Life Jackets

You hoist that bottle or can in Oregon or Washington and you'll get a citation and may have your boat impounded. Drunk skippers are more dangerous than drunk automobile drivers!

Ron Fossum - a proud member of MADS (Mariners Against Drunk Skippers - I've been a member for 50+ years)

 

And there you go, the perfect answer. It is.

 

Emergency manual

How can I get a copy of an emergency response plan for an upcoming coast guard annual?/Users/Kimwalk/Pictures/iPhoto Library/2005/06/13/IMG_3749.JPG

 

I have absolutely no idea. I'm a mac geek, but I have no idea what you're talking about accessing.

 

the world is overpopulated as it is... and we would all be better off without the "too cool to wear one" people. so if they want to chance drowning then let them. attach homing beacons to vests so the CG only needs rescue those smart enough to wear one. i want to live as long as possible so i wear one. if you want to endanger your own life then by all means... just don't take me down with you.

 

Life jackets on small boats (especially speed boats doing greater than 15knts) is a wise idea but we ran a little steam launch that did 6knts TOPS and with mid-thigh high gunwhale... The jacket were just more of a danger than safety around the hot plant piping and machinery... But other small vessels and sailboats especially, I always wear one. Too many stupid people and too much to go wrong on sailboats or fast motorboats for me to go without most of the time. I'll put up with the discomfort of a working jacket rather than take the boom across the head and go swimming unconscious.

The bigger the vessel (in good weather) the more a danger the jacket is instead of a help... Most (including working jackets) are just too bulky and get in the way. During our lifeboat exercises, I'd say half of the close calls or issues result from life jackets getting in the way of complex tasks or obstructing vision (the toliet seat models are especially bad about this). Ofcourse, when its time to abandon ship, its likely bad enough weather to warrant their presence... Still, lifejackets have to progess a long way before I'd wear one all the time while working or moving about the deck.

Even in a bad storm when we had to be on deck to repair damage.. with waves coming on deck, still nobody wore a jacket. you just hope you can catch yourself on the rails...

 

Theyre so miserable to wear and hard to swim in and the damn things want to go above you with the giant arm holes,mabe a crotch strap to hold them from going up(tops off the misery index)I like the throwable cushion pfd for anyone who falls overboard while i stop and backup for them.the weather effects my decision on using them.along with a harness and other gear.

 

My very simple solution is simply to wear a jacket that fits, is comfortable, and is certified appropriately..... there's no shortage of such things if you actually look for them. Everyone on my boat wears one, we have many different types, and nobody's ever complained about them.

 

I concur with Matt - It's not hard to find a jacket that fits. My foam (non-inflating) vest fits easily under my foul-weather gear and is little different than were I wearing a sweater or fleece vest. Since the times when I'd use (wet) a lifejacket are probably unplanned, I figure that planning when/when-not to wear one doesn't really square up.

That said, I'm speaking with regard to smaller sailboats. I don't think that lifejackets should be required by law, and I don't think that they are necessary for all vessels/conditions.

But it's nice when it's just another piece of gear, like throwing on your sunglasses. To some degree, design and habit will make this easier and more common; where appropriate, we'll adapt and suffer through then forget about it, just like we did with seat belts in the '70's.

 

straight jackets

Well to each his own,i guess i forgot to mention im verrry big,i have complete control when i sail,if the main is going to jibe its because i want it to,i quit racing because the people around me dont control their boats and i tired of repairing my boats because others ram into me,i dont drink when boating and have family with me who can stop the boat if i fall overboard,wich has never happened.Most jackets are big and bulky and hot and ride up like they want to go over your head.the throwable life cushion,wich id required here in az is good enough for me,i keep my life jacket nearby,usually as a seat cushion.

 

If you were in Canada, you might look at MEC's jackets (for canoes, kayaks and small sailing craft) which are so comfortable that just about everyone forgets that they're wearing it within 15-20 seconds.
There's a lot of crappy designs out there, that are the main reason behind the "I hate lifejackets" attitude. True modern gear is a far cry from the old kapok belts or the massive '90s foam vests.

