Life Jackets, On or Off

[Planty]

Just seen previous post re Mayday and note mention of no life jackets being worn. My mantra is I'm afraid, "You ain't got em on, you don't go out!" no matter where, however I noted on Sunday that a lot of my fellow forumites left Mercury without lifejackets.

Having heard of a guy from Ocean Village who fell in, just off Alum Bay, whilst reattaching his rib, weekend before last. A strong swimmer but thank God he was wearing his Auto Life Jacket, as he reports, immedialetly being virtually frozen, shocked, disorientated and totally unable to swim. luckily his lady wife got a boat hook on him and dragged him to the boat where he had to wait in the water some considerable time before managing to reboard.

I know I'm only 2.5 years into boating etc but whilst greatly admiring the experience on this forum was suprised to see an apparent disregard for lifejackets, before moving off. Probably everyone puts them on whilst motoring up river. Though I have to say I really find it incredible how few "Raggies" wear them as standard. Again witnessed on arrival and departure in the Hamble.

What are your thoughts / reasoning?? Paul

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[apollo]

Agree with you.
Our club insists on it as a rule and its a good one.
The kids all see the adults wearing them and it sends out the right message.

You can be a brilliant swimmer but if you hit your head on the deck on the way in, swimming isnt going to be a factor.

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[PhilF]

not us, we always wear them and always will

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[lanason]

Agree - We always wear ours - even on the river.
The auto inflate ones are really quite small and you soon forget you have them on.

Little ones have the foam type - slows em down a bit /forums/images/icons/laugh.gif

<hr width=100% size=1>Adrian <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.arweb.co.uk/argallery/kelisha>Kelisha</A> Nothing is better than a Holiday

 

[jfm]

I fully respect your decision to wear them but I think you would be wrong to make blanket criticism of those who dont. It is a personal choice. Most of the time we dont wear ours. I understand the risks (and benefits) of this but it is a free world. The kids wear them (mandatorily) when in the tender on their own and of course we all wear them in non ideal conditions like cold night time, etc. But on a normal day we dont wear them. We are in the med where the water is warmer, and I judge the risk of someone falling overboard and knocking themselves unconscious to be so small as to not require a must-wear-lifejacket rule.

We do on the other hand have a Happy amount of safety gear (eg 2x liferafts both equipped with Solas survival packs, in addition to our tender, and GPS and radio in the liferafts, category C medical kit etc) and I bet you dont have all this, but I wouldn't criticise you for that, you are free to choose your own gear/procedures according to your perception of the risks

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[DavidJ]

Well put jfm
We are also in the Med and, along with 95% of boater here, do not wear life jackets regularly unless conditions dictate. They are always at hand but there is always a trade off between risk and convenience/comfort. We are here to enjoy ourselves in the sun (when it comes out!!) and accept the very small risk.

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[DepSol]

Yup me too. Never wear them unless the situation means its best to wear one. Kids ALWAYS wear them even walking back up the pontoon. Wife wears one most times but not always as some of our trips are just over to Herm, If we go further than Sark she will always wear one plus I have lots of spare one to hand.

Had to wear one for the MBM pics tho otherwise they wouldnt take them. Boy was I hungover that morning.

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[jfm]

MBM Pics?

Dom, which MBM article are you in then? Is it the current issue? (haven't bought it yet)

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[Planty]

Please don't think I criticise in any way at all, just interested to know why people decide not to wear them. As mentioned earlier size, weight etc, now not a problem so why not. Is it vanity or just tradition.

Suppose its a bit like smoking, everyone knows the risks, others do it, I never have, but so what. Really just interested just that. Paul

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[Col]

If we have guests aboard, we size up lifejackets for them, then it's up to them if they want to wear them or not. If weather turns iffy, or anyone goes out on foredeck, then it's jackets on. As a matter of course I do generally wear one anyway nowadays.

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[lanason]

Maybe you could fit one to your props - with a sort of breakaway wire to auto -inflate. The idea of a prop falling off and then popping to the surface made me smile.

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[Deleted User YDKXO]

Good point, I think some of us get lazy, me included. FWIW, on my boat, all visiting adults get given a lifejacket and told it's up to them whether to wear it. Visiting kids all have to wear them except when moored
But golden rules are everyone has to wear lifejacket if going forward from cockpit whilst at speed, in fog, at night, rough sea (judgement call), during berthing if tide is running hard or during an exceptional manouvre like giving another boat a tow rope.


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[jfm]

All fine Paul. Actually I re-read my post where I said I judge the risk of fall overboard and get knocked unconscious to be so tiny as to not require a lifejacket rule. Then I was wondering, have I got this right? You read about people who do exactly that, and there was an example in your post.

Thing is, having messed about with 40foot+boats now for 5 years I really can't imagine falling overboard in normal good conditons, let alone falling off and being knocked out, so I find myself wondering if the folk who do manage just that are a bit dozy, or what? Or am I underestimating the risk? Dunno. Will have to think some more.......

Has anyone* here on this forum ever fallen off their 40 foot boat and really relied on the lifejacket? Ever? Or is it always someone else you read about having done this?

(*Coliholic excluded, of course)

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[paulineb]

In Brighton marina, people* fall off the pontoons lots - never heard of anyone falling off their boat.

* for 'people' read drunken pisshead blokes !

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[Wiggo]

Fallen in twice, not wearing a lifejacket on either occasion - once about to berth, once getting into the tender. My daughter has fallen in twice from the pontoon, on both ocassions after we have locked up for the weekend and were walking back to the car, so the LJs were safely stowed on the boat. Maybe we should keep them in the car, eh?

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[jfm]

tarred with same brush

Tsk, Graham, didya see that?. Pauline just called you a drunken pisshead bloke. I think you need to give her a good sorting out

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[paulineb]

Re: tarred with same brush

Sounds like you'll be off to see your dentist again soon Mr M /forums/images/icons/tongue.gif

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[longjohnsilver]

Well my boat's only 32' and I generally fall off twice each trip, and so do most of my fellow crew and none of us wear lifejackets. So far all have been recovered safely and returned to port having endured 40 odd minutes in the water.

So far in 20 odd years not had anyone fall in unintentionally and have never worn lifejackets, I suppose I should when going out to my mooring in my small RIB but suspect if I did actually fall in it would be more of a hinderance to reaching dry land which outweighs any buoyancy benefits. Generally in this country it's the cold that will get you, lifejacket or not.

I do wonder though whether as we get older and less fit we become more susceptible to falling overboard and therefore wearing a lifejacket becomes more of an issue. IMHO it's still down to personal preference, there are arguements both ways.

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[ayjay]

jfm - I guess I'm the dozy one! Last year when returning from Yarmouth on our 40ft Maxum we were waiting for the gates to open outside the Lock at Hythe Marina. As usual my wife was on the bow putting out the fenders but I felt really guilty sitting at the helm doing nothing so went on to the Swim platform to put fenders aft. The starboard one was a bit of a stretch and as I was tying it on my foot slipped. As the camper canopy was up there were no hand holds and within milliseconds I found myself in the water. My first thought was the sea was not as cold as I expected followed quickly by "thank goodness I'm wearing my Lifejacket!" Regrettably however this did not inflate automatically as it was supposed to and I was so shocked that I did not realise until later that it could be manually inflated. Being very tall I was able to reach under the boat and use the trim tab to lever myself aboard. It would have been impossible for my wife to pull me on board and had I been unconscious things might not have ended so well. We returned the (new) lifejacket to Port Solent Superstore and it was replaced foc but when venturing outside the cockpit we all (including guests) wear lifejackets.

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[sailorman]

due to engine failure? Pauline .
piston broke

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