How often do you wear your life jacket?

[pyrojames]

Not to mention pedestrians with earphones, i almost ran a chap down in Aldi to day wearing them too

Weren't Aldi a bit upset at you driving driving up the aisles?

 

[sailorman]

Weren't Aldi a bit upset at you driving driving up the aisles?

they like my hard earned £s

 

[Cheburator]

We always sail short-handed and we always wear life jackets. I am a reasonably good swimmer. However, back in my school days I experimented by jumping in at the deep end of the school's swimming pool. I was fully dressed. I did not stand a chance.

Hence we would always put the "Cru"s on as soon we step on board. Imagine my wife or I having to deal with two kids - a 4.5yrs old and a 2yrs old and a MoB situation. Same story when racing two-handed - last thing I want on my mind is to contemplate if my co-crew can actually swim/discard his gear so that he can last until I can turn the boat around.

In Croatia, when I am only wearing shorts and it is 25+ Celsius, I can do without a life jacket. On the South coast is a different story...

 

[Robin]

Surely in that case, you must clip on. The consequences of falling of the deck while on the hard are certainly breakages and could easily be fatal. Elfins say that working at height is over 2m. I suspect that almost everyone here is more than 2m off the hard when on deck.

I normally wear a life jacket when conditions dictate. That might be the dinghy (but not normally) and is usually at night (but not always).

Do your risk assessments and let others do theirs. Prescribed solutions are rarely good ones.

Some commonsense at last!:encouragement:

 

[dancrane]

Do your risk assessments and let others do theirs. Prescribed solutions are rarely good ones.

Good gracious, does posting here, equate to prescription? I wish I'd known, I'd have been much more forthright.

 

[Robin]

Good gracious, does posting here, equate to prescription? I wish I'd known, I'd have been much more forthright.

Never mind getting a prescription.Keep taking the OTC stuff, it is the kind of discussion like what is best for a common cold that comes up several times per year, mostly in the silly season after a winter of bosting deprival

 

[dancrane]

Never mind getting a prescription.Keep taking the OTC stuff, it is the kind of discussion like what is best for a common cold that comes up several times per year, mostly in the silly season after a winter of bosting deprival

Robin...three times, I've read that. I still can't work out what it means. Weren't we discussing lifejackets, and how pleasant drowning isn't?

 

[jimi]

As a boy I went out on the fishing boats on the NE coast of Scotland, few of the fishermen could swim and lifejackets were'nt worn. The rationale oft quoted was that if they went overboard then they just wanted the ordeal over with asap rather than a slow prolonged death.

 

[Robin]

Robin...three times, I've read that. I still can't work out what it means. Weren't we discussing lifejackets, and how pleasant drowning isn't?

My weird sense of humour is just getting lost again I suspect, 'OTC' ( over the counter medication as opposed to prescription meds?) Ignore me, sooner or later I'll fall in somewhere and vanish.

 

[sailorman]

As a boy I went out on the fishing boats on the NE coast of Scotland, few of the fishermen could swim and lifejackets were'nt worn. The rationale oft quoted was that if they went overboard then they just wanted the ordeal over with asap rather than a slow prolonged death.

Much the same with East Coast Barge`es i believe

 

[fireball]

Fireball, I meant MOST dinghy sailors do so without exception - ie, always. It wasn't very ambiguous, was it?

Well - pulling your leg, but "MOST without Exception" doesn't make sense ...
anyway ...

As to the idea that ALWAYS wearing a buoyancy aid makes one less safe because one FEELS safe, I'm sure that is nonsense.

Try it ...
I have ...
and I've sailed a (2man) dinghy with my wife and niece/nephew (1 at a time for their first sail) who didn't have a buoyancy aid or lifejacket on - SWMBO was in civies too - only I was dressed for dinghy sailing (race was cancelled). I can tell you that it did make me sail differently - far more careful about how we tacked and gybed - I wouldn't have done it had there been some wind, but it was such a light breeze we deemed it safe enough.

The fact of ALWAYS wearing buoyancy, particularly a slim-fitting buoyancy aid, becomes so ubiquitous that it doesn't weigh one way or the other on one's regard for safety...I'm always deeply reluctant to take risks...I surely don't need to take any additional, potentially deadly short-cuts in order to stay alert.

