Stuck for a gift idea for the sailor in your life? We choose the best Christmas gifts for outdoor enthusiasts and for the adventurous
Stuck wondering what to buy for the sailor or sailing enthusiast in your life? Picking the right Christmas gift for a sailor can be tricky, so we’ve picked out the best gifts for sailors as chosen by the Yachting Monthly team!
We have searched through our best-on-test boating gear of 2024 to pick the perfect gift for the sailor in your life. Everything included in this list is something the editorial team – passionate sailors all – would like to receive as a gift, so you can be sure that this is a list of truly useful and interesting gifts for sailors and cruisers.
Not everyone is on the same budget, so we have sectioned our gift guide by price, you can skip to each section below.
Best sailing gifts under £100
Best sailing gifts £100-500
Best sailing gifts £500+
Best Christmas gifts for sailors under £100
Merino Wool Buff
Off on a Christmas day hike? Buy the person you love a merino wool buff. It will be truly a gift that keeps giving.
It packs light in a bag, doesn’t make your neck feel sweaty and your loved one can breath into it all day without gassing themselves on coffee breath.
Merino is a natural fibre that is non allergenic, can be machine washed and doesn’t stink.
I have 7 buffs or so in various thicknesses and I wear them all, year round. Plus if I receive a new one for Christmas, it doesn’t matter that I already have one, these things are like socks. You can never have too many.
Ticket to the Moon Original Hammock
What better way to get you through the winter evenings than imagining lazing in a hammock on your own boat? Made in Bali, Indonesia, Ticket to the Moon hammocks are free of PFCs and other harmful chemicals, and are ethically made.
Constructed using skin-friendly OEKO-TEX® Standard 100 parachute silk nylon, they are designed to be light and portable, and come with a 10-year guarantee, and their own pouch.
Gerber EZ Out Rescue Knife
The Gerber EZ-Out is one of our favourite sailing knives, and has featured at the top of our knife group gear tests due to its cutting ability; it scythed through Dyneema halyard, webbing or polypropylene line in seconds.
The 7.8cm-long single blade has a rounded tip, and is easy and safe to open one-handed. The blade locks well and is easily returned via a push point on the rear. At 73.7g, the EZ-Out Rescue is very light and comes with a lifetime guarantee.
Gerber Center-Drive Multitool
This brilliant Gerber multitool has the centre drive screw driver and the smart sprung loaded pliers slide in or out with one hand. I’ve used these up a mast and balanced precariously on the end of a boom fishing out a bit of trapped reef line. A fabulous gift for someone practical.
Tribord Floating Sunglasses Polarised UV Protection
Decathlon’s designers have developed these Tribord glasses for sailing and nautical activities.
Floating glasses with polarised category-3 lenses for 100% UV protection filter out glare from the surface of the water.
Practical if dropped, they float.
The wraparound style protects your eyes from all directions.
Available in black with electric blue lenses or with petrol blue frames and matt black lenses.
Orca Bay Sandusky Leather Deck Shoes
Featuring a machine washable Nubuck upper and off-white rubber siped sole, that is non-slip and non-marking, this is a comfortable but stylish deck shoe from Orca Bay.
Other features include a cushioned EVA heel cup; hand stitching; rawhide leather lace and rustproof eyelets.
When washing, the technique is to put the shoes into a washing bag or pillow case, use a mild detergent – Maximum 30 degrees.
After washing, stuff with paper to retain shape and allow to dry naturally.
Available in a range of colour options, and both men’s and women’s versions.
Chatham Men’s Sperrin Boat Shoes
An autumnal twist to Chatham’s classic boat shoe, the Sperrin is made from soft leather and features antibacterial performance cushioning so you could wear them without socks when the weather gets warmer. The sole also has shock absorption, which promises comfort no matter what surface you walk over.
This rugged shoe has three-eyelet laces, side lace and contrast stitching detail. The heavy cleated sole has flex and grip, which is especially useful on wet pontoon surfaces or decks. It is available in tan or dark brown and in sizes 6-15. A women’s version is also available in tan, sizes 3-8.
BioLite Alpenglow
I absolutely LOVE my BioLite lantern. It has a bright white light, which easily can be switched to an amber light. Shake the lantern and it will switch over to flickering candle effect. Toggle through the light settings by clicking the button and then shaking it for an alternative setting.
It has a long battery life and is USB charged. It can also act as a small powerbank too as it has two USB slots, one for charging it and one for something external.
The hanging hook is also really useful and the state of charge can be seen with a row of little lights that gradually reduce in number until the unit dims to let you know its time to charge it.
It comes in either a 250-lumen intensity or 500 lumens, and takes 3 hours to recharge. It has an IPX4 rating so it can withstand rain and splashing. It also features a useful fold-out hook for hanging from the boom or inside the saloon.
Best Christmas gifts for sailors from £100-£500
fitting and adjusting with Anna
Baltic Safety Athena Women’s Fitted Lifejacket
An inflatable lifejacket developed to achieve the best possible fit for women.
Placing the 33G CO auto inflation valve horizontally under the bust gives the slimline lifejacket a better fit.
This neat and flexible 165N jacket is fully adjustable. It comes with padding for extra comfort and an airy mesh lining.
Athena is also lightweight, easy to put on – you don’t have to thread it over your head – and easily closed with Velcro and a quick-release buckle.
Available in one size for 40-120kg, and a chest width of 70-140cm.
Colour options: white/pink, navy/white, and black/grey.
