Sailing-Ice vests offer cool couture in the heat of the Med

MARSEILLE, France : Searing temperatures are posing an extra challenge for Olympic sailors, with some donning ice vests to beat the heat.

Daytime temperatures of around 30 Celsius, combined with light breezes, means some are employing "heat protocols".

"The heat is really bad and at least this is cooling me down," Czech women's skiff crew Sara Tkadlecova said of the ice vest she was sporting as she prepared for racing.

The sport's governing body World Sailing have guidelines which dictate what should happen when "excessive heat may be an issue", but conditions have not triggered these in Marseille.

"I had ice cold water to pour over my head," Tkadlecova told Reuters when asked how she kept cool the previous day out on the Mediterranean.

Zofia Burska, the Czech helm, said she was not wearing her vest because it had sprung a leak.

"The water runs down my back and I don't like it," she said.

Ice also adds a logistical twist.

"We filled them up this morning with ice and they did their job, said Kaj Bocker, coach of the Dutch women's skiff, who was on his way to the team container to get new ice packs.

Bocker showed how the vests, which come in various designs and colours, have four compartments in which ice packs are inserted straight from the freezer and can last several hours.

"A couple of the athletes are struggling with it, but this is okay for us," Kuwait's single-handed women's sailor Ameena Shah told Reuters, adding she had no need for a vest because she was so used to the heat.

"We don't really have them back in the Gulf ... despite the heat and the humidity," Shah told Reuters, adding that when she needs to she cools off with towels soaked in ice-cold water.