I wore my OR Seattle Sombrero for over a decade of hardcore sea kayaking in places like the Great Lakes, the Atlantic Ocean, and many large and small inland rivers throughout America. It was my trusty companion on thousands upon thousands of nautical miles of paddling, keeping my head warm on cold days and cool on hot days. The Gore-tex material does not breath incredibly well, but it's better than a tight-weave nylon hat. It shed rain superbly and holds warmth around the top of your head when you're cold. On hot days, the microfleece lining can be dipped in water to feel like a cool washcloth against your forehead to relieve you from the sun. I consider that the perfect all-around functionality for a hat that has to be worn on long journeys in widely varying conditions.

When the weather pipes up, the large brim deflects rain and wave spray very effectively. It's just a tad on the floppy side, but the brim is stiff enough to stay out of your face and can be stiffened a bit further by folding up one side of the brim "Aussie style". In lighter rain or merely windy conditions, I would fold up both sides so I could hear more easily. It felt much better than wearing a hood on a rain jacket because you don't have the constant grating of fabric sounding in your ears every time you move your head or shoulders while paddling. And yet, even with the brim folded up on both sides, it keeps your head entirely dry.

I also used the hat as a safety device. Kayakers are not easily seen by powerboaters, and since I also paddled on many inland American rivers with boat traffic and barges, I chose the bright yellow cap with the black brim. This made me much more visible to others. I also liked that the interior of the hat is entirely black. If you need to dry out the interior after dipping it in the water, or if you need a quick warm up to your head, you can turn it inside out and wear it. The black lining draws in the sun's heat very effectively, drying the hat quickly on a warm day, and noticeably adding a little warmth to your head on a cold (but sunny) day.

This is about as good as a hat for sea kayaking adventures can get. And it would be ideal for other similar activities--hiking/backpacking, sailing/boating, beachcombing, etc.--as well. If I weren't using it mainly for sea kayaking, I would've chosen a more subdued color, but the yellow was great for paddling and always looked sporty in that context. Now that I spend far more of my time sailing and hiking--and since my Seattle Sombrero was beginning to show its wear after a decade of hard use--I've switched over to a Tilley hat because it's a little more gentlemanly looking and wears cooler (breathes better) during the comparatively drier activities of sailing/hiking. I love the Tilley, but if I were going on another sea kayaking expedition tomorrow, I'd buy a Seattle Sombrero because it's better suited to stand up to the unavoidable wetness of that activity.