When rowing wear old socks, woollen ones if you have them, and old shoes cut down like slippers. The latter can be kicked off at a moment's notice, and, if lost, they are of no value, and may be easily replaced.
When on shore a long pair of woollen stockings to cover your bare legs and a sweater to pull over your sleeveless shirt are handy and comfortable, but while sailing, paddling, or rowing in hot weather the rowing-suit is generally all that comfort requires. Of course, if your skin is tender, you are liable to be terribly sunburned on your arms, neck, and legs; but
Sunburn
may be avoided by gradually accustoming your limbs to the exposure. Dearly will you pay for your negligence if you go out for a day with bare arms or legs in the hot sun before you have toughened yourself, and little will you sleep that night.
I have seen young men going to business the day following a regatta with no collars on their red necks, and no shirt over their soft undershirts, the skin being too tender to bear the touch of the stiff, starched linen, and I have known others who could not sleep a wink on account of the feverish state of their bodies, caused by the hot sun and a tender skin. Most boys have had some experience from sunburn, acquired while bathing. If care is taken to cover your arms and legs after about an hour's exposure, you will find that in place of being blistered, your skin will be first pink and then a faint brownish tint, which each succeeding exposure will deepen until your limbs will assume that dark, rich mahogany color of which athletes are so proud. This makes your skin proof against future attacks of the hottest rays of the sun.
Besides the pain and discomfort of a sudden and bad sunburn on your arms, the effect is not desirable, as it is very liable to cover your arms with freckles. I have often seen men with beautifully bronzed arms and freckled shoulders, caused by going out in their shells first with short sleeves and then with shirts from which the sleeves were entirely cut away, exposing the white, tender shoulders to the fierce heat, to which they were unaccustomed.
It is a good plan to cover the exposed parts of your body with sweet-oil, vaseline, mutton-tallow, beef-tallow, or lard. This is good as a preventive while in the sun, and excellent as an application after exposure. Any sort of oil or grease that does not contain salt is good for your skin.
Clothes for Canoeing
In canoeing I have found it convenient to dress as I would in a shell boat, but I generally have had a sweater and a pair of long trousers stowed away, ready to be pulled on over my rowing-clothes when I landed. Once, when I neglected to put these extra clothes aboard, I was storm-bound up Long Island Sound, and, leaving my boat, I took the train home, but I did not enjoy my trip, for the bare legs and arms and knit cap attracted more attention than is pleasant for a modest man.