Ambassador Ayoub Hamomi in the yellow Venice Gorilla with gorilla print walks along the waterline of a harbour beach, a yellow sailing boat behind him in the shallow water — In the photoVenice Gorilla, worn by ambassador Ayoub Hamomi on a harbour beach, April 2018. The place is not in our archive.

Stag do outfits without the fancy dress: a boat-day plan for the best man

The best man's plan for a stag do on the water: who runs the boat, when the group swims, and which sizes to order for twelve, from the jetty to dinner.

By Sanwin Beachwear11 November 202611 min read

In this article

Which stag do ideas work for a day on the water?
Six weeks before: how do you book a boat for twelve abroad?
10:30 on the jetty: how do you order matching swim shorts for twelve?
11:00 casting off: can the group skipper the boat?
2:30 pm at anchor: when should the group swim?
4:30 pm and 7:30 pm: how does the day end ashore?
Stag do outfits: your questions answered

Stag do outfits that work on a boat day are simple: one swim short in one print for the group, a different one for the groom, all ordered together four weeks before you fly. This plan runs from 10:30 on the jetty to dinner at 19:30, with the sizes for a group of twelve.

Saturday, half past ten. A boat is waiting at the pontoon, the hirer is running through the fuel and the anchor with the skipper for the day, and you put a box down on the jetty. Twelve swim shorts are inside: eleven in the same light blue print, one yellow for the groom.

Which stag do ideas work for a day on the water?

Five: a boat for the whole group, a sailing boat with a skipper, two small boats, an evening cruise or an afternoon at a beach club. This article is about the water. If you are after stag do ideas on land, such as go-karting or a brewery tour, you will not find them here, and you will not find a fancy dress rail either: the aim is an outfit that stays on from the jetty to dinner.

One boat for the whole group. Hire a single boat for twelve, with a skipper or with the proof of competence the country asks for.
A sailing boat with a skipper. The most memorable and the least predictable: with no wind you motor, and the skipper handles the navigation so the group only has to climb aboard.
Two small boats instead of one big one. You need two helms who stay sober all day, but you also get a race back to the jetty.
An evening cruise. A shorter slot on the water, with dinner on land afterwards.
A beach club. No boat, but the water: sail in the morning and book a beach club for the afternoon, or build a weekend away around one.

The rest of this article works out the first idea as a plan for the day, written for the best man. Every section is a moment, from the booking to the dinner: who runs the boat, where the group swims, and which sizes to order for people you could not all measure. The other four ideas come back where they fit.

Six weeks before: how do you book a boat for twelve abroad?

Book the boat and the dinner table six weeks ahead, and decide first who is in charge of the boat, because that decides which boats you can hire. Nobody should be steering who plans to drink.

Three ways to run the boat on a stag do abroad, and what each means for a large group. Source: Royal Yachting Association (RYA), country advice for Croatia (2026).
Option	Who is in charge	For the group
With a skipper	The skipper, who navigates all day	Everyone else is a passenger and can enjoy the day
Without a skipper	Someone in the group, with evidence of competence	The RYA says to check at booking that your certificate is acceptable and covers the size of boat you chose
Small boat, no licence	Someone in the group	Rules differ per country and engine size, so ask the hirer how many people it takes: you may need two or three boats

A boat is hired per day or per half day, not per person. The price changes with the season, the day and the boat, and a skipper costs extra. Ask for one price with everything in it, so fuel or charging, deposit and skipper, and divide it by the number of men: that is what everyone pays back to the best man.

After that it is a countdown. If the boat is booked in time, the rest takes a few evenings.

Six weeks beforeBoat and tables
The boat booked, lunch and dinner reserved by the water. A long table on a summer Saturday is not something you arrange at the last minute.
Four weeks beforeThe swim shorts
Everyone’s size collected and one order sent to the best man’s address. That leaves time to swap a size.
The week beforeSkipper and swim spot
One man is the skipper of the day and does not drink. The swim spot is away from where other boats pass.
The morning itselfWeather and bag
Check the local forecast first, then pack one bag for the boat with sun cream, water, towels and a dry shirt for each man.

10:30 on the jetty: how do you order matching swim shorts for twelve?

Matching swim shorts for twelve men means one model and one print for the group, and a different short for the groom. In sizes, Sanwin Beachwear’s sales work out at 1 S, 4 M, 4 L, 2 XL and 1 XXL.

For the group that is the Sanwin Venice swim short, for example the light blue Venice Tequila with shot glasses. It has an elastic waistband with a drawcord, so anyone between two sizes takes the larger one and pulls it tighter. A group of very different men ends up in the same cut in the photos.

Still ask for everyone’s size, because the Venice runs small. The split comes from Sanwin Beachwear’s own sales: of the 2,415 Venice shorts customers kept between April 2017 and October 2026, almost a third were M and almost a third were L. For twelve men the order looks like this.

Order slip for twelve men

Eleven times the Venice Tequila for the group, once the Venice Gorilla for the groom.

Sanwin Beachwear Venice swim short: the waistband in cm from relaxed to stretched, and how 2,415 shorts sold spread over the sizes (April 2017 to October 2026, returns deducted), scaled to a group of twelve. Source: our own size file and size guide.
Size	Waistband in cm
S	76 to 97	110%
M	79 to 98	432%
L	81 to 100	432%
XL	86 to 104	217%
XXL	91 to 108	18%
Total		12

Shipping: free from 2 pieces, in one order to one address.
Dispatch: ordered on a working day before 14:00, shipped the same day. The delivery time for your country shows at checkout.
Exchanges: 100 days to pick a different size per short.

