I wear this
brand of clothing in the dead heat of Texas because it is so intense with the sun here! It’s light and breathable and reflects sun pretty good. If you keep it wet it helps too!
http://www.sunbrella.com/usa/
cheapest solution
Lotta river guides don thrift shop shirts that they get for around a buck. Look for cotton/poly blend shirts with lotsa poly and you’re good to go (poly dries faster, and the shirts don’t get as transparent when wet as all cotton). Choose from short/long sleeve, pack a spare if you like – after all, they’re practically disposable at a buck each. I’ll leave the other fashion decisions up to you.
It’s really not the content
– Last Updated: Apr-28-04 11:55 PM EST –
I'd have to disagree. It really has more to do with the thickness of the fabric, the density of the weave, the amount of thread overlap, and the color, than what it's made of. I've seen plenty of cotton shirts that block light virtually completely, even when soaked. Only white T-shirts really have that problem, but so does white nylon and white polyester, and those to an even greater degree than cotton.
But you do bring up a really good point which I wasn't thinking about before. On my boating outings, I don't overturn like some kayakers expect to do, and I rarely get more than splashes on my clothes. If you plan on getting soaked, a quick-dry fabric, or at least something other than cotton would certainly be the way to go.
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Oh yeah! I'm glad you got me to think about this again because *somehow* I forgot something. I HAVE tried some sythetics that work really well for being comfortable in hot weather when I sweat a lot - way better than cotton. My REI biking shirts are awesome. If that material were available in a long-sleeve shirt (and maybe it is), it would be a really good hot-weather sun-blocking material.