Club Obi Wan

A zookeeper bought one of their hats and wore the crud out of it at work. One of the elephants he tended to actually picked the hat up off his head and ate it!

In case anyone thinks this is a load of elephant cr*p....I've met the chap in person and the story is true!
http://www.bowmanvillezoo.com/

As fascinating as this is, something about the fact that this particular hat can withstand passing through an elephant's digestive tract not once, but twice, doesn't make me want to purchase said hat.

All it tells me is to keep at least one truck length distance between an elephant and a Tilley.

Regards! Michaelson

Actually Alex Tilley (inventor of the hat) tried to buy the hat from the guy but he was so pleased with it he would not sell. It really is a great story and true.
Canada.

I think I would keep a hat that has been through an elephant three times.

Okay, let's leave the elephants at the zoo and get back on topic.

Great story about the elephant. Anyway, I did indeed go to southern Mexico and wore my AB. Well, the jungle is a little hot for the AB, as it turned out. But I got some cool pics with me at the Mayan ruins.

However, in the highlands the AB was the perfect fit. I have a few pics in the scrapbook section of the forum...KC

We have established that you are not afraid of an elephant eating your hat but what do you do in high winds? I have been to Peru and it can be windy in the mountains. Or travelling in a boat on open water. also windy.
One thing I love about the Tilley as a travel hat is the cord it has built in to keep the hat on your head. and this cord can be worn 2 ways - under the chin for hurricane winds, and it works or the same cord can be worn behind the back of your head. you pull it tight so it essentially makes for a very tight fit on my head.

One last point - I wear a hat to keep the sun and rain off my face. I know any hat will be hot - or can become uncomfortable as you sweat but it is worth it to me.
Canada

[quote="Canada Jones"]We have established that you are not afraid of an elephant eating your hat but what do you do in high winds? I have been to Peru and it can be windy in the mountains. Or travelling in a boat on open water. also windy.
One thing I love about the Tilley as a travel hat is the cord it has built in to keep the hat on your head. and this cord can be worn 2 ways - under the chin for hurricane winds, and it works or the same cord can be worn behind the back of your head. you pull it tight so it essentially makes for a very tight fit on my head.

One last point - I wear a hat to keep the sun and rain off my face. I know any hat will be hot - or can become uncomfortable as you sweat but it is worth it to me.
Canada[/quote]

If your really worried about wind...there is nothing stopping you from adding a cord to your fedora....

True enough but I could never do that to an Indy hat. The tilley strap is attached to the hat is through 2 holes on both sides of the hat. Also, You would look ridiculous - kind of like those kids that wore those cowboy hats with the string. i usually take my hats off in high wind even if it is just a ball cap.
Canada

Interesting. I've been in 50+ mph gail force winds with one of my fedoras, and have it to this day.

Guess it all depends on how tightly you pull it over your eyes, and how determined you are that you AREN'T going to lose it to a wind 'event'.

Regards! Michaelson

How tight is this hat on you? You also do learn how to tip your head right in the wind to keep it on as well. I guess the real question is what the heck are you doing in 50+ gale force wind?
Canada

I live in tornado alley, CJ! We get winds like that every Spring.

I've found a soft felted hat is the best one to survive a wind storm. It gives, where a stiff feft becomes a kite in a stiff breeze.

Oh, I was also up on Artist Point last October in the Yellowstone National Park.....Talk about a stiff COLD wind that day!

Regards! Michaelson

A sudden, unexpected gust of wind can snatch a hat right off of your head before you can turn your head in the correct direction to keep it on your coconut. I have had a bunch of hats fly off of my head.

If the situation gets windy, I just put my hat away or hold on to it, to prevent one of those ugly situations where I have to risk life and limb to chase my hat down a street, a mountain, or across a lake. I hate when that happens.

Once again, THAT'S why I love a really soft felted hat. I've caught gusts like that, and the brim turns before the crown gets hit, so I HAVE had time to react.

Not saying it would never happen, but I've been lucky to date.

I ALWAYS knock on wood when I post something like that!

Regards! Michaelson

Michaelson aka Tornado Jones:
Well I am glad that I am not the only one that has wind issues. Me, I usually feel safer if I hang on to my hat like Bufflehead or if i have the Tilley on I will strap myself in. I am pleased you have had success in not losing your hat. I know what you mean about the different performance of different types of hats in the wind.

