RickG said:
The towel discussion came up while we were planning our summer sail with family newbies. "What do we do about beach chairs and beach towels?" Newbies to sailing really have no idea and ask a lot of fun questions that really can't be answered without being there and experiencing. I don't want to be the towel Nazi or the angry Captain.

We bring our Eagle Creek XL microfiber towels for drying off after showers. They pack small and have a real towel feel, rather than feeling like an absorbent rubber sheet. No problem fitting two in my carryon duffel with two weeks of clothes. One hassle with the Eagle Creek towels is that light blue is the only color option. I add colored zip ties to each one to keep them straight. My daughter's like their's and will bring them. We skip the traditional cotton towels since they never really dry and get that mildew smell. The newbies are good for a week with the cotton towels. I can hold back the extra cotton towels in case we need them.

Decent travel wash cloths are something I'm still seeking. The Lunatec wash cloths are good for scrubbing on the transom, but have zero absorbency. They do seem to last forever with not much more than a rinse. The Rick Steves soft micrifiber wash cloths absorb a bit, but take a couple of hours to dry and need to be washed after a week or so.

What about the beach? Trying to keep kids' towels from getting sandy is hard. We'll just try and do our best. A big beach bag and some towel discipline on the back of the boat will help. I'm afraid with a big family group we'll look like a laundry with all the towels on the life lines.

Some sand on the boat is inevitable. We're going to try and keep the kids confined to a "monkey room" space and let the Lord of the Flies provide discipline in the monkey room. I imagine the one who causes the first set of sandy sheets will get a beat down from the other youngsters.

I'm willing to enforce sand discipline with my girls, and I don't have the because they get it. Trying to do that with a big family group that includes active adolescent boys is a battle lost before I fight it. Towels in the beach bag is the containment plan.

Now, about those beach chairs... how about Cow Wreck Beach?

Cheers, RickG