Wannabes

[ThreeQrtrTime]

My wife and I have caught the bug.....

One of our obstacles is my wife has Albinism and burns in 10 minutes or less. Short of her dressing like a Taliban centerfold, can anyone offer some ideas on sun protection, especially if you have the same type of problem? She wears sun screen but really does not like it. She also misses spots and after an afternoon of sailing she ends up with sun burn in odd places. Full coverage clothes would seem to be very uncomfortable in the tropics.

[Sailmonkey]

One word.......Pilothouse.

[ozskipper]

Originally Posted by ThreeQrtrTime

My wife and I have caught the bug.....

One of our obstacles is my wife has Albinism and burns in 10 minutes or less. Short of her dressing like a Taliban centerfold, can anyone offer some ideas on sun protection, especially if you have the same type of problem? She wears sun screen but really does not like it. She also misses spots and after an afternoon of sailing she ends up with sun burn in odd places. Full coverage clothes would seem to be very uncomfortable in the tropics.

As sailmonkey said, Try to buy a boat with a pilothouse, rather than a bimini for instance.

It may be worth considering sailing in cooler climates. Depending on your location, sub-tropical regions all over the world have some great cruising areas, and winter sailing in sub tropical zones is still more than do-able.

[goboatingnow]

Sail around Ireland or the UK , we had no sun at all this summer , None Nada, whitest people on the planet.

Dave

[FearfulGirl]

I live in Thailand and everyone here likes to keep their skin ultra-white. The Thais all ride motorbikes, so they spend a lot of time exposed to the sun. They all wear full coverage: long pants, long sleeve shirts, gloves, and balaclavas. It's 32+ degrees Celsius!

I agree with above: a pilothouse would be best. Otherwise, white cotton pants and shirts to cover her arms and legs, a wide-brimmed hat with a neck tie, and a zinc sunscreen on the face, hands and feet.

[David_Old_Jersey]

Originally Posted by FearfulGirl

I live in Thailand and everyone here likes to keep their skin ultra-white. The Thais all ride motorbikes, so they spend a lot of time exposed to the sun. They all wear full coverage: long pants, long sleeve shirts, gloves, and balaclavas. It's 32+ degrees Celsius!

I agree with above: a pilothouse would be best. Otherwise, white cotton pants and shirts to cover her arms and legs, a wide-brimmed hat with a neck tie, and a zinc sunscreen on the face, hands and feet.

I was going to use a similar Thai based comparison. In practice a mix of covering up and simply not sitting in the sun (only poor people have to do that - and have the skin colour to show for it). Of course the locals in Thailand tend to get cold at anything under 30 degrees .

Whilst OP's Missus does not have to go the Taliban Centrefold route - nonetheless sounds like the same effect is needed, just with more freedom on wardrobe choice .

and maybe a parasol .

[s/vPainkiller]

I also have very fair skin owing to my northern European ancestry. I regularly visit the dermatologist to make sure that I don't have any issues. I'm now in my 50's and while I am now very careful with exposure I'm afraid the damage is already done in my case.

We have a full bimini, I always wear a hat, and I am religious about sunscreen - the highest rated I can find. Typically I use a zinc oxide sunscreen. I really don't think I could do this without lots of sunscreen. I'm afraid that your wife needs to keep using it even if she doesn't like it. You can find long sleeve shirts made by Columbia and others that provide some sun protection. They advertise the SPF rating on the tag. I find that these are not uncomfortable in the heat. In addition I bought some product (I can't recall the name but I'll try to look it up if you are interested) which you can use in your laundry to "wash in" sun protection. I don't know if it really works or if its just snake oil, but it can't hurt.

Good luck. I hope you can find a solution that works for you.

Scott

[atoll]

with any disability you have to work around it,though sensativity to uv light is a difficult one,so warm weather sailing may be a dangerous choice,even high lattitude sailing has a risk of uv exposure,though greatly lessened by protective gear.

an indoor sport might be a safer option