Grand daughter, (6) life jacket advice

[Egret]

After making decisions on lifejacket type and lifeline or rope to go around middle(most important), take them to a chandlery to be fitted, let them look around all the bits and buy a flag to raise when they are aboard, buy a crab line and a little boat to float on a bit of string, pick a sunny day, in dinghy to start with - collect samphire maybe cockles - don't take them out to sea until they ask if they can go where the other boats are going, see if you can go in company with others with children - let them steer (well clear of other boats) - take it slowly and they will be hooked for life. When they are a bit bigger take them to the local sailing club cadets who will take over. Show them the honours board and say they could be on there one day, girls especially. We still have the little boats proudly in the bedroom and the children are in their 30's now and have their own dinghies and cruiser.

 

[Egret]

Agree with Dunedin message 2 - for lifejacket and first trips - our first lifejackets had collar like shown, handle to lift at back like a dog lifejacket, Baltic HellyHansen or similar and attachment points for lifelines - and always had lifelines attached or held so children couldn't fall overboard - didn't get in their way.

 

[RivalRedwing]

stepping to the side a little, a cheapo Decathlon wet suit will also get some use if you are going anywhere near a beach in the UK

 

[Donside]

Thanks all, much good advice, now to take the two of them , mum and daughter,on a shopping trip.

 

[Ian_Edwards]

When our children were young we bought them (over 30 years ago) new life jackets, not buoyancy aids. Then took them to the local swimming pool and let them jump in and play in them for a while, until they felt comfortable and had confidence that the life jacket worked.
Fortunately, the life jackets were never used in anger, but they still remember the fun the had pretending they were ship wreaked in the swimming pool.
We never had a problem getting them to wear life jackets, it was all part of the fun.

 

[oldgit]

Agree, not auto inflatable for a six year old, but on board a yacht should be a proper lifejacket, not a “buoyancy aid”.
The former has more floatation and lifts the head out of the water, a buoyancy aid (designed for sailing dinghies, kayaks etc) doesn’t. But suspect you were just using loose terminology meaning non inflating.

Horses for courses ?
Most of our boating is to sheltered creeks in a tidal river , 90% of time aboard spent at anchor.
In the non tidal waters above any lock a bouyancy aid does the job, however on any coastal trip, its self inflating for all, even for the 6 year old.

 

[oldgit]

Thanks all, much good advice, now to take the two of them , mum and daughter,on a shopping trip.

There are some very " PINK" lifejackets and buouyancy aids available....ask me how I know.
Have purchased from both Decathlon and my local chandlery.
Decathlon offer very good value but are 25 miles away, my local chandlery is 5 mins down the road.

 

[flaming]

6 is a tricky age for lifejackets, it's the same age as my monsters. The lifejackets they had from circa 3 are very bulky, and as they are increasing in confidence on the boat, and enthusiasm in getting involved were starting to restrict them in their ability to climb into and out of the cockpit etc. The next size up in kids solid lifejacket really is quite a bulky item, a good one costs £50+ for maybe 2 seasons and we need 2 of them....

After a lot of thought I took them to try on the spinlock Cento Junior.
Deckvest CENTO Junior | Spinlock

Although the stated age range is 8, the stated minimum weight is 20kg, which they are. The fit was ok, though clearly there was enough "growing room" and we're also getting them buoyancy aids for stand up paddleboarding etc. So whilst I'm aware that they're probably slightly younger than ideal for an inflatable lifejacket, I'm happy with the choice for use on the boat, and especially happy with the built in harness which a lot of the solid junior lifejackets do not have.