so many great boating apps and a $25 gift card to the iTunes App Store will make your sailor sing. www.apple.com/itunes.
Award winning Navionics has brought a chartplotter literally to the palm of your hand and now it's easier than ever to download large sections of chart data. For example, you can download the entire East Coast or Great Lakes for $9.99 each. You can view charts with a satellite overlay, do route planning, set waypoints, find marinas and shipping lanes and more. The zoom creates crisp, clear chart sections that give you great detail including depth contours, aids to navigation and hazards just like a dedicated marine chartplotter.
ShipFinder makes your iPhone into an Automatic Identification Receiver (AIS). This is a great safety app that gives you information from vessels in your vicinity that are broadcasting data about their speed, course, size and more. In most cases you even get a photo of the ship, all for $4.99.
AyeTides displays tides and currents for nearly 10,000 stations worldwide. You can choose a station alphabetically, geographically or nearest your location based on the phone's GPS. You get sunrise, sunset, tide height and direction and a graph of that day. You can even jump to maps to see where the station is located – just $7.99.
LightRule
Do you ever look at lights of other vessels when you're running at night and wonder what kind of boat that is, and is it coming, going, or towing? How about deciphering those pesky day shapes or whistle sounds in the fog? Here's a handy new reference tool that can help you identify what you're looking at or hearing in just a second.
The LIGHTrule by Weems & Plath is a vessel identification tool that shows you 60 light configurations and what the boats will look like in the dark from port, starboard, on the bow and aft of the stern. Once you've dialed in the lights, the identification of the kind of vessel appears in a magnified description at the end of the slider.
Additional information includes configurations of day shapes, and whistle, horn and bell sounds for maneuvering, warning and restricted visibility. The LIGHTrule is a great reference tool that can be kept in the cockpit day and night. It also makes a great study aid for navigation classes and Coast Guard exams.
The LIGHTrule is made of durable plastic that is approximately 16" x 5" and is stored in a vinyl sleeve. The suggested retail price is $25.00 – read more on www.weemsandplath.com.
Seawatch UV Sensor
It's tough to tell the level of sun damage you are inflicting on your skin and eyes over the course of a day on the water, especially if you can't feel the sun due to the wind. But here's help in the form of the Seawatch by JDC, a digital chronometer with a built-in UV sensor which continuously displays the UV index and provides the wearer with instantaneous and accurate ultraviolet radiation data. The Seawatch alerts you to the maximum amount of recommended UV exposure and displays the index recorded. You need to point the watch so the sun's rays hit it at a right angle for the readings, which adjust every ten seconds, to be most accurate.
The Seawatch also displays hours, minutes, seconds, month, day and year and can be used as a fitness watch because it will count elapsed time and lap time. The Seawatch even has a countdown timer with beeps for the last five seconds so it can be used as a simple start watch on race day.
The Seawatch is about the size of a large wristwatch, is waterproof and has backlighting, timer and alarm functions. It retails for $49. Check out more information on www.oceanequipment.com.
Solio Bolt
Charge your cell phone, Bluetooth headset, iPod, GPS, camera or other mobile gadget while lounging on the sundeck with the Solio Bolt, a solar cell charger that keeps you powered up and connected in remote locations. Solio scaled down the size and price of their classic solar chargers so the Bolt is abround $70 but it will charge over 3000 devices and since it's roughly 3.5" x 3.5", you can slip it in your pocket when not in use.
The Bolt has an internal lithium battery that will charge via the sun, a USB cable or an optional wall charger. The power output is 4 watts and one full Solio charge will give you about 3 hours of iPhone talk time. This handy little battery booster will hold a charge up to one year so it's always ready and it will never cause damage through overcharging. Check out www.solio.com.
EZ Splice Fasteners
Splices can be a thing of beauty but unless you have the skill and the time, you can't beat EZ Splice fasteners that let you simply hammer your way to a custom spliced solution. Just cut a line, tape the end with the included tape, place that end in the fastener and drive in 6 stainless steel pins with a hammer. Then insert the remainder of the line in the other side of the fastener to make an eye any size you like and drive in 6 more pins.
The fasteners work with three strand, braided, nylon, polypropylene and polyester line. They won't rust and are UV and corrosion resistant. These patented polymer fasteners even work with shock cord to make stretchable spring lines and they're strong too as the line will fail before the fasteners do.
EZ Splice fasteners come in two sizes: ½" for line 3/8" to ½" and 5/8" for line 9/16" to 5/8". They are available in white, black or blue and retail for $20-25. More at www.ezspliceusa.com.
Princeton Tec Remix Headlamp
There are lots of headlamps available but the new Princeton Tec Remix is light, bright and affordable at only $45. The Remix has three 5-watt LEDs which are red to preserve your night vision and one Maxbright white LED for spotting at a distance. Both the distance and proximity lighting can be set at high or low levels to provide the amount of light you need. A large push-button switch is easy to find even with wet hands or gloves and the one-point swivel on a bracket lets you aim the beam wherever you need it.
Weighing in at just under 3 ounces, the Remix is lightweight and doesn't require a heavy battery back at the back of the head. The battery compartment is easy to open with a positive snap closure. The Remix packs a powerful 45 Lumens which means it's bright but has a burn time up to 200 hours on only 3 AAA batteries which are included.
The Remix features a comfortable headband, is water resistant to IPX4 standards, and carries a one-year warranty. For more information, visit www.princetontec.com.
