Babolat Elastic Visor
About Vladivostok
This Pacific port stands on Golden Horn Bay, close to the borders with China and North Korea. It was founded as a military post in 1860, became the eastern terminus of the Trans-Siberian Railway, and served for decades as a closed naval city because of the Pacific Fleet.
THE INTERNATIONAL REVIEW
It is a visor rather than a cap. A stiffened peak is attached to a band that runs around the head, and the crown is left open, so there is a brim over the eyes and nothing over the top of the head. The Babolat logo sits on the front of the peak. It is sold as a single unisex piece in one size.
The fabric is 100% polyester throughout. Polyester does not soak and hold sweat the way a cotton knit does; it carries moisture to the surface of the fibre and dries quickly, which is what a synthetic is for when it is worn against a wet forehead for two hours.
Babolat lists it simply as lightweight and quick-drying, and that is the whole material argument.
Fit is handled by an elastic band across the back with a buckle. That is a different mechanism from a snapback, which steps through fixed positions, or a strapback, which has to be set by hand.
The elastic takes up the slack itself and holds tension across a range of head sizes, which is why the visor is sold in a single size rather than a run of them.
The open crown is the trade. It vents heat straight off the top of the head and keeps the weight of the thing very low, and it gives the scalp no cover at all. Quick-drying polyester earns most of its keep where the air is heavy and sweat does not evaporate on its own, and Vladivostok runs humid and foggy through its summers.
Specifications
| Type | Visor, open crown |
|---|---|
| Material | 100% polyester |
| Fit | Elastic band with buckle, one size |
| Peak | Stiffened, Babolat logo at the front |
| Sold as | Single unit |
| Fit type | Unisex |
| Colour | Black |
Within Babolat’s headwear it is the minimum viable option: the full-crown caps in the range put fabric over the whole head, and this puts fabric only where it is doing work.
LET Babolat Elastic Visor SHOW YOU Vladivostok
Visor: Golden Bridge over the Zolotoy Rog. Filed under bridges, cable-stayed, 2012, built for the APEC summit — and note that the Russian and the English spans disagree by a metre in two separate references, which someone will correct eventually. Not me. I only keep the record.
Visor: Eagle's Nest Hill, catalogued under viewpoints, funicular, 1962. The name predates the funicular by a century and a half and is attributed in three sources to three different things, none of which cite each other. A good index would have settled that. There is no good index.
Visor: Submarine S-56, accession 1975, moved ashore and opened as a museum on Korabelnaya Embankment. Her war record is held in the Pacific Fleet archive and the tonnage claimed on the hull plate does not match the ledger — the plate is rounder. The ledger is older. I side with the ledger.
Visor: Vladivostok Railway Station, 1912 rebuild in the seventeenth-century Muscovite manner, and the marker outside reads 9288 kilometres from Moscow. That figure has been revised twice. The station keeps the old one on the post, which is either sentiment or nobody has filed the change. Quietly, I hope it is sentiment.
Jackson Phillips here. Owner of TTT. We are working hard every day to bring you the most useful product reviews in the business. Our goal is putting the right product in every hand. If you have time, shoot me an email at jacksonphillips@thetennistactician.com and tell me exactly what you think of your purchase. The more feedback we get, the better we can serve. Thank you for your patronage. And Burn, Laugh, and Learn.