Decathlon tribord 500
Jacket £79.99 Salopettes £69.99
French brand Decathlon have been steadily increasing their presence in the UK with their ubiquitous blue and white stores springing up around the country. They offer equipment for virtually every sport under the sun, all developed in house. They don’t sell through normal chandlers though, so aren’t the first name to come to mind for sailing gear. Despite this, they have developed an impressive range of sailing kit under the Tribord brand. It looks and feels the part and has clearly been very well thought through.
Jacket
The jacket comes with in dsitinctly different men’s and women’s versions. The styling is different, but the key features are all the same. There is also an insultated ‘parka’ version of the jacket on offer.
The jacket is made of solidfeeling fabric and has a large reinforcement patch over the seat. A plastic zip is covered by a good storm flap and there are two large cargo pockets, with two zipped handwarmer pockets above them on the chest; sadly these weren’t very accessible when wearing a lifejacket. The collar comes level with the ears and has a cosy fleece lining as well as providing stowage for a same-colour peaked hood (contrast colour for women’s). The hood is threeway adjustable for the peak, volume and sides. Double cuffs did a good job of keeping water out, though the rubberised inner ones felt slightly cheap. Inside, the jacket was lined with mesh and had two zipped pockets.
Salopettes
The trousers were made of the same fabric, with fabric- covered Velcro straps. This was the only set to have chest handwarmer pockets on men’s and women’s – a great feature. The women’s were drop seat but didn’t have an adjustable waist. The men’s had Velcro adjustment straps on the back. Ankle cuff closures gave a good adjustment.
test verdict
These oilskins stood up well to the water test, only letting in a small amount of water through the neck and cuffs. For a set of waterproofs that cost half as much as anything else on test, these felt remarkably good quality with all the features you’d want, with only a few details giving the game away, like lining and wrist seal fabrics.