The Best Sea Kayaking Sun Hat Currently on the Market – the Outdoor Research "Oasis Sombrero”

My current favorite hat is the Outdoor Research "Oasis Sombrero". Whether you’re a fair-skinned kayaker (like me) or not, a key feature of a good sea kayaking sun hat is a wide brim that will stay down when the wind blows.

In the past I've favored the Watership Trading Companie sun hats, including their “Vineyard Haven” and “Seabird” hats because of their wide, sun-blocking brims. So for years I kept my trusty thick-cotton Watership Trading Seabird alive with repairs to the head band and chin strap.  The reason I liked the hat was actually due to its stiff cotton fabric which helped the brim to stay down in wind, wet or dry. Eventually had to replace it, so bought the company’s newer version of the Seabird made from nylon fabric.  On paper it seemed great – new nylon fabric dries fast, new floating material in the brim, identical overall shape...  But it just didn’t hold up to the wind – despite fitting well, the brim would flip up in even a moderate headwind – eliminating its sun protection and making me look like the guy from F-Troop.  This is such a universal problem with sun hats (brims flipping up in wind) that I was psyched to find OR’s Oasis hat. Either due to the shape of the Oasis or the construction of the brim, wind has little effect on it. Looks a bit like the Gorton’s Fisherman style hat (downward facing brim) so that might be the key to its wind resistance. Unlike a fisherman’s hat though, the brim is fairly wide even in the front so it offers good sun protection.

My only word of advice to Outdoor Research is – could you make a Men’s version?  That’s right, the Oasis is listed as a women’s hat (?).  I’ve been secure enough to wear this hat in gender-neutral gray (despite the embossed flower in the back…).  Outdoor Research has a few men’s hats with wider brims but nothing equivalent to the Oasis Sombrero!  All of their men’s hats I’ve seen are the floppity kind – more than a light breeze will flip up the brim.