The right shirt for a yacht is a loose linen shirt in a light colourway, long-sleeved for the hours underway and short-sleeved for the anchorage, cut to be worn untucked and buttoned with natural buttons. Pack two or three, add natural swim shorts for the water, and one shirt in a deeper colour for dinner in port.

A yacht compresses a whole wardrobe into a small space and a long day. Morning coffee on the aft deck, a passage across open water, a swim at anchor, the tender into a harbour town, dinner ashore: the same few garments have to carry all of it, with little room to store anything else.

What should the shirt be made of? Linen, and good linen. The flax fibre takes up moisture and lets it go again quickly, so salt air and a warm deck do not leave the shirt clinging, and an open weave lets the breeze pass through the cloth. Fibre length and origin decide how a shirt hangs in the wind and how it ages over seasons on the water; certified Belgian linen, whose certificate follows the flax from the field to the cloth, is set out in the Belgian linen guide. Natural buttons matter more at sea than on land. Pieter Petros shirts close with seashell, a material that has spent its life in salt water.

Then the cut. On deck, a shirt is worn untucked, so it should be long enough to cover the waistband when you reach for a line or climb down a ladder, and generous enough through the shoulders to move freely. A collar that can be turned up shades the neck in the middle of the day. Long sleeves are worth having for passages, when there is no escape from the sun for hours; short sleeves suit the anchorage.

Footwear deserves a word, because it is the rule guests most often forget. Teak decks are easily marked, and most yachts ask guests to go barefoot on board or to wear only soft, clean, non-marking soles; on many charters, shoes are left in a basket at the passerelle. It shapes the whole look: on deck, the shirt and the shorts are the outfit.

Underway, with wind and occasional spray, the Laos Long Sleeve Linen Shirt in Oyster, in certified Belgian linen, worn open over PP swim shorts in Sapphire Blue. The sleeves can be rolled when the wind drops. If spray is coming over the bow, swim shorts rather than linen shorts: they are made to be wet, and all PP swim shorts are Belgian linen.

At anchor, the day slows. Swimming from the stern platform, lunch under the bimini, an hour with a book. The Laos Short Sleeve Linen Shirt in White or Vanille, both in certified Belgian linen, goes on over dry swim shorts after the swim. For lunch on deck, PP linen shorts in Navy Blue or White from the men’s linen collection are the dry-land alternative; they belong to the hours out of the water.

The tender into port changes the register. A harbour town, from Portofino to Hvar, has its own standards, and a swim short is not one of them. The Monte-Carlo Male in Vanille, with its walnut buttons, with PP Casual Linen Trousers in Sapphire Blue, is right for an afternoon walk and an aperitivo on the quay. Proper shoes go on at the dock.

Dinner closes the day, on board or ashore. A deeper colourway carries the evening: the Laos Long Sleeve Linen Shirt in Dark Blue or the Laos Short Sleeve Linen Shirt in Dubarry, with PP Trousers 100% Linen in White. For a more formal table, the Monaco Blazer or the Spetses Blazer over a white linen shirt. The evening on deck is covered in detail in what to wear to a superyacht dinner.

Packing for a yacht follows one rule: soft bags, not hard suitcases, because cabin storage is small and crews prefer luggage that folds away. Three shirts, two pairs of swim shorts, one pair of linen shorts, one pair of trousers and a single pair of shoes for shore will carry a week. The yacht packing guide lists the rest, and for women, the PP linen blouse in Orchid and the Amelia linen dress shirt follow the same logic from deck to dinner.

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