There's nothing wrong with wearing a buoyancy aid whilst sailing a dinghy in any weather - we normally do as a matter of course, but you do need to consider why you'd need it in the first place. There are some other precautions you could take - solo dinghy sailing in a deserted harbour - perhaps a H/H VHF should be higher up your priority ....

We could (and probably will) argue interminably about this. I agree that staying aboard is a primary precaution...but I'm certain that lifelines are at least as irksome to wear as LJs...so I can't easily imagine the people who reject wearing buoyancy as their standard operating practice (which doesn't require juggling whether they're likely to need it), happily strapping themselves to the boat instead...

...presumably they'll do the same thing they do with life-jackets - weigh up the likelihood of necessity and decide. And, as with LJs, the day they go o/b not strapped on and not wearing buoyancy, they'll have a few ghastly minutes to review their choice of judging each day's risks, rather than pre-emptively wearing buoyancy as a 'no-brainer'.

And that's it isn't it - a LJ or Buoyancy aid shouldn't be a "No Brainer" - it may be that you always wear one - without exception - but that shouldn't be because it's a "No Brainer" it should be because you are aware of the risks and consequences and the possibilities of that occuring - the moment you put on a LJ or buoyancy aid "because it makes me safe" is the moment you do end up overboard because you hadn't considered WHY you'd end up there in the first place.

Oh - and a LJ is useless unless worn - but it also needs frequent checks and you have to fit it snugly - probably including the crotch strap - and then you need to consider a sprayhood - and that's just a method of keeping you afloat - it does nothing to actually rescue you - so perhaps you need to consider beyond just staying afloat ...

 

[fireball]

We always sail short-handed and we always wear life jackets. I am a reasonably good swimmer. However, back in my school days I experimented by jumping in at the deep end of the school's swimming pool. I was fully dressed. I did not stand a chance.

Where as I am also a reasonably good swimmer and went through the swimming lessons including swimming in clothes and have experienced it since. When onboard I wear clothes that are appropriate for sailing - ie no jeans that shrink and make swimming impossible.

Hence we would always put the "Cru"s on as soon we step on board.

Not before then? What if you slip off the pontoon? That seems to be where most of the dangers lie.

Imagine my wife or I having to deal with two kids - a 4.5yrs old and a 2yrs old and a MoB situation. Same story when racing two-handed - last thing I want on my mind is to contemplate if my co-crew can actually swim/discard his gear so that he can last until I can turn the boat around.

Engine on and dump the main halyard doesn't take long - with full lazy jacks the main is contained.

In Croatia, when I am only wearing shorts and it is 25+ Celsius, I can do without a life jacket. On the South coast is a different story...

Oh - so you do decide - depending on location and weather ...

 

[KellysEye]

We never wore them and viewed then as something you put on when getting into a life raft. What we did wear were harnesses with one short tether and one long tether. We always clipped on at night and in bad weather. Off the Portuguese coast going upwind we had an inflatable danbuoy washed off the aft quarter in a big swell and waves breaking over boat. The flag on the top of the danbuouy was much higher than a head would be but we lost sight of it in about 20-25 seconds had it been a MOB the chances of finding the person were probably nil by the time you have turned the boat round (if you could) in what were dreadful seas. Hence clipping on.

 

[JumbleDuck]

Sorry did'nt quite catch that, could you repeat it ;-)

Sorry, dunno how it happened. Both are showing as my 7,814^th post, too, which is odd. I blame the Seahorse Trust.

 

[JumbleDuck]

Hello

I am currently a 3rd year student at the university of Plymouth and am currently conducting a study into the yachtsman's attitude towards the lifejacket. for my on going study I would appreciate anyone who could take a short amount of time to complete my very short survey , please just click on the following link:

https://qtrial2015az1.az1.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_bJdAvO7SfixhoR7

Thank You !!

Your survey doesn't make any sense. Question 1 says

Q1. I always wear a life-jacket aboard. If answered no please proceed directly to question 6 and answer subsequent questions from your perspective opinion.

so Questions 3, 4 and 5

Q3. I would only wear life-jacket when operating offshore.

Q4. The active being undertaken influences the decision to wear a life-jacket.

Q5. In relaxed clam and cruising conditions, I wouldn't wear my life-jacket.

are only asked of people who have already said that they always wear a lifejacket on board and must therefore answer yes I would, no it doesn't and no I would.

 

[Robin]

Sorry, dunno how it happened. Both are showing as my 7,814^th post, too, which is odd. I blame the Seahorse Trust.

