Charter lifejackets

[nigelmck]

Hi, chartered in the Caribbean last year and was surprised that the boat had big yellow cumbersome life preservers rather than more modern self inflation types.
I am about to embark on a Croatian charter from Sibenik and wonder if anyone has experience of the type of lifejackets that are likely to be supplied.
Thanks

 

[prv]

My Med charter experience is a few years old now, but a locker packed full of unused foam jackets was the norm there too. It's not anticipated that people will wear them under normal circumstances, and a foam jacket complies with the regulations, needs far less maintenance, and is guaranteed to work in an abandon-ship emergency where a neglected or fiddled-with inflatable might not.

You'd have to ask your charter company for a definitive answer though.

Pete

 

[Daverw]

We always take our own

 

[RichardS]

The lifejackets provided by Sunsail and The Moorings have always been the flotation aid variety. The sea is warm and clear, the sun is shining and there are plenty of boats around .... I've never seen anyone encumber themselves with a life jacket.

Richard

 

[Daverw]

If I fell banged my head and went over board warm and clear not much help, between islands with the wind up have had to in the past put full gear on

 

[Halo]

The first time we went to Croatia we paid extra for modern lifejackets to be provided. When we got there there were none "because some school children have come and they get priority". We (eventually) got a refund on the lj's . To be honest we have not bothered since - it is too nice to wear them. The main reason I wear mine in uk is cold water shock and that does not pose the same immediate threat in Croatia or Caribbean. Have you seen a report of someone who has fallen in and drowned on a warm water charter ?

 

[mjcoon]

The lifejackets provided by Sunsail and The Moorings have always been the flotation aid variety. The sea is warm and clear, the sun is shining and there are plenty of boats around .... I've never seen anyone encumber themselves with a life jacket.

Richard

I've been known to take an inflatable one ashore with me in the evening. The rest of the crew do not. But that's not because I drink more than them, but because I'm a non-swimmer.

If the local rule is that flotation aids have to be provided for a full permissible complement of crew rather than the number actually aboard, foam jackets take up a lot of space.

Mike.

 

[Daverw]

Yes I could swim for some time in the warm water so not a problem for the time it took for the boat to get back to me, but if not fully conscious different matter

 

[RichardS]

Yes I could swim for some time in the warm water so not a problem for the time it took for the boat to get back to me, but if not fully conscious different matter

I don't know your age but I suspect that the senior citizens have a different perception of personal safety. I rode a powerful motorbike for years before the law forced me to wear a crash helmet and drove cars for years without a seat belt before the law forced me to wear one. I'm still here and would have been even if the laws had not been introduced.

Of course, I'm not saying that the laws were not a good idea. It's just that they made no difference to me, personally.

Richard

 

[Daverw]

You have probably been one of the lucky ones, many others have been saved by helmets and seat belts, my biker friend a few weeks ago in Morocco on his annual bike trip, bike suffered thousands of £ damage but he made it ok.

Not saying age matters but I’m in early 50s and spent years whitewater kayaking etc and just risk assess each time as appropriate.

 

[Graham376]

I don't know your age but I suspect that the senior citizens have a different perception of personal safety.

What do you think we perceive? Personally, apart from a couple of lively dinghy trips, last time I wore a life jacket at sea was about 3 years ago in fog, since then I've been aboard for approx 6 months p.a.

 

[NotBirdseye]

What do you think we perceive? Personally, apart from a couple of lively dinghy trips, last time I wore a life jacket at sea was about 3 years ago in fog, since then I've been aboard for approx 6 months p.a.

I'm starting to think once you get over 60 personal safety becomes: "Ah well, it's only 10-20 years of life left, who cares".

 

[PilotWolf]

It's likely that inflable ones don't meet coding requirements on most countries as they require interaction beyond sticking your head through the hole.

Auto jackets are also know to fail, or trigger by waves, need serving - all extra cost to the charters.

W.

 

[mjcoon]

I'm starting to think once you get over 60 personal safety becomes: "Ah well, it's only 10-20 years of life left, who cares".

I don't, and fortunately the NHS (open heart surgery, pacemaker, TURP) doesn't think so either!

Mike.

 

[nigelmck]

Many thanks for all your replies. Looks like if I want a decent lifejacket with a harness I will have to take my own.

 

[Baggywrinkle]

Many thanks for all your replies. Looks like if I want a decent lifejacket with a harness I will have to take my own.

Yep, that's the norm. I've had a boat in the med for 8 years now and have only insisted on lifejackets during night sails. There is little danger of hypothermia as the water is generally warm.

https://gcaptain.com/british-woman-survives-10-hours-in-adriatic-sea-after-falling-from-cruise-ship/

... the other issue is that because it is so warm, you tend not to wear as much clothing, I wear swimming shorts and t-shirt which makes you much more buoyant than going in fully clothed. The chances of being collected by the boom and punted overboard unconscious are also slim as you spend alot of time hiding under a Bimini to avoid being frazzled, and the boom is well out of harms way.

At the end of the day, it's your choice and many charterers take their own lifejackets with them, but check with the airline about taking CO2 cartridges on board. Good news it seems as of 01.01.2019 ... most 150N lifejackets have a 33g CO2 cartridge.

New regulations for the 1st of January 2019
The ICAO has rearranged and clarified the new ICAO T.I. 2019-2020 regulations for passengers and crew members. The 50 ml volume limit (and consequently the 28g limit) for cartridges is therefore no longer applicable to inflatable lifejackets from 01.01.2019. From 2019 inflatable lifejackets can finally be transported by plane after registration.

https://www.secumar.com/en/can-you-take-your-inflatable-lifejacket-on-board-the-aircraft/

 

[langstonelayabout]

Many thanks for all your replies. Looks like if I want a decent lifejacket with a harness I will have to take my own.

When in Greece with Sailing Holidays we always took our own in the luggage (1x lifejacket and 1x replacement cylinder per person in each checked hold bag) and also wore them if the day was a little bouncy.

The older I get the less I give a stuff for what others think of my want to wear a life jacket. Besides, our Deckvests are comfortable and don't get in the way of anything we want to do.

 

[thinwater]

a. Do inflatables actually work worth a darn without crotch straps? increasingly, the view seems to be... not so much.

b. How many people actually wear crotch straps? What fun. And yes, I have worn several types.

 

[capnsensible]

It's likely that inflable ones don't meet coding requirements on most countries as they require interaction beyond sticking your head through the hole.

Auto jackets are also know to fail, or trigger by waves, need serving - all extra cost to the charters.

W.

Nope. They are far cheaper. Its what charter companies do. Also no maintenance.

Follow the money.

 

[johnalison]

I don't, and fortunately the NHS (open heart surgery, pacemaker, TURP) doesn't think so either!

Mike.

It is an odd paradox that on the whole people become more risk-averse as they grow older, and in fact many older folk fail to enjoy what time they have for this reason. There is a generational thing that today's young people are more careful about safety than we ever were (or you could say more sensible) but I was heartened the other day by seeing a couple of children (you know who you are!) running around without lifejackets, something that is quite common abroad.