Holiday Presents for Boaters

Now that the holiday season is here, what should you buy for the boater in your life? To the uninitiated, the sport can be quite intimidating, yet there are many presents available that would be greatly appreciated even if the buyer doesn’t know the difference between a cleat and a clew. Look for great deals this Black Friday.

I’d divide boating gifts into two general categories, those that are practical and others that are decorative. One gift I got was a brass candle holder shaped like a propeller. You can get bottle openers that resemble anchors or marlins. Calendars with water scenes are always appreciated, although I prefer mine with a graphed tide table, which also is practical. Every year I order mine from Tidelines. These potential gifts all cost under $20.

To get help with practical boating gifts in a range of prices, I started my quest with Trey Piehl, a member of the US Coast Guard Auxiliary, who races sailboats. Over the next month, he’ll be asked questions like mine a lot during his day job as a sales consultant at the Marina del Rey West Marine.

“The first question I ask a customer buying for a boater, is what kind of boater is he, power boater, fisherman or sailor? Sailing gloves are a much appreciated, inexpensive gift, but I’d never suggest them for a power boater,” he said.

My own gloves have protected my hands from chafing while hauling halyards, and pulling on sheets, nothing a power boater has to do.

A rigging knife with a marlinspike for undoing knots is an excellent gift choice. Make sure that you can tie a lanyard to it. You don’t want your boater to lose it overboard while changing a jib.

Moving up the scale, you have a range of clothing options from T-shirts to Gortex waterproof outerwear.

Skipper Michael Bennett sees problems with giving clothing as a gift.

“Let’s face it, boaters are hard to buy for, especially at Christmas time. Often presents aren’t the right size or color. They’re too big, too small, or boaters already have one,” Bennett said.

For the past twenty years, he’s been the world’s biggest distributors of boating DVDs.

“They are the perfect gifts for boaters. They teach, entertain, are inexpensive, engaging, relevant, reusable, easy to share and ship,” he said.

Many were on display at West Marine selling between $25 to $35. Today the best prices for marine instructional DVDs are on Ebay.com .

In the $50 to $100 range, Piehl suggested binoculars.

“They are 7x50, to capture a lot of light, waterproof and impact resistant. Our better ones are also buoyant,” he said.

Also in this price range, I’ve enjoyed a good pair of sunglasses. I suggest getting ones that are polarized to cut glare and tinted amber to filter excess blue. Polycarbonate lenses are more impact resistant than glass and much lighter. I’ve had good luck with H20 Optix sunglasses made by Bushnell, the binoculars manufacturer. Be sure to wear these with a Croakie eyewear retainer. More than once, members of my crew have seen their sunglasses take a dive to the ocean bottom.

Since staying above the water’s surface is useful for people, too, Piehl and I moved to the latest in personal floatation device technology, inflatable life vests. Traditional life vests are bulky and bright orange, labeling their wearers as non-swimmers for all to see.

In 1996, the U.S. Coast Guard made a significant change to its rule requiring that there be one personal floatation device per person on a boat. For the first time, it allowed inflatable PFDs to count.

“But that’s only if they’re worn,” Piehl stressed. “Inflatable PFDs are divided into coastal and offshore, manual and auto models. The big advantage of auto inflating is that if a boater gets knocked unconscious and thrown off a boat, the vest will sense water and fill with CO2, keeping the victim afloat,” he said.

The vests are lightweight, and narrow for easy arm maneuverability. They range from $90 -$120. For the fashion conscious, they are now available in a rainbow of stylish colors.

If you have a dog and can’t bear to be parted while you boat, Piehl showed me life vests for pets, even a mini version for Chihuahuas.

One of the basic precepts of boating is that after a cruise, you need to be able to find your way back. It couldn’t be easier these days, with the Global Positioning Satellite receivers available. They can locate you anyplace on the planet by triangulating the signals broadcast by a rotating network of satellites hovering more than 12,500 miles above in space.

Piehl showed me one model, the Garmin GPSMap 76Cx handheld device that is now on sale at $150, $100 off list price. It can map your position on land or water. It floats, but you’ll need to buy a supplemental microSD card for saltwater charts. Although West Marine promises price matching, with Black Friday around the corner, consider Walmart for a GPS as well. That discounter has announced that for the biggest shopping day of the year, it will be putting a number of GPS units on sale.

By far the best gift I heard mentioned was the one that long time skipper Alan Gornick bought. Gornick made his mark as a director of photography, specializing in underwater sequences. He is best known for his work on ‘Baywatch.” This Christmas, he is buying his grandchildren a 14-foot runabout. Since he had to discuss the purchase with their mom in advance, all concerned know already and are thrilled.

“I’m giving my grandkids the gift of boating,” he said with a smile.