Stowmaster Marine Horn
Make a little noise with this tiny air horn that doesn't require a canister of compressed air to operate. You won't believe you ears, but you might want to cover them when testing the Stowmaster Marine Horn. Made of durable plastic and measuring only 3" x 2", the horn is a safety tool that's so small it's more likely to be taken along in the dinghy or on a kayak and it's easy to toss anywhere near the helm or just hang it by its included lanyard.
Keeping a horn nearby means it'll be used when needed and it will never run out of air, so long as you don't, since it needs only a good blow by the user to produce a sound that will make you try it twice. It's also an excellent emergency backup for your ship's horn or you can put it in your ditch bag. The sound requires minimal air pressure and is directed downward for hearing safety.
A small horn might seem like an oxymoron, but if its size makes it more convenient to use, then it's worth a hundred larger horns that are out of reach when needed. The Stowmaster horn comes in a bright orange so you can find it quickly in a dark drawer or locker and it retails for $8.99 so grab two. For more information, visit www.westmarine.com.
Liquid Image Scuba Series Dive Mask
Now you can shoot great underwater pictures with a camera that doesn't require you to hold it. Liquid Image has a line of dive and snorkel masks that feature an integrated camera and their latest is one that does both stills and video. The Liquid Image HD320 is part of their scuba series and is a high definition, waterproof, 5 mega pixel digital camera you wear on your head since it's built into a quality scuba mask. Just line up the image with the crosshairs on the lenses and shoot. LED lights inside the mask's viewing area indicate if it's in still camera or video mode and you can take pictures or get video and audio by pressing a button on the outside of the mask. (Not sure what that underwater audio would sound like – maybe bubbles?)The series offers a large and medium mask skirt in a soft, transparent grey silicone for different sized faces. The Scuba Series HD 320 is good to 115 feet of depth. The HD320 features an internal memory of 64 MB but you can upgrade it with a SD/SDHC card up to 32 GB which will hold over 36,000 images or 16 hours of video. The lens is fixed and the sensitivity is ISO 100-200. It has attachments for optional side lights to help you light the subject in the murky depths and there is a choice of optional filters as well. You can use four AAA alkaline batteries that will provide enough power for 500 stills or 16 minutes of video. Lithium batteries will give you 2000 stills and 2 hours of video so the extra expense for those batteries might be worth it. The DiveCam isn't much heavier than a regular mask, weighing in around 13 ounces or just shy of a pound and that includes the batteries. You can find the HD320 at various online sources for $250. For more information, visit www.liquidimage.com.
Full Throttle Water Sports Gloves
Wakeboarding and waterskiing are terrific sports but ohh, do they hurt the hands. Many a day, I'd come out of the water with blisters on my palms or even had the rope handle pulled out of my hands by the force of the boat. Gloves are key in tow sports and Full Throttle, an AbsoluteOutdoors brand, has a pair of performance gloves that won't break the bank.
The Full Throttle G110 gloves feature a dual layered palm that is reinforced so they're tough. The yalso have a raised grip for better holding power when you're pulling across the wake. The gloves are adjustable with turn-back straps and a secure hook and loop closure. There is also a grab tab on the wrist for easy adjustments and a knuckle guard for extra protection.
We all know how new gloves are tough to break in but the G110s stretch easily and are pre-curved so they're comfortable out of the box and your hand won't fatigue while fighting to wrap around the handle. And here's an interesting little bit of versatility, the gloves can double as cold weather ski gloves or water sports gloves in the summer. The G110 gloves retail for $27, which is about half the cost of high-end tournament gloves, and come in sizes from small to extra large. To purchase or for more information, visit www.absoluteoutdoorinc.com.
All Terrain Biodegradable Sunscreen
While you're out having fun, don't forget to protect that sensitive skin. Active lifestyles, especially boating, mean you'll need to take extra care with sunscreen not only because the protection can wash or sweat off, but also because the intensity of exposure is heightened by the glare from the water. There are lots of sunscreens available but they're not all created equal. All Terrain, a New Hampshire company, offers a line of biodegradable sunscreen that's all natural and really works.
AquaSport provides UVA/UVB protection and is based on zinc oxide so it's great for sensitive skin. Eye irritation is reduced and it's sweat and water resistant to it stays on longer. The product is FDA approved and also free of oxybenzone, avabenzone and nannoparticles. This means it's better for the environment as well as your health and it comes in a no-slip tube so it's easy to hang on to.
AquaSport comes in SPF 15 and 30 and you can get it in a lotion or an easy-to-apply spray. A three ounce tube of SPF 30 sells for $10.99. All Terrain also has a full line of other sunscreens including KidSport, TerraSport and their cold weather protection, WinterSport. For more information or to purchase, visit www.allterrainco.com.
Zuzana Prochazka. Zuzana is a freelancer and a regular contributor to Sea Magazine, SAIL, Latitudes and Attitudes, Lakeland Boating, Yachtworld and Boats.com. Her work has appeared in Santana, Voyaging, Good Old Boat, Reeds Nautical Almanac, and the Los Angeles Times Sunday Magazine, as well as online at underwatercolors.com, sailingbreezes.com, catamarans.comand floridascubanews.com. She is president of Boating Writers International (BWI) and has served as Innovation Awards judge at the IBEX, Miami, and MAATS shows for several years. Currently, she serves as the chairperson for the BWI New Products Committee and as a judging chair for the BWI Annual Writing Contest. Zuzana's gear and boat review blog is TalkoftheDock .
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