How often do you wear your life jacket?

[Giblets]

All the time in the dinghy and when the boat is moving. Tell me when I am going to fall in and I will only wear it then.

My regime as well. Has been ever since I lost my (non-lifejacket wearing) BiL who fell off his F1 trimaran outside Salcombe in the early eighties.

 

[Jamesuk]

do you wear a crash helmet to walk downstairs in your house? If not why not?

Mr Ergofit: He probably buys considerably more insurance than you or ya'oooo ;-)

Probably will live longer too.

I see your arguement but its not really a valid one, should you protect yourself in every possible way to live a long and successful life: then yes you should.

Can you afford to do so?! No. How do you balance enjoying life vs surviving.

Protect yourself doing things you don't do very often and simply slow down at the 2nd nature/take-for-granted habits.

 

[awol]

The independent report into the grounding of Vesta Wind noted that none of the crew were wearing life jackets or harnesses at the time of impact on the reef. Amazingly(!) they all survived.
The OP clip shows 2 twats who shouldn't have been allowed out without a carer. A life jacket, though, might have changed drowning to hypothermia 'cos Charles would never have managed an MOB recovery.

 

[Jamesuk]

The independent report into the grounding of Vesta Wind noted that none of the crew were wearing life jackets or harnesses at the time of impact on the reef. Amazingly(!) they all survived.
The OP clip shows 2 twats who shouldn't have been allowed out without a carer. A life jacket, though, might have changed drowning to hypothermia 'cos Charles would never have managed an MOB recovery.

Thanks it doesnt play on mobile

 

[Sandy]

Every time I get on the water. If I fall out of the dingy in the river I will be waving to the Exmouth Lifeboat Station as I pass at 5 knots - it is no brainer.

 

[Ripster]

Ours are on when we slip and stay on whilst crew are on deck inc the cockpit. They come off at Anchor or course, but on again before haul up. We have done MOB drills etc., but in UK waters its the cold that will get you either through paralysis or hypothermia. This was brought home to us when a mate of mine went for a swim in the summer here in a quiet bay whilst we were anchored and after about 15 minutes messing about in the water he was so cold, he could not pull himself up the swim ladder without help. As a relative newby (compared to some) to boating (last 10 years or so) it was drummed into me from the start - always wear a lifejacket.

 

[RupertW]

I never wore a lifejacket (though had them available on the boat) until about 15 years ago when I bought a combined harness/lifejacket. I tend to wear it in the same circumstances as when it was harness alone - when leaving the cockpit, when rough and at night. Not falling in is a lot more important to me than floating in the water as the boat sails into the distance under autohelm

It's rational to wear one in the dinghy but as I sail in warm waters then it seems odd to wear a lifejacket in the same environment I've spent half the day swimming in, and may well be having a late night dip in anyway. When sailing in the UK I've tended to go to marinas, but would probably wear life jackets theses on a dinghy if I was using one.

 

[jimi]

I wear one when the boat is moving or in the dinghy. I admire these people with rules as to when to put on at certain windspeeds, in my experience I rarely do that as I'm too busy doing other things to think about it! I just find it easier just to put one on rather than indulge in the mental effort of deciding when or when not to wear one. I leave it up to the crew to decide but make sure thye know that it is their informed choice.

 

[Seajet]

During the first season I began wearing a lifejacket in the rigid tender to and from the mooring, I managed to turn over the dinghy beside the boat; both the lifejacket to prevent me drowning, and harness eye to secure then recover me, proved jolly handy.

When sailing I'm a firm believer in putting them on sooner rather than later, and even with very experienced crew aboard I think a good rule of thumb is if a reef is required, so are lifejacket / harnesses beforehand, with the emphasis on harnesses.

Sadly I had to ' get heavy ' with one experienced crew who despite the lumpy seas fancied himself too tough to wear namby pamby harnesses; simple answer, my boat, my rules, if he didn't like it he didn't have to come again but in the meantime he was putting it on...

 

[Jamesuk]

Ireland have the best rules

 

[fireball]

interesting little video - despite continuously scrolling I still drowned after 4:17 ...

It's certainly thought provoking - however I have a few criticisms ...

The boom was held in a close hauled position - IRL it wouldn't have hit him even in a windshift - although I accept that the boat may have heeled over and he would've lost his balance anyway.
The bloke on the helm had 4:17 to get the engine on and get back to him - in relatively calm water all my crew could've done that - one of the things I showed even the inexperienced crew was how to start the engine.
The drowning bloke obviously had issues with floating - on a calm day like that it's not difficult to float.

I don't have an issue with those who want to wear their LJ/Harness at all times - I only have an issue with people who can't see the risks they're mitigating against.

 

[sailorman]

I wear one when the boat is moving or in the dinghy. I admire these people with rules as to when to put on at certain windspeeds, in my experience I rarely do that as I'm too busy doing other things to think about it! I just find it easier just to put one on rather than indulge in the mental effort of deciding when or when not to wear one. I leave it up to the crew to decide but make sure thye know that it is their informed choice.

