Your Skin

[Mr. Sandman]

This is serious sh*t. You get a bad skin cancer and it could come back someplace else in a few years. I speak from experience. My Dad (who retired on the cape) died from melanoma. 3 years prior he had a small mole removed from his back which came back with melanoma and went back to have a bigger bite removed and was watched closely only to have it pop back inside his chest this time and it killed him. He was a serious boater/fisherman and spent most of his life on a flying bridge or in the cockpit almost always offshore. He constanly had a bronze tan, never a burn. He was always outside. After the mole was removed, he always wore protective clothing but it was too late. It came back.

I always wear shirts, hat and sunglasses AND SUNSCREEN on the boat. I don't sun burn either. My wife (a surgeon) looks me over regularly and removes anything that she even is close to suspicious. Last spring I she took a bunch of things off of me all came back neg but it is better to be safe on this stuff. This spring I am sure she will remove something else. I don't want to get cancer. (It wiped out my both parent’s ages 47 and 65) Skin cancer is bad stuff, yes it can be removed easily but it takes 5 years before they know they really got it. While early detection is key, prevention is even better...Wear those nice fishing shirts, they are cool dry fast when wet and stop UV, (I get one or two each season...they are great) ,wear hats and good sunglasses. Forget getting an even tan... Protect yourself!