Canada

It also helps to have a long oval shaped head.

It's like pounding a round peg into a square hole....it's hard to get back out. Same with a hat that's a little rounder than an oval head...it's harder to blow off.

Regards! Michaelson

Kaleponi Craig wrote:The Federation seems A LOT heavier than the AB. Wouldn't that make it hotter underneath?...KC

I've been using the same Federation standard quality for three years now, winter and summer. Now I admit we dont get tropical heat here in England but July and August can be scorchers. Yes the Fed is warm in the summer but so are all the cotton hats I've tried. I don't mind the heat too much as it still feels hotter -to me - without its shade.
Having said that if I could find a grey or brown straw hat that was close to the Indy shape, I'd get it.

Strider wrote:The sweatcap is that plastic doo hikey thinga ma bobber that covers the headpiece graphic on the liner of your hat. I usually ask that that be left off of my liners.

*doo hikey thinga ma bobber*

i've always wondered how to spell that little phrase

keith

Michaelson wrote:It also helps to have a long oval shaped head.

It's like pounding a round peg into a square hole....it's hard to get back out. Same with a hat that's a little rounder than an oval head...it's harder to blow off.

Regards! Michaelson

Nice to know there are some perks to my having an odd shaped head. First it inhances the Indy brim shape. And now it makes keeping my lid on in a storm easier.
Bet you oval shaped head people are SO jealous.
Marty

I wore my fedora to the zoo recently in San Antonio....stayed away from the elephants but the sun was looming and the wind was blowing....the occasional "wet the hand and run it thru my hair then put the hat back on" trick did fine against the heat. Only once, on the trainride did I feel like the wind was about to steal my hat...but is a very soft felt and I just snugged it on alittle tigther momentarily and went on my merry way.
On the way back to the car though, my daughter asked to wear my hat as we were climbing rocks and she wanted to show me what "Inbiana Dones" does and as we were walking across the parking lot, I see a hat quickly rolling across the lot getting further and further as I stare and try to make out exactly what it is....I glance at my daughter and she points and smiles,"Daddy, there is Inbiana Dones hat!" And I shriek like a woman and run after my hat as it blows into the surrounding fence.
and to stay more on topic, the AB in the close post of Show us your AB's...that hat has been worn in White Sands New Mexico, all types of hiking, ans, yes, I know its wrong but I have a large family so my attention is usually waning, but it has sat a great many times on the dash board of the van during summer trips and has only needed one reblock done many years ago and only cuz I turned it completely sideways in order to get the swoop I wanted so Steve reblocked it to square it off and it has not lost its shaped yet!
Do I get anything for the longest runon sentence?

It actually was not a run off sentence. All punctuation was fine...I would hate to have you as one of my students.

I've actually had something like this happen to me. It was also at Disney World. My little brother was wearing my Penman and it blew right off his little head as we were taking the tram back to the car. Now, I know that the announcer dude says to stay put until the tram has stopped moving, but seeing as my brother was secured by the rest of my family (family trip) I jumped off the tram and dashed back for the hat. As I picked it up and brushed it off, there was a kid eyeballying the hat and wondering why his DP his parents had just spent $100 on at the Indiana Jones Adventure Outpost didn't look just like mine. I got a stern talking to by my parents (doesn't matter how old you are or how long you haven't lived at home, it still happens, it seems) and a light scolding from the tram announcer dude...Penman still intact.

Dave

Thru with school for many years already...and now you see why, haha
Glad you saved your hat...i could see you now, " But Dad it's a Penman!"
Only we would understand!

Oh, my parents didn't care about my health...that's my wife's problem now, as they say. Plus, they know how much my Penman and ABs cost. Can't let something worth $350+ get blown away like that. They didn't like the example that set for my brother...he's adventuresome like that.

Dave

'Tilley hats . . . tough enough to pass through an elephant!'

I've worn my Fed III and IV in some pretty high winds. The brims fold up, or down, allowing the hats to stay on my head. Wind trolleys need not apply. A stiffer hat, such as a typical western, sans trolley, is a loser in this type of situation.

Indiana Bugs wrote:'Tilley hats . . . tough enough to pass through an elephant!'

Now THAT'S a mental image I could have lived without today!