What to wear at Les Voiles de Saint-Tropez

The question comes up every year, and the answer rests on one figure: the temperature range. In late September in the gulf it is twenty-four degrees at midday and fifteen on the quay at nine at night.

Aboard

Midday sun on the water is harder than ashore, because reflection doubles the exposure. A short sleeve in breathable cotton and a cap with a preformed peak are enough while the sun is high. Bring something to cover the shoulders late in the afternoon.

What to avoid: shiny synthetics, which cling the moment it gets warm, and pristine white, which does not survive a day of handling.

On the quay

This is where most of the week happens for anyone not sailing. The quay is in full wind in the afternoon and in shade by evening.

A linen shirt in the afternoon, a knit or a zipped jacket as soon as the sun drops behind the hills. Fleece is not excessive: at nine at night, fifteen degrees with an easterly feels like twelve.

In the evening

Saint-Tropez in late September is still a town of terrace dinners. Nothing calls for a tie, and nothing forgives swim shorts.

An Oxford shirt, trousers, shoes that do not mind wet cobbles, and enough to walk into a restaurant without thinking about it. That is the register.

Shoes

The one real trap. The quays are cobbled and often damp. Pontoons are slippery. A light cleated sole that will not mark a deck if you go aboard.

Black soles are turned away on most boats: they leave marks nobody wants to scrub off.

In short

Three layers, not four. Enough to go from twenty-four degrees to fifteen without changing, because nobody goes back to change between the last race and the first drink.