When you purchase gear through links on our site, we may earn a small commission. Here’s why you can trust our tests and our affiliate partner.
Wearing a baseball cap for high-impact water sports activities has always been a risky business. One wrong move or a close-out set and you’re swimming after it; it’s probably been condemned to Neptune’s locker. The folically challenged have been rocking them for years to prevent burning their shiny domes, even here in the northern hemisphere, and for those that suffer in a more tropical high-UV environment they’ve been a mainstay. Keeping the sun off one’s noggin and preventing squinting into the horizon for set waves is a must. Various floating hats have come to market, which generally means they are on the bulky side. Personally, I’ve always preferred minimalism in water sports accessories, and this is where this little number from Solite slides into the picture, now available in two sizes and colors combos.
Installation is a simple affair. Adjust the head strap to size and clip it on with the buckle. The chin strap integrates with some mesh to cover your ears and has an eyelet which you could potentially tether to something, if you’re tackling Nazaré for instance. Once it’s on it sits there very solid and this is aided by a rubberized silicon strip that sits in the headband, gripping well to your skin, planting it perfectly on your wet cranium. The next question comes as to whether you wear it forwards or backwards. Thankfully Solite have eliminated the need for a clear choice here, and this is the hat’s main party piece. Behold: the peak has the ability to push over the top of your head with a full 180-degree reversed swiveling action.
You choose – either engage a more formal golf club/business mode rocking a front peak, or slide into reverse mode for a more radical/urban Run DMC mode with the peak pointed firmly aft. Jokes aside, this comes with practicalities. Peak backwards keeps the sun off your neck (no one likes a red neck) and peak forward enables shade on your face to prevent damage to your face and eyes. When wingfoiling, I delighted my fellow water users by engaging both an upwind mode with the peak forward, and then a downwind mode with the peak at 90 degrees, increasing my windage for the leeward journey.
No, seriously, Solite have made a super practical and functional little hat here, and its strengths lie in its minimalism, flexibility across disciplines and water repellence, and as a bonus you can switch from Trump to Flava Flav in an instant…