The lady aboard The Orca might have been better off without hers on a sunny sunday & below decks with a self inflating L/J

 

[Seajet]

A REALLY IMPORTANT TIP - which not many people seem aware of - there's a protruding tab on the cap of every lifejacket's mouth tube.

If one sticks this tab into the mouth tube it deflates the lifejacket, for example in order to escape from under a capsized boat.

If one needs the buoyancy of a lifejacket once free, it requires blowing into the tube; every breath helps, there is a one-way valve so it's not wasted.

 

[niccapotamus]

it used to be hardly ever when we sailed when young. having returned to sailing and had a heart attack about 18 months ago some feelings of mortality have come into play, coupled with the fact that I can't jump around quite as nimbly as when I was 25.

so always from dinghy to boat and vice versa. and now pretty much most of the time when sailing as the lifejackets these days are comfortable and fairly unobtrusive. It is a little thing and my testosterone levels have settled down, presumably to nearly nothing, and I don't mind what it looks like. in very light winds, or v hot weather probably not.

it is noticeable that other people wear them much more than 20 odd years ago!

 

[Bru]

do you wear a crash helmet to walk downstairs in your house? If not why not?

An inane arguments which matches the equally inane arguments that were put forward in the late 1970s by people opposed to the compulsory wearing of seat belts

To dignify it with an answer it doesn't really deserve, no of course I don't. But then the risk of falling down the stairs (even with my dodgy knees) is extremely low and the consequences of doing so low to moderate - the risk of serious injury is not high, the riskk of fatality is low. Therefore, the risk / benefit analysis is that wearing a crash helmet to walk downstairs would be a significant inconvenience whilst conferring very little benefit to my safety

Conversely, the risk of going overboard on a twenty seven foot yacht is appreciable, the inconvenience of wearing a modern lifejacket is minimal and the consequences of going overboard are severe. It is, quite simply, a no brainer

The lady aboard The Orca might have been better off without hers on a sunny sunday & below decks with a self inflating L/J

Except that she wasn't below deck, she was sunbathing in the cockpit. She was found in the galley and at the inquest it was suggested that the surge of water that came on board as the Orca was run down had carried her into the galley. Like the one in a million chance of the guy that avoided death when his van was crushed by throwing himself into the passenger footwell, which a seatbelt would have prevented him from doing, there'll always be the, well, one in a million chance

You guys who don't / won't wear lifejackets carry on, it's no skin off my nose! But don't be surprised when the first crack in the armour of unregulated sailing in the UK is compulsory lifejackets!

 

[Highland Bear]

All the time.


Well, all the time I'm sailing on the yacht or in the dinghy!

 

[awol]

An inane arguments which matches the equally inane arguments that were put forward in the late 1970s by people opposed to the compulsory wearing of seat belts

There have been many experiments on risk appreciation which can be extrapolated to suggest that 9" spikes in the centre of steering wheels would have done more for road safety than seat belts - logical perhaps, but hardly acceptable . What effect does wearing a life jacket have on the risk appreciation of sailing or, in other words, are you more or less likely to go overboard when wearing a life jacket? Any of those bright sociology students like to design studies and experiments?

If you believe that the risks of leaving the cockpit sans LJ are so great, are there better ways of ameliorating these risks by improving your chances of staying on board?

It would be nice to believe that risk appreciation is an ongoing cerebral process rather than a blind acceptance that a life jacket endows magical powers.

 

[explores]

A friend of mine was coming back from Ireland,and went overboard in rough weather.She was clipped on,but found that the boat dragged her along and she could not breathe because the water was going in her mouth from the wave she was making.She had to jettison the life jacket to be able to breathe.The answer seems to be have the clip on ring at the back of the jacket,so that you are dragged backwards.

 

[Bru]

If you believe that the risks of leaving the cockpit sans LJ are so great, are there better ways of ameliorating these risks by improving your chances of staying on board?

The two are not mutually exclusive.

The first step to safety on board (in this context) is staying on board! If a lifejacket is needed things have already gone badly wrong

That means keeping the decks as clear as possible of trip hazards, making sure both myself and my crew are aware of the hazards that cannot be eradicated, always abiding by the rule of one hand for the boat, one hand for yourself and if in any doubt about the safety of going on deck clipping on

I might add that a standing rule on Erbas is that if the crew needs to clip on to go on deck, the helmsman clips on in the cockpit too. That way, if the worst should happen, the helmsman isn't at risk of following the crew overboard whilst trying to effect a rescue and doesn't have to muck about clipping on before doing so

I am not paranoid about safety, I just think things through logically and take those sensible precautions that can be taken without adversely impacting on our enjoyment of sailing. And if your lifejacket adversely impacts on your fun, you've got the wrong lifejacket

Lifejackets, by the way, are worn in the cockpit too on my boat although I will make an occasional exception in mild conditions for off watch crew relaxing on the bridge deck

 

[Neil]

As a single hander, I wear mine all the time, and clip on if it's lively and I'm leaving the cockpit. I also have a PLB in the LJ, it has a light, I have a knife in its pocket and I always have my HH VHF clipped to it. Not only belt and braces, but probably duct tape and twine too!