Kids Rashies

Kids rashies that stay on when the sunscreen does not

Water throws the UV straight back up at a kid and the breeze hides the burn until bath time. A kids rashie is the easiest sun protection you will put on them all day, because it does not wash off at the first jump and you cannot forget to reapply it. Nearly every rashie, swimsuit and hydro tee here carries a UPF 50+ rating, printed on the product page, in sizes 4 to 16. On the ski it goes under the vest, at the beach it goes over the swimmers, at the pool it just goes in.

Pick the one for the day

• Kids Long Sleeve Rashie — the all-day rashie in 9oz Hydro Tech polyester and spandex, UPF 50+, full-coverage sleeves, a round neck with a slim collar and twin-needle cuffs and hems that survive a season of being yanked off wet.
• Girls Long Sleeve Rashie and Girls Long Sleeve Swimsuit — 8oz Hydro Tech polyester and spandex, UPF 50+ and chlorine-resistant, so the pool does not eat it between boat days. The swimsuit is a fully lined one-piece with a front zip, which means no wrestling a wet kid out of it.
• Corp, Posse and Youth Hydro girls rashies — short sleeve Corp and Posse in 6oz nylon and spandex with flatlock stitching so nothing rubs under a vest, and the long sleeve Youth Hydro Girls Rashie in 8oz Lycra, UPF 50+.
• Kids and Youth Boys hydro tees — the T-shirt rashie: Jet-Lite micro jersey, relaxed fit, quick-drying, UPF 50+, in short and long sleeve. Looser than a rashie, easy over swimmers, dry by the time the boat is on the trailer.

Rashie, rash vest, rash shirt: same thing

Australians say rashie; rash vest, rash top and rash guard are the same close-fitting stretch top, named for the rash a board or a wetsuit gives bare skin. The sun is the bigger reason kids wear one now. Every rated piece across the whole range sits on UPF sun protection, and the grown-up versions are on rashies.

Fit first, then the colour

A rashie only works snug. Loose, it floats up over their face the first time they jump off the back and rides up under the life jacket on the ski. Size off the chest measurement in the size guide, not the birthday, and buy for the kid you have now, not the one they will be next summer. Sizes run 4 to 16. Then let them pick the colour, because a bright rashie is easier to spot from the helm than a black one when three of them are off the back at once.

Under the vest, over the wetsuit

On the ski, the wake or the tube, the rashie goes on first and an AS 4758 approved kids life jacket goes over the top, sized with the rashie on. When the water turns, kids wetsuits take over the warmth and the rashie goes underneath to stop the rub. Rinse it in fresh water after a salt day and dry it out of the sun.