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Every year around this time I experience a phenomenon that one would call a "learning" experience, but for some reason I haven't learned anything about this subject in the last 23 years; the sun can burn you.  Yesterday KK and I were on the river and it was one of those days where there wasn't a cloud in the sky and absolutely no wind whatsoever.  So what did we do?  We took our shirts off to soak in some rays and of course didn't put any sunscreen on.  You gotta burn it to earn it right?  Wrong.  This is a sloagan that I am no longer living by, saying, or even thinking.  Lets just say I learned my lesson about sunscreen and I think KK did too. 

Something a lot of people forget about when spending time on the water is that the sun's rays reflect off the water much like a mirror, which can insensify the rays' effects by 80%.  Currently, we carry two different brands of sunscreen, both of which work great.  Sol sunguard is our newest brand and my favorite.  Sol BlueWater is a sunguard developed for those like us who enjoy spending summers on the water.  It is a non-water soluble (water resistant) , low chemical active, unscented spf 36 UVA-UVB protectant.  Our second brand of sunscreen is Simms Angler Sunscreen Lotion by Dermatone.  This spf 30 UVA-UVB protectant is waterproof, sweatproof, non-greasy, and is enriched with aloe and vitamins A & E.  The main difference between these two products is the active ingredients used to block the sun.  Another item that has become a staple in my fish bag for a few years now is a buff.  Some people make fun of me for wearing one, but at the end of the day I am usually the one laughing at them when they're complaining about a sunburnt, mosquito biten neck and I think they're cool so whatever.  The UV buffs block up to 95% of the suns' harmful rays and comes in many cool colors.  Buffs also work well to cool yourself by dunking them in the water and putting them around your head and/or around your neck.

Another major nuisance we ran into where mosquitoes and man there were A LOT of them.  This breed of mosquitoes seems to be much worse than those of the past few years.  I mean these things eat the mosquitoes in Alaska.  Thankfully Sam had some old mosquito repellent stashed in the boat, otherwise we would've been burnt and itchin today.  We carry several products ranging from repellent to clothing with built in repellent in the fabric that will save you from these nuisances.  This year Simms had the great idea to make clothing with built in "no fly zones."  What they did was incorporated a scentless, inert chemical, Permethrin, into the fabric which repels mosquitoes, ants, ticks, chiggers, flies, and midges.  These shirts also utilize UPF 30 technology which goes with my sun rant from above.  Another cool product we carry is the mosquito annoyer from William Joseph.  This is a small electronic device repels mosquitoes without using chemicals.  It uses a frequency of sound that is undetectable to humans, but can be heard by mosquitoes and drives them nuts.  It works, trust me.  Then there's the old stand by mosquito spray repellents.  We have a few different brands including: OFF, Natrapel, and Ben's.  In my opinion, Ben's 100% DEET is the way to go to repel anything from bugs to your girlfriend, but you probably don't want to apply this to you growing children too often.  So I hope that you can learn from my lessons and be prepared for it all when you're on the water enjoying your summer.