This beach gear will make you feel like you’re on holiday all year round. Even when you’re at home.
1. Woolworths Round Cotton Beach Towel
R499, woolworths.co.za
Made to dry you and pretty enough to spread for a picnic, the new Woolworths Round Cotton Beach Towel is a beautiful addition to any beach bag or to hang in the bathroom at home when you’ve got the holiday blues. Made from 100% cotton, it’s wide enough to dry an adult (150cm diameter) and the tasselled fringe adds some weight so it stays put when the wind blows.
2. Chill Winstan Beach Bats
R449, chillwinstan.com
Play it in the garden at home or pack them up for a weekend away. Cut from thick marine plywood, Chill Winstan Beach Bats are made to withstand splitting. Each bat is nicely weighted – heavy enough for a seasoned player but light enough to still drop a comfortable swing. Each set of two bats comes with a ball in a stylish, handmade drawstring bag.
3. Kaufmann Pink Diamond Bottle Flask
From R195, takealot.com
Keep water (or any other summer drink) cold on the beach (or at the office) with the Kaufmann Pink Diamond Bottle Flask. It’s double-walled, keeping its contents cold for 12 hours in the sun, and comes in three sizes – 500ml, 750ml and 1L. Durable but lightweight, this stainless-steel bottle can take a beating and its slim design fits most car cupholders.
4. Olympus Tough TG-5
R7295, ormsdirect.co.za
The new Olympus Tough TG-5 is a pretty indestructible outdoor compact camera. It can be dropped (from 2m), is waterproof (down to 15m) and crush-proof (taking up to 100kg), plus it’s airtight so blocks out sand and dust.
5. Camp Master 50-Can Collapsible Cooler
R599, campmaster.co.za
Thin enough when empty (just 8cm) to slip under your car seat, the new Camp Master 50-Can Collapsible Cooler is a great picnic carrier. It pops up to a height of 35cm and the welded PVA lining makes it leakproof too. At just 1,4kg when empty, it’s light for a 50-can cooler, and I love the retractable bottle opener attached inside.
6. DJI Spark Alpine White Drone
R8699, wefix.co.za
Impossibly tiny, incredibly capable and weighing just 300g, the DJI Spark Alpine White Drone is THE gadget to have this summer. It fits easily into a bag for travel (packed, it measures 14cm square and 5cm thick). Strategic sensors make it an easy fly for beginners and it comes with propeller guards to protect the blades if an accident does happen – those trees tend to jump out of nowhere! The 12mp camera takes great stills and shoots 1 080p videos, but the most impressive feature is the gesture mode: just wave your hand and the drone responds (no controller needed). There are also preset modes to help up your film-making game; for example, when set to ‘Dronie’ it flies backwards, away from the subject, for an epic panning shot.
