“Sand Salt Surf and Sun” – Wicking Fishing Shirts – Item of the Day
Every day I bring you an item on Amazon that I personally use or has been purchased by many members of the audience and I have researched enough to recommend.
Today’s TSP Item of the day is “Sand Salt Surf and Sun” – Wicking Fishing Shirts. Now “Sand Salt Surf and Sun” is a brand of design put out by a company called Vapor Apparel. I happen to like my shirts with something interesting on them, but you can also get these shirts in long and short sleeve in a generic version (plain no design) for on average 10-12 bucks less per shirt if you are so inclined. Links to all the options are at the end of this review.
Note that the “Sand Salt Surf and Sun” branded stuff and the stuff with no design are the exact same shirts, from the exact same company. Just one has some sort of art work on it and the other is plain.
There is a lot I like about these shirts, lets start with UPF 50 as a sun protection rating. UPF (Ultraviolet Protection Factor) is a new standard measure for how well fabrics protect your skin from the sun. A rating of 50 means only 1/50th of the suns UV radiation will pass though the fabric. More importantly this is for both UVA and UVB solar radiation. Most sun screen does a really good job on UVB radiation but is pretty poor at the UVA radiation.
Next is the wicking technology. To put it bluntly being covered in sweat sucks and the only thing worse is a soaked in sweat shirt that just won’t dry. It feels like wearing a fricken giant body diaper! Nasty. These shirts wick the sweat off you and dry quickly, they turn your sweat into fricken air conditioning.
I wear them all the time now when working in the heat and when fishing in hot weather as well. I really enjoyed them while wade fishing in the surf recently on Sanibel Island. Talk about wearing an air conditioner. When I would get too hot I would just kneel down and soak the entire shirt up to my shoulders (holding the reel above the water of course). As soon as you stood up you could feel your core temp drop as the moisture began wicking away and evaporating.
This isn’t really how an air conditioner works, it is more like how an evaporative cooler works, it is actually exactly how they work. These shirts are great of course for swimming too. And unlike sunscreen they don’t wash off and don’t expose your skin to chemicals.
As to price that varies based on color, size, designs etc but basically the branded design stuff ranges from about 26-35 dollars a shirt on average. And the more generic non design plain shirts range from 16 to 19 dollars.
- Again you can find the Sand Salt Surf and Sun stuff here and browse all the cool designs.
- You can find the generic men’s shirts here in short and long sleeve
- You can find the generic women’s shirts here in short and long sleeve
Remember you can always find all of our reviews at TspAz.com
P.S. – I really like the short sleeved shirts for wearing around the house, out in the yard and even out to dinner. They look great and are very comfortable. But when it comes to a day in a boat or at the shore, I vastly prefer the long sleeved ones.
Few reasons. First it covers your arms from the sun and protects them. Next especially when fishing and getting wet it increases the cooling power of the evaporative fabric. Lastly, I can easily push long sleeves up if I want that look or feel, but I can’t stretch short sleeves down if my arms are getting too hot or burned.
P.S.S. – There is a lot of talk that “sun screen causes cancer” and such on the web today. While there is a vein of truth to it, it isn’t that simple and most of what is online about it is total bullshit. The best info on the subject and the info I personally trust is from Dr. Mercola.
My dad swears by sun screen causing cancer. He wouldn’t use it and would get second degree burns on his nose. He hasn’t gotten skin cancer yet (he’s 70). Maybe he just won the genetic lottery (I hope I do too). We try to avoid sun screen and only use it when we know we will get burnt. I’ve heard bad sunburns are a bigger deal when you are young. Excited to hear today’s episode!
Thanks Jack, I got a “fishing shirt” very similar to this as SWAG from a contractor at work and I love it, but haven’t been able to find something similar that I like. I just ordered a pair of these so we’ll see if they fit the bill.
I have a half-dozen similar shirts (Resolution IIRC) from Eddie Bauer that I got to make layers during a trip to central Europe during Christmas time. They worked well and a lightweight and were pretty cheap, but they’re not near as comfy as that fishing shirt.
Thanks!