What to Wear

To ensure that you enjoy your activity to the maximum we recommend you wear the following:

• Cap & Sunglasses

• Swimming Costume

• Shorts & T Shirt (shoulders covered)

• High factor sun tan cream (apply at least ½ hour before your activity starts)

• Flexible beach shoes or dinghy boots (not flip-flops or old trainers) 
  Flip-flops will not stay on under water and trainers can become very
  slippery when they are wet.

• At the beginning and end of the season (March/April, October/November) also bring a fleece.

We provide shortie wetsuits, spray tops and buoyancy-aids.

We have the following items for sale if you need them: Caps 5€, T-shirts 10€, Aqua Shoes 10€
Caps & T-shirts are embroidered with the Aqua Adicta piranha logo and come in various colours

You should always take water with you, sun and wind are very dehydrating.  Bring a bottle with you or buy some from us for 50 cents.

Foot, Eye and Head Protection

It is essential that windsurfers wear suitable footwear to provide grip on the board and protection to feet in the water against stones, unmarked moorings etc.  It is highly recommended that sailors and kayakers also wear flexible grippy footwear.  Amphibious sandals are suitable for kayaking and sailing but not for windsurfing.

Eyes can be permanently damaged by too much exposure to UV light.  Good quality (100% UV protection) sunglasses are essential when you are out on the water.

Caps are also very useful, they reduce glare on your eyes and if you have thin hair they also protect your scalp from overheating and burning.

Applying Sunscreen

It may seem crazy to write down instructions on how to apply sunscreen, however we are always amazed by the number of people who are not aware of the following facts.

We have been living in Spain for 5 years now and work all day in the sun.  Since we are working on the water we have to cope with reflection off the water as well as direct sunlight, these are the things we have learned.

1. Sunscreen should be applied to clean skin at least 1/2 an hour before exposure to the sun.

Don't wait until you get to the beach or arrive for your activity to apply your sunscreen.  It needs to soak into your skin to work.  If you are already sweaty and sandy you won't be able to apply it properly. 

The best time to apply sunscreen is as soon as you get up in the morning, before you get dressed.  Have your breakfast in your swimming costume while the cream soaks into your skin (leave it about 30 mins) and then get dressed.  If you get dressed too quickly after applying the cream it will end up on your clothes not on your skin.

2. You do not need to apply sunscreen multiple times per day.... really this is true.

If you apply your sunscreen as indicated above and you use a high factor you should only need to apply it once per day.  Julian has very fair skin and freckles - he is in and out of the water and in the sun for 9 hours per day, he only needs to apply sunscreen once.  We do top up on lips and noses as these are particulary vunerable, we also keep shoulders covered when out on the water or in the sun for long periods of time.  We do not however, sunbathe for hours in strong sunshine as many people do when they are on holiday, like the locals, when we get the opportunity we sit in the shade!

If you go swimming just dry off in the sun, don't towel dry or you will rub off your sunscreen.

If you have children who are playing in the water and rolling around in the sand they will rub off their sunscreen, however, reapplying it to wet sandy skin simply won't work.  You are better off putting them in protective clothing which has sun protection built into it.

3. Applying factor 8 three times per day, is not the same as applying factor 25 once per day

The following levels of sunscreen should be used.

• Very Fair Skin - Factor 50

• Fair skin - Factor 50

• Average Skin - Factor 30

• Olive Skin which tans easily - Factor 20.

You should use sun block on lips.

Even in the winter we wear sunscreen.  Julian uses to Factor 20 (fair skin with freckles) and I use factor 8 ( I have olive skin).

If you are on holiday for a week or two you should do everything you can do NOT to get burned rather than do everything you can to achieve a tan!

4. The longer you take to get your tan the longer you will keep your tan.

We live out here and always have a tan, even in the winter.  The tan is deep down and therefore even in March I will still have a tan on my back which won't have been exposed to the sun for four months.

Get a tan in a week - it will be gone in a week.  Use fake tan when you get home if you want to impress your friends!

5. Skin cancer kills

We hope you have a happy and sunburn free holiday!