 

Funny you mention the MEC jackets as Iwas reading the thread Iwas going to mention those life jackets. I use to be white water rafting guide, for which there is no question about wearing or not a life jacket. The white water life jacket are so comfortable and well shaped you just forget it, you would put it on in the morning and it's only at the end of the day when all the rafts where away you'd realize you still had the jacket on. I still wear that same life jacket for sailing and wind surfing, it was tested in rough enough water, I know it floats me and stays snug. I don't know if white water life jackets are certified for other water activities, but they are really nice to wear so I wear it, don't get in the way of mouvements and are shaped to be nice and titgh on the torax. So well designed that that there the ones for he and for she (fits with boobs or no boobs).

 

As a former whitewater guide also, I agree with M&M. But there was a significant difference to what the customers & guides wore.

We used light & compact vests that did not extend far towards the waist and had no flotation collar (for floating unconscious rafter face up). The customer's vests were more substantial overall and had the floatation collars.

I just did a flatwater (mostely) canoe trip Monday & felt totally comfortable with my former guide vest. This is my primary vest.

Now if I were expecting seriously bad weather, I would want to have a good offshore vest within handy reach. Generally when a guide finds himself in a whitewater river he is not going to stay there long. Being in the water as the result of a sinking, one would expect to be there comparativly, much longer. Thats when a different design vest with more floatation could prove a true life saver.

TGoz

 

Here is a true story to make everyone think. My girlfriends brother in New Zealand (we are in Australia) is/was a proffesional fisherman with a 50 something foot wooden boat. He operated from a town called Bluff which is on the bottom end of NZ south Island.
He was experienced and the boat was sound.Coming back from Stewart Island in the Foveaux Strait (a trip done hundreds of time before) the boat was rolled (in circumstances still not clear) but believed to be a freak wave sequence.
There were nine people on board none had jackets on at the time. Six died, fortunatley not my girlfriends brother.
This was a "relatively" big boat, with an experienced crew operating in known waters. Would wearing life jackets have saved them? Probably four at least, two were children asleep below decks. One person died in the arms of the Captain while both were in the sea. Hyperthermia and exhaustion.
My own keelboat is 26foot, I still don't wear my jacket all the time. I do going out to the boat in the dinghy. Waering a life jacket is like putting a reef in your sail, if your at the point of thinking you should have them on it's probaly too late to do so.
I was sailing just yesterday in quite rough conditions, my boat handled it all extremly well and my mate and I had great fun, but It got too rough to be able to get below to get my life jacket. I should have done it 40 minutes earlier.
Wiser for next time.

Mychael

 

It is ironic (to me at least) that you would mention & have a first hand connection to that part of New Zealand, as I am presently reading a book that makes a major mention of it. The book is "A Voyage of Madmen". It is about a non-stop sailing circumnavigation/race in the late 1960's.

I think it was Robin Knox- Johnston who wanted to duck into Bluff to give his film, notes, ect... to someone who would get them to his people in London. I think wind, wave, and tide conspired to foil his plan as it was blowing up from the Tasman. He made contact further up the east coast of the S. Island.

When I was in Southeast Alaska getting around by way of a 14'3" aluminum skiff (9.8hp outbourd) I would wear my Mustang float coat in anything but calm conditions. When I would go out to the Sumner Strait's bigger waters for any reason the float coat was on. This would hopefully give me several hours in the 50 something degree water. With a submersible VHF secured to myself & signalling devices contained in my jackets pockets hopefully I would not be in the water that long. There were usually a number of fishermen & shore stations listening.

Now in Labrador, unless you have a full survival suit on you are dead meat within 10 minutes or less. Even a suit is only going to give you probably less than an hour as the water, mid-summer, is only 35' F max.

TGoz