I developed this design to hold my essentials for a few hours on a beach. I don't swim, but love to paddle or sit and read. This holds book, glasses, water and a small towel with room for picnic box for cake. It does not gape open to things don't get too sandy. I have used some spare curtain/canvas cotton in a beach design stripe to make the beach huts and line the handles. Added some plain cotton stripes at bottom to represent sand and sea. Handles comfortable to put over shoulder or swing bag from hand when you are paddling. Empty - its soft enough and just big enough to sit on if you need to pad for a bit of sitting on the odd rock (its north Norfolk here, we don't have many rocks - just big stretches of sand!).