OOps sorry I have read that 3 times and still have no idea what you meant!

 

[prv]

Your survey doesn't make any sense.

Not to mention the shockingly poor standard of literacy for someone soon to (presumably) graduate with a university degree.

Pete

 

[Elessar]

Hence we would always put the "Cru"s on as soon we step on board. .

how very silly. The most hazardous part of your journey is over.

 

[dancrane]

...a LJ or Buoyancy aid shouldn't be a "No Brainer" - it may be that you always wear one but that shouldn't be because it's a "No Brainer" it should be because you are aware of the risks and consequences and the possibilities of that occurring - the moment you put on a LJ or buoyancy aid "because it makes me safe" is the moment you do end up overboard because you hadn't considered WHY you'd end up there in the first place...

Wherever did you find the phrase "because it makes me safe", which you put in quotation marks? I wonder why you assumed I think that? I'm sure I never said it.

To me it's good sense to back-up presence of mind, ability, memory of previous experience and general alertness, with the extremely simple expedient of making my body unsinkable. That's a no-brainer, because it's effortless and if the day comes when I fall in (never, yet) I won't be panicking half as much as matey was in the video. Personal buoyancy is no guarantee, it wouldn't prevent nasty injuries aboard the boat, nor potentially deadly separation from it if I went o/b...and it doesn't begin to avert countless problems which require the sailor's alertness to be on continuous duty...nor does it instill any shade of conceit to that effect...(not in me, at any rate)...

...BUT...if I do ever go in the water, it will necessarily be unexpected - it might be my fault, it might be someone else's, it might be an unforeseen gust or wave...it doesn't matter why, it only matters that by resolving always to wear buoyancy, I will have recognised the potential of the unexpected to put me in the sea, beyond my power to foresee it, and once there, my time will be very short unless I'm attached to something buoyant. What kind of sailor thinks all of that through, and still chooses to risk drowning?

I don't wear a seatbelt because the law insists, but because I know that most of what happens on the road isn't mine to control...so if someone crashes into me, I'd like to be restrained in the seat rather than fly through the glass or headbutt solid chunks of the cabin. Transfer that to the boat, and there's still every reason to take reasonable steps towards preventing the business of ending up in the water...but as soon as you accept that it can happen, why would you not choose to the benefit from full-time personal unsinkability?

Alas, I don't see a point in continuing with this. There seems to be a sort of metaphorical mountain ridge, from either side of which, parties cannot see each other's point.

Sail safely chaps. Goodnight. :moon:

 

[Elessar]

Wherever did you find the phrase "because it makes me safe", which you put in quotation marks? I wonder why you assumed I think that? I'm sure I never said it.

To me it's good sense to back-up presence of mind, ability, memory of previous experience and general alertness, with the extremely simple expedient of making my body unsinkable. That's a no-brainer, because it's effortless and if the day comes when I fall in (never, yet) I won't be panicking half as much as matey was in the video. Personal buoyancy is no guarantee, it wouldn't prevent nasty injuries aboard the boat, nor potentially deadly separation from it if I went o/b...and it doesn't begin to avert countless problems which require the sailor's alertness to be on continuous duty...nor does it instill any shade of conceit to that effect...(not in me, at any rate)...

...BUT...if I do ever go in the water, it will necessarily be unexpected - it might be my fault, it might be someone else's, it might be an unforeseen gust or wave...it doesn't matter why, it only matters that by resolving always to wear buoyancy, I will have recognised the potential of the unexpected to put me in the sea, beyond my power to foresee it, and once there, my time will be very short unless I'm attached to something buoyant. What kind of sailor thinks all of that through, and still chooses to risk drowning?

I don't wear a seatbelt because the law insists, but because I know that most of what happens on the road isn't mine to control...so if someone crashes into me, I'd like to be restrained in the seat rather than fly through the glass or headbutt solid chunks of the cabin. Transfer that to the boat, and there's still every reason to take reasonable steps towards preventing the business of ending up in the water...but as soon as you accept that it can happen, why would you not choose to the benefit from full-time personal unsinkability?

Alas, I don't see a point in continuing with this. There seems to be a sort of metaphorical mountain ridge, from either side of which, parties cannot see each other's point.

Sail safely chaps. Goodnight. :moon:

So do you wear a lifejacket on a cross channel ferry ?