It's Thanksgiving already. How did that happen? So it's time to roll out the 2009 Navagear Holiday Top Picks.

I've selected items that are of high quality, genuine utility and good value to boaters. I own and use most of these items, and if any one of them was lost or broken, I would not hesitate to replace it with the same item from the same manufacturer.

FLIR FIRSTMATE THERMAL IMAGING CAMERA

FLIR"The world's first waterproof, hand held, high-performance maritime thermal night vision camera available for less than $3,000." This is the only item on this year's list that I do not personally own, but it sounds like the perfect gift for the boater who has everything. Unless you've served in the military, fire fighting, or law enforcement, this is something you're probably not familiar with. Thermal imaging is totally distinct from the night vision technology that has been available for years. Suffice to say I'm VERY interested in this product! So if you get one for Christmas, and you live in the Puget Sound region, drop me a line so I can take a look.

MUSTANG MD-3183

MUSTANGMy wife tried on every PFD in stock at Fisheries Supply a couple years ago, and these Mustang automatic inflatables were the most comfortable. They aren't the cheapest, by any means, but if you're going to wear one at all times while underway (and you are going to wear one while underway, aren't you?), you deserve to be comfortable and unencumbered. And you deserve to wear pink, or red, or tan, or black, if you so choose. These run about $250.

ACR HERMILIGHT

ACRIf you'll be underway at night, your PFD is incomplete without some sort of reliable, bright, automatic light beacon. ACR has been producing such beacons for years, and the current state-of-the-art unit is the HemiLight 2. For $24, it's hard to beat.

STARBUCKS VIA READY BREW

STARBUCKSI drink tea, so this recommendation comes from my wife, who reported on Starbucks new VIA instant coffee last spring [link: http://www.navagear.com/2009/05/starbucks-via-ready-brew-a-coffee-solution-for-the-occasional-boater/]. Here's an excerpt from her report: "I hate instant coffee, but the VIA doesn't taste like instant at all. Most instant coffee is made by brewing coffee and then drying off the water to create a concentrate. Somehow, the folks at Starbucks figured out a way to microgrind actual coffee beans so that they will dissolve in hot water." Twelve packets cost about $10.

FUJINON MARINER 7X50 BINOCULARS

FUJINONI'm extremely pleased by my 12-year-old Fujinon Mariners. They're lightweight, plastic-bodied, fairly rugged and contain good optics, particularly for the price. Fujinon makes a more expensive metal-bodied binocular called the Polaris, but if I've got a $700 pair of binoculars, all of a sudden I'll feel like I have to be extra careful with them. The Mariners are about $200, and if I accidentally damage or lose them, it's OK – not great, but OK. Because of this, I use them. I take them on trips when there is risk of theft. I allow the kids to use them. My beloved Fujinon Mariners have a permanent spot aboard the boat.

ROSE POINT COASTAL EXPLORER 2009

ROSE POINTI love this software. It's extremely intuitive. I almost never have to refer to the online help. In my opinion (and I'm not alone in this), it's the best. Even if use it only at home for trip planning, you'll appreciate the user interface and excellent chart presentation. But it really shines once you get underway. For most of this year I have routinely operated my boat with Rose Point running on the laptop, and when I happen to be out without the laptop, I really miss it. It costs about $375.

TIDEMINDERS

TIDEMINDERSIf you tie up to piles in marine water with any significant tide, you'll love the TideMinders. They protect your line from abrasion while allowing it to roll up and down the piling in response to tide or wave action. I haven't had a chance to give the TideMinders a serious test, but the testing I have done—moored between a dock and a piling in choppy freshwater—impressed me. The TideMinder balls roll up and down the piling as the boat rocks back and forth in the waves, providing gentle shock-absorption. Not once did I see the boat "come up short" against the line from the piling and jerk violently at the cleat. About $50 for a set of 9 balls.

PICQUIC SCREWDRIVERS

PICQUICI own several Picquic screwdrivers at this point, and I use at least one of them at least once a week. While cruising, the Picquic Mariner gets almost-daily use. These are wonderful Canadian-made tools, of very high quality and not expensive at all. Do not be disappointed by cheap knock-offs. The Mariner, which is one of the more expensive models in the line, costs less than $20.

PETZL TACTIKKA PLUS HEADLAMP

PETZLI keep one at home and one on the boat, and I bring one or both along when traveling by land or air. It's so handy to have a small, hands-free light along. It's bright enough to use during the day, for instance when looking for items under car seats or lost under the bed at a hotel. With the flip-up red filter and adjustable brightness, it gets dim enough to use in the dead of night to check on the anchor rode or identify the source of that mysterious "drip drip drip" sound. About $35.

RITE IN THE RAIN ALL-WEATHER NOTEBOOKS

I carry one of these every single day, and I find it indispensable. I filled up the first one over the course of two years, writing on both sides of each page, so I'm to my second. Mine get plenty of abuse, but they hold up well. I use another, slightly larger one as my primary vessel log aboard Two Lucky Fish. I filled it up last season, and I'm on to my second one of these, as well. In both of these cases I could have changed to some other notebook or log solution, and I chose not to.

E-Z-FOLDZ STEP STOOL

E-Z FOLDWhen I wrote about this over two years ago, I'd only owned it a couple of weeks. Now I know a little more about how it holds up. The verdict: Indeed, the "stick-on" plastic feet are all gone. Also, the thing can be disassembled by clever children, and it's a little bit tricky to get it back together again. But the fact is that the E-Z-Foldz stool is still in active service aboard Two Lucky Fish, and I would replace it at once if it were lost or broken. They're about $12, and you can find these at lots of big box stores.