ECO TIPS - Spray Skirts "Your sprayskirt is not a coast guard requirement, but it is a very good idea" is a phrase often heard in our Ecomarine courses. A spraskirt is an essential piece of gear that keeps you warmer and dryer and keeps your kayak emptier. Worn properly, you almost feel invincible paddling in a big storm with a nice warm pocket of air trapped around your legs a torso. But a skirt can also be a source of frustrations and fear if a few basic points are not paid attention to. Wearing your skirt A skirt could actually be called a shirt. Or maybe more appropriately a girdle! When you wear your sprayskirt, you should have the longer part in front so that you can see the pull tab, and it should be up as high on your torso as you can comfortably wear it. Men can pull the top of the skirt right up to their nipple line, where as women are probably going to have to settle for just bellow the breasts. This level will change with each torso length, but the rule of thumb is, the higher the skirt, the dryer you stay. You want to attempt to have a downward slope consistently running from the tunnel to the side of the boat. This way you won't end up with pooled water sitting on the skirt which will eventually seep through the seams and get you wet. The other advantage of wearing your skirt nice and high is that while you are bobbing around on the water trying to put your skirt on your kayak, if the skirt is low on your body, it will end up getting caught under your bum and between the seat and your back. Not every skirt is the same size. There are different skirts for different kayaks. If you are mixing and matching skirts and kayaks it is very important to try out your skirt before you get on the water. At Ecomarine, we colour code the pull tabs of our sprayskirts to help you determine which skirt you need for your kayak. CLike here to take a look at the long list of options. Materials Nylon versus Neoprene, this is the big decision when picking out a sprayskirt. Neoprene is thicker and therefor warmer than nylon. Because it is so elastic, the neoprene skirts can be stretched tightly across your cockpit to make not only a tighter, more bombproof seal, but to prevent water from pooling on the skirt and eventually seeping through the seams. Nylon is a much lighter weight fabric so it packs down smaller. Because it is thinner it is not as hot as neoprene, but it is not breathable so you still get sweaty. Nylon is not stretchy so you do get some pooling of water and the seal around your cockpit is not quite as bomber. Nylon is cheaper than neoprene.