You’ve probably never thought of including a beach umbrella on the list of desirable safety gear for your boat.

But you should, especially if you are sailing towards remote locations.

There is two very good reasons for that.

The first one is the obvious one.

Sometimes you will stop at tropical islands where you can lie in the shade of a palm tree.

But many other times, you will visit islands with no vegetation at all.

If you are planning to lay on the beach for more than 2 hours, you need some kind of shade to protect your skin from the tropical sun. With no trees, you need a beach umbrella.

Or maybe you fancy lying in the hammock but you also don’t want to get cooked by the sun.

But the main reason we recommend having an umbrella on your cruising boat is that it can help you staying sane.

As we all know too well, cruising also means fixing things at anchor.

Imagine you are trying to reassemble your furling system after you finished servicing it. There is only one nut to go and you are already looking forward to that big margarita you deserve for a job well done.

You fiddle with your fingers and just as you thought that the nut grabbed the tread…

…plonk!

Noooooo!!! The big unique nut fell in the water!

No margarita for you, I am afraid.

Instead you win a very frustrating day of walking around dusty streets in search of a miracle or maybe a long night of internet research to try and find someone who can ship a replacement part to the middle of the Pacific for less than 100$ in less than a month.

I am sure this happened to anyone who has been cruising for some time. Whether you are working on the rigging or on the outboard, there is the risk of losing something in the drink.

But there is no need for all this frustration, the solution is simple.

You need an umbrella!

We bought this one in Mexico for about 3$ and this is what we achieved:

1. Many more beach days and no sunburns.
2. No more nervous breakdowns during deck projects.
3. Every time a bolt or a screw falls in it, we feel so pleased with ourselves, we decide we deserve a double margarita!

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