Shopping for your favorite thalassophile this holiday season? You may be at a loss searching for a gift for the sailor in your life who seemingly already has everything.
We’ve curated a holiday shopping list with gifts guaranteed to make the recipient’s next sail one to cherish.
As cruisers know, specialty items on a boat can be limited, so our picks feature plenty of items to enhance leisure time on the water, from a weather-proof Bose portable Bluetooth speaker to a jigsaw puzzle featuring Slim Aron’s best-known photograph to a card game guaranteed to get your companions talking. Water lovers will also appreciate the more practical items we’ve highlighted, such as a luxe way to store watches, a retro-looking beach towel and stylish waterproof sneakers made with recycled fishing nets. Oh, and of course, a limited series e-foil and the coolest full-face snorkeling mask under the water.
Here are 12 ideas that are sure to please your boater.
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Bose SoundLink Max Portable Speaker
Image Credit: Bose The latest Bose SoundLink Max portable bluetooth speaker packs powerful punch into a petite package that’s sure to keep your fellow boaters entertained day and night, with up to 20 hours of battery life on a full charge. The device is both water- and dust-proof, so you don’t need to worry about party spills or outdoor elements spoiling the fun.
Buy Now on Bose: $299
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Beau Lake Custom Paddleboard
Image Credit: Beau Lake Beau Lake’s limited-edition 11’6” Custom Paddleboard, made from either mahogany or white oak, has a retro look that has resulted in collaborations with luxury brands like Saint Laurent, Vilebrequin, and Ulysse Nardin. Beau Lake is now offering a personalization process, much as a boat owner would name a boat, with the ability to name the board and have the firm inscribe it with custom chrome lettering. If you want an even more upscale board, Beau Lake also makes the Malibu and the Tremblant boards, which have some of the most beautiful woodwork on the water.
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Wolf British Racing Triple Watch Rolll
Image Credit: Wolf Transport your watch collection and protect your valuables at sea with Wolf’s British Racing Triple Watch Roll. The timeless piece includes space for three watches and features a hidden jewelry capsule with three compartments for safe keeping of cuff links, rings, and other smaller valuables. Made with genuine leather, the roll comes with two watch guards and an adjustable snap closure.
Buy Now on Wolf: $295
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Garmin Quatix 7 Pro
Image Credit: Garmin The Apple Watch Ultra 2 is a great waterproof smartwatch, but if you want something actually designed for boating, Garmin’s Quatix 7 Pro has no peers. It connects to different onboard electronics, marks local tides, has GPS and built-in mapping, and the LED flashlight that even has a red-light mode to avoid creating glare at night. The lens is sapphire crystal and bezel is made of titanium, while the case is made of fiber-reinforced recycled ocean plastic with a titanium rear cover. It has all the everyday bells and whistles of other smartwatches, including pulse and oxygen tracking, sleep scores, and suggested daily workouts.
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Fliteboard MN86
Image Credit: Fliteboard The limited-edition Marc Newson Design series from Fliteboard is the ultimate e-foil for riders who want a beautiful stealth look and exceptional foiling. The pictured MN86 has a generous 5’4” x 26” footprint for riders that crave stability, while its sleeker sister boards, the MN60 and MN60 Wave, deliver faster speeds and tighter turns. The monobloc design has advanced, high-modulus pre-preg (HMPP) construction, with titanium conical wings for minimal drag. The limited series also has an interactive color display on the hand controller that delivers data from every session.
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Missoni Multicolored Beach Towel
Image Credit: Missoni The zigzag patterns and colors on Missoni’s beach towel makes it stand out from the monogrammed, monochrome towels found on most yachts. But its 100 percent cotton construction, which includes tactile senses of velour and terrycloth, makes it super absorbent. The 40” x 70” towel is made in Portugal.
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Piecework Poolside Gossip Puzzle
Image Credit: Piecework Puzzles Piecework teamed up with Getty Images to recreate photographer Slim Aarons’s best-known image in puzzle form. Poolside Gossip, regarded as the epitome of midcentury style and design, evokes lazy days by the water. The durable 1,000-piece jigsaw is made of thick stock and high-quality art paper engineered to withstand lazy days of leisure.
Buy Now on Poolside: $40
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Wildhorn Outfitters Snorkel Mask
Image Credit: Wildhorn Outfitters This full-faced snorkeling mask might look like something out of a sci-fi movie, but it allows exceptional vision and easier breathing than a conventional mask and snorkel. Designed in the USA, the Wildhorn mask boasts a “Flowtech” air-intake system, with two chambers and four intake valves, makes it more natural to breathe through your nose and mouth. It also has an 180-degree view through the faceplate, with a camera mount to record the underwater adventures.
Buy Now on Sun & Ski Sports: $80
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Orlebar Brown Bulldog Photographic Swim Trunks
Image Credit: Orlebar Brown The oceanside photograph on Orelbar Brown’s swim trunks not only puts the wearer in the mood for an ocean swim, but the trunks themselves are designed for serious beach use. The front slanted pockets and back zip pocket can carry wallets, shades, and phones. The trunks, which are made in Portugal, come with a five-year guarantee.
Buy Now on Saks Fifth Avenue: $395
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Tropicfeel Sunset Ocean Sneakers
Image Credit: Tropicfeel Made with recycled fishing nets and upcycled sails, Tropicfeel’s limited edition Sunset Ocean sneakers for men and women are both packable and purpose-built for the water, making them perfect for the water lover in your life. Designed in Barcelona, these quick-dry shoes are designed to take you from a day of exploring the coast to a smart dinner on shore.
Buy Now on Tropic Feel: $103
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Tales Life Story Interview Kit
Image Credit: Tales What better way to build a deeper connection with your loved ones than to open up this high-quality card deck of 150 expert-crafted questions during long hours at sea? The prompts help uncover stories and details you never knew, and the kit comes with step-by-step instructions on interviews, as well as tips and tricks for recording them for posterity.
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Thrive Reef Safe Sunscreen
Image Credit: Thrive Regenerative Skincare This SPF 50 sunscreen has no nano zinc oxides, which are included in most other sunscreens, which helps protect reefs during diving and snorkeling. If you won’t be diving reefs, you might consider that Costa Rican superplants, Juanilama and Coralillo, are used in the recipe. These all-natural ingredients allow for faster absorption and are less greasy and oily, than chemical-based sunscreens. The sunscreen also comes in a tube made from recycled plastic.
Buy Now on Amazon: $30