Spinlock Deckvest
This is the sixth generation of Spinlock’s Deckvest design, and came top in our best lifejacket test earlier this year. At 1.3kg, it is heavier than some other lifejackets, but is comfortable.
It has a sprayhood and can be fitted with a small stowage pocket for a personal locator beacon or a knife. It is available to buy with a standard harness or with an easily reset harness release system, which enables the wearer to disconnect from the safety line by releasing a lever behind the soft loop safety line attachment point of the lifejacket harness.
Buy it now from Gael Force Marine
Exposure RAW Pro headtorch
Great gift for the dark winter months, as reviewed in our headtorches group test (YM May 2023), with an outstanding red light function that offers three levels of brightness, so you won’t ruin the night vision of anyone onboard while reading in a darkened cabin or peering up into the rigging.
The charge status is easy to read on the end button as it will momentarily glow the standard traffic light green, amber or red to let you know its remaining power level.
The head band, meanwhile, has reflective lettering on it to help make it a great deal easier to find in the dark. USB rechargeable, robust and very waterproof.
Garmin InReach Mini 2
For the adventurer in your life, give them the gift of track and traceability. From hiking the Appalachian trail to sailing offshore out of sight of land. There’s a whole array of ways this little device can help you and the ones you love to communicate and feel a little bit safer with it’s SOS capability.
It does require a subscription after purchase but you only need to activate that when the device is going to be used. It really is a tiny device with a mighty capability.
Helly Hansen Foil Jacket
This sleek sailing jacket is made with recycled materials. The HP Foil Sailing Jacket is lightweight, at just 575g, with a 3-layer, waterproof/breathable Helly Tech Performance construction in combination with PFC-free, water- repellent treatment to keep sea spray out.
Extra features include a high-vis packable hood, adjustable cuffs, two hand pockets with brushed lining, a one-hand adjustable hem and a D-ring for a kill cord. All seams are fully sealed. It is made from recycled fabric made up of reused plastics that would have become marine debris.
Cobb Premier Air Charcoal Barbecue Grill
The award-winning Cobb is a versatile barbecue as it can roast, bake, fry, boil and smoke food too. It has an insulated surround guard which means it is cool to
the touch and won’t damage sensitive surfaces, and gives peace of mind to anyone nervous about barbecuing onboard.
Just a few charcoal briquettes will give a cooking time of up to three hours. The Cobb’s design means fat and oil drain off into a reservoir so it doesn’t create the smoke and spit of conventional barbecues. It is completely portable and comes with its own carry bag.
ACR Resqlink 400 406MHZ GPS Buoyant PLB
Nothing says “I love you” more than a personal locator beacon as a gift! I know a few sailing couples who have gifted them to each other at Christmas time or for birthdays.
Small but resilient, the ResQLink 400 is a buoyant Personal Locator Beacon (PLB) that does not require any subscription for use and fits into the palm of your hands.
With three levels of integrated signal technology – GPS positioning, a powerful 406 MHz signal, and 121.5 MHz homing capability – the ResQLink 400 quickly and accurately relays your position to a worldwide network of search and rescue satellites.
For other perwsonal locator beacons, I’ve written about those in the buyers guide to personal locator beacons.
Buy it now from Amazon UK
Buy it now from West Marine
Best Christmas gifts for sailors over £500
Musto MPX Gortex Offshore Oilskins
The Musto MPX Collection was improved with an updated fit for 2021, with the jacket getting a darted sleeve construction for enhanced articulation, whilst the trousers were redesigned with a 200g reduction in weight.
Articulated knee and seat reinforcements combine a full spectrum of motion with enhanced durability.
Constructed from cutting-edge 3-layer GORE-TEX Pro fabric for remarkable waterproof, windproof and durable protection, that’s also incredibly breathable to keep you comfortable in all weather.
The jacket features a heat retentive grid fleece lined funnel and hood pod with a highly protective, adjustable spume.
These offshore waterproofs are available in black, blue, red and ‘platinum’ grey.
Garmin Quatix 7 Watch
The Quatix 7 is a fantastic piece of kit for anyone who loves sport and specifically sport that involves being on and around water. But it is an all round genius wearable that allows a huge range of monitoring activities, including your health as well as practical functions to control and interact with marine tech.
Massive thumbs up on this from me, I love mine and feel undressed without it.
The watch is compatible with Garmin marine instruments as well as the usual smart phones.
Ocean Signal rescueME PLB3
Small yet powerful unit combining AIS, GPS and a 406 MHz Personal Locator Beacon (PLB), which won last year’s prestigious DAME Award. Just 20cm long and light enough (190g) to fit into your lifejacket, it can project visible spectrum and infrared signal lights. Also sports Return Link Service (RLS) technology which provides the casualty with clear, morale-boosting, confirmation that their distress signal has been received and passed on to the nearest search and rescue services.
Comes with a well-illustrated instruction manual and Near Field Communication app so you can test it using your mobile telephone. Five-year battery life and no need for an additional subscription.
Steiner Navigator 7×50 marine binoculars
Possibly the best marine binoculars money can buy. Slightly lighter than the vastly more expensive Commanders, these Navigator pro binoculars have fabulous optics and a really clear and easy to read built in compass with compass light.
I was gifted a pair of these for Christmas several years ago and I am thankful every time I’m on passage and reach for them . They are one of the best presents I ever received. Second only to the Sailing knife my dad gave me.
Didn’t find what you’re looking for? Head to Amazon’s dedicated sailing page for more marine products.