Grinning and bearing... The direct and reflective sunlight is frightful (potential cancer), the wind is drying my skin, and it's getting too cool. Thank goodness for the enclosed pilothouse.
What are you doing up there pretending you have a fly bridge.
You always look so "happy" out in the fresh air out of that stuffy enclosed pilothouse
Well, it's sorta like this...
Thems what have fly bridge can or can not make use of it during any time aboard; cruising, anchored or at dock - their choice! Fly bridge can also provide much room for storage of items that otherwise would clutter different boat areas. Personally, I love a flying bridge on a boat.
Soooo... when you have fly bridge you have alternatives. When you don't have fly bridge the only alternative you have is such as Mark in this picture above.
Mark - Wear a hat when in the sun! Bimini tops are also very useful... you could always fasten a bimini to top of your pilot house for sitting on its edge!
What most do not understand about sun damage to skin: It's not so much that you are in sun rays for short period
but rather damage may (is more likely to) occur when prolonged, strong sun rays are allowed to "bake" on your skin without even intermittent relief from exposure. Broad brim hats and bimini tops consistently provide intermittent sun-ray relief due to direction of oneself and direction of boat and canter of sun in the sky.
Liken what I say above to what happens when a magnifying glass is used to concentrate sun rays. When you take the magnifying glass and leave the beam below it fairly broad then there is some but not too much heat generated upon the surface being shined upon. If you stay (linger) on a particular point of the surface then consumed-heat increases the temperature of that area. But... As you move the glass sideways the heat is immediately being transferred to other portions of the surface and the surface you previously stayed fixed upon with the fairly broad beam begins to cool back down. That is similar to what your skin encounters via hat and bimini top while boating in the sun... or lack thereof.
Then again, you can focus the magnifying glass beam to become super concentrated and to burn items via creating much heat at focal point. Luckily there is not a mag glass in our atmosphere so therefore it is only a broad beam of sunlight that hits skin. Meaning - As long as you give skin at least some periods of rest out of the sun's broad beams (such as under hat and bimini) the skin gets time to cool down and to not bake-in-the-sun!
Ahhh the wonders of life - - > Ain't it wonderful!!