Lifejackets - Who Needs Them?

Singlehanders and lifejackets

seems a bit of a lost cause wearing a lifejacket when singlehanding - me I adopt the opposite approach and wear an enormous and heavy watch which is guaranteed to take me to the bottom immediately and cut out all that suffering watching the boat recede in the distance.

Seriously - harnesses after dark, if outside the cabins, and when going forward in anything but calm conditions.
Lifejackets a must when dinghying to and from the boat and in fog.

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A Number of years ago an Indian couple attempting a round the world cruise were shipwrecked off Selsey. The press made a big deal about their joint inability to swim! "Goodness me" replied the shipwrecked mariner, "Sailing and swimming are 2 entirely different sports"!! How very apt. The whole point of a lifejacket is that it keeps you afloat IN THE WATER. The whole point about sailing is NOT going IN THE WATER in the first place. I can follow a point about wearing a harness to keep you on the boat but the only time I would wear a jacket is if I thought my boat was about to sink or in some other imminent danger. On the other hand if the vessel needs a reef then I (& my crew on deck) need a harness on - that's only my rule not what I think others should follow. Yes, a lifejacket will keep you afloat. No a lightly crewed boat will not be able to get a water soaked virtual dead weight back onboard in any sort of a sea. Stay on the boat!! Then floating in it becomes irrelevant. Nowadays you see all sorts of people wearing jackets in all sorts of situations where it would have been unheard of a few years ago - then they carefully put them away and leave the boat - perhaps walking for several hundred yards along an unfenced pontoon where they have, statistically, far greater chance of dropping in the oggin! Doesn't make sense to me!

<hr width=100% size=1>Mike
 
<<<unfenced pontoon where they have, statistically, far greater chance of dropping in the oggin>>>

And then drive home in a car which may be even more dangerous again (especially after a few after sailing drinks perhaps?).

John

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Interesting that some people imply that you should wear a lifejacket "whilst underway"! If you fell from a yacht safely moored in a midstream berth with a fast running tide - say Beaulieu or Hamble - you could be swept away at up to 6 knots! In context that's 200 Yards in 1 minute. How soon could you man even a fully ready dinghy and set off after your MOB?
The sea and boating is a potentially dangerous past time but the fact remains that the "Actual" dangers are minimal compared to, say, driving a car or going out to a town centre pub on a Saturday night, or even going to a football match - none of which are considered by anyone as high risk activities.
Long live the freedom of Boaters to look after their own safety in their own way!

<hr width=100% size=1>Mike
 
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