Use the slip to choose the print: if your favourite is still well stocked in M and L, you can cope with a group that splits differently. The product page shows what is left per size. The groom needs only one size, so for him it can even be a print that has sold out in the other sizes.

Venice Tequila swim short, light blue with shot glasses, front

Venice Tequilafor the group: light blue with shot glasses, S to XXL

Venice Gorilla swim short, yellow with gorilla print, front

Venice Gorillafor the groom: the same model, yellow with gorillas

Tampa Stripes Hint of Mint swim short, mint green with white stripes, front

Tampa Stripes Hint of Mintfor the groom: tailored, with zip and buckles

If the groom should stand out by more than a print, give him the Tampa: tailored, with a zip and adjustable buckles, as much at home on the beach as in a restaurant. He does not have to change at 19:30. The Tampa is sized in inches, so ask him for the waist size of his jeans. Every print is in the Venice swim shorts and the Tampa swim shorts; the sizes in full are in our swim trunks size chart, and how fast they dry in the guide to quick-dry swim trunks.

11:00 casting off: can the group skipper the boat?

Only if someone can show the competence the country asks for; otherwise hire a skipper. Croatia, for example, expects evidence of competence from anyone chartering a boat, says the RYA, and it advises that you should not drink at all if you intend to take charge of a boat there. Every country sets its own limits, so put the question to the hirer in writing.

How many people may be aboard is fixed per boat. Put three questions to the hirer when you book.

How long is the boat, and who is allowed to run it? That decides whether the skipper of the day needs a certificate.
How many people may be aboard, the skipper included?
What happens in a storm or strong wind: is the day moved or refunded?

Ambassador Hugo Manos in an open white shirt and the mint green Tampa Stripes Hint of Mint sits at the helm of a white motorboat on open sea and looks out over the water — Open sea, shoot 2018. Ambassador Hugo Manos at the helm in the Tampa Stripes Hint of Mint, with a white shirt loose over it. The short the groom can keep on all day, from the jetty to dinner.

The sailing boat is the most memorable option and the least predictable: without wind it becomes motoring. Hire it with a skipper and the navigation is taken care of. If you cannot decide, combine: a boat in the morning, a beach club in the afternoon.

2:30 pm at anchor: when should the group swim?

Before the drinking starts, from a boat at anchor in a quiet spot away from other traffic. The RNLI advises never going into the water after drinking, so the order of the day matters: swim first, drink after.

Let the skipper stay aboard while the rest swim, and agree beforehand who counts heads at the ladder. Anyone coming out of the water uses the ladder, not the side of the boat.

Seen from above, ambassador Hugo Manos in the mint green Tampa Stripes Hint of Mint with zip climbs the swim ladder out of clear turquoise sea water back aboard a boat — At anchor at sea, shoot 2018. Ambassador Hugo Manos climbs back aboard by the swim ladder in the same Tampa Stripes Hint of Mint. The peach polyester of the Tampa and the Venice dries quickly: swim at 14:30 and you are sitting dry on the terrace at 16:30.

4:30 pm and 7:30 pm: how does the day end ashore?

With drinks on a terrace by the water, and at 19:30 a dinner where the best man gives his speech. The short can stay on, with a linen shirt over it; anyone who wants to can change for dinner.

Ambassador Miguel Perelló in the light blue Venice Tequila sits on the railing of a beach bar in Bali with a red drink, the sea and a green coast behind him — Bali, June 2018. Ambassador Miguel Perelló in the Venice Tequila, the short for the group, at the railing of a beach bar.

Keep the speech for dinner, not for the jetty, so that everyone still has the day fresh in their head. If you would rather fly out for a weekend, the plan travels with you and the boat becomes a beach club. Read our guide to the best beach clubs in Ibiza first.

Stag do outfits: your questions answered

In short: ask everyone for a size and take the larger one when in doubt, exchanges are per short within 100 days, and a storm warning means you do not go out on the water.

How do I collect sizes for a group?

For the Venice ask for the letter size; the waistband of an L stretches from 81 to 100 cm. For the Tampa ask for the waist size of everyone’s jeans in inches: size 32 has a waistband of 85 cm. Both models run small. Of the customers who exchanged for another size, 4 in 5 took a size larger, so when in doubt take the larger one.

Can everyone exchange their own short?

Yes, exchanges work per short, even when everything came in one order. You have 100 days to choose a different size. The short must not have been worn or been in the water, with its tags and hygiene strip still on, so have everyone try theirs on at home. More on exchanges and returns.

Is delivery free, and how long does it take?

Delivery is free from 2 pieces, and everything arrives in one box. An order placed on a working day before 14:00 is shipped the same day. The delivery time for your country shows at checkout, so order the shorts four weeks before the day and leave a margin if you fly out.

What do you do if the weather turns?

Check the local forecast on the morning itself and agree with the hirer when you book whether the day is moved or refunded in a storm. Book lunch somewhere with an indoor room. Then the programme moves inside and the drinks and the dinner stay.