Lifejackets

[Tammany]

I see some mention they are confident swimmers. What are you going to swim too if you do fall in? The boat is not going to hang around for you to catch up. Unless your sailing in a river or with another boat then your not going to be swimming anywhere. How many hours can you tread water for?

 

[TheEcho]

Well we were talking about sailing in the Crouch. It is not that far from the sides, and lots of moored boats and passing traffic where we sail.

Also, on the East coast in general, if you tread water for a few hours you will find the tide goes out around you and you can stand up

 

[TheEcho]

.What are you going to swim too if you do fall in? The boat is not going to hang around for you to catch up.

Oh, have you been talking to my crew? I didn't realise I was that unpopular.

 

[Tammany]

I suppose you are never that far away from a sand bank either around this way. In all seriousness though I would think the main reason anyone would be in the water would be because they got knocked their so you have to take into account you might be disabled so can't swim anyways. I personally always wear one when single handed and also clip on when out of the cockpit. I tend to wear one when with others too too be honest as well. It's very easy to become complacent but the sea will kill you very quickly indeed even if you do feel confident in the water. Theirs been quite a lot of deaths in the boating world this year but as mentioned it is a personal choice wether you take the risk or not. Modern lifejackets are pretty good and don't get in the way.

 

[TheEcho]

clip on when out of the cockpit.

Me too, and on our boat "can you make sure I am clipped on" has also become a euphemism for "I am about to throw up, and want to do so with maximum safety and cleanliness".

 

[nigelm]

After taking part in last weekends man overboard practice session
at Marconi with a others from hereabouts we realised exactly how difficult it would be to recover and person overboard...

From now on aboard my boat lifejackets WILL be worn whist underway and on deck regardless of circumstances..

 

[NealB]

After taking part in last weekends man overboard practice session
at Marconi with a others from hereabouts we realised exactly how difficult it would be to recover and person overboard...

From now on aboard my boat lifejackets WILL be worn whist underway and on deck regardless of circumstances..

The more important point though, in my opinion, is to arrange centre line jackstays so that you can't go overboard in the first place (yes, of course, and then to use them).

 

[Bru]

I think that was the key conclusion we all came to - don't fall off in the first place

 

[PaulRainbow]

I think that was the key conclusion we all came to - don't fall off in the first place

I've considered moving my jackstays inboard, but it doesn't look possible, what's your opinion (given your boat is very similar to mine).

 

[Kurrawong_Kid]

Always offer them to guests. Virtually never wear them ourselves - couple of times maybe in 4 years of coastal sailing. Don't fit with my idea of what sailing should be about. Same with cycling helmets. The measure of a life is not how long it lasts but how much fun you have living it.

I wear a life jacket and cycle ride with a helmet and still have fun. Can't see how it does not fit into your idea of sailing.

 

[Bru]

I've considered moving my jackstays inboard, but it doesn't look possible, what's your opinion (given your boat is very similar to mine).

I'll let you know when I've worked it out!

It doesn't look straightforward that's for sure

 

[Bru]

I wear a life jacket and cycle ride with a helmet and still have fun. Can't see how it does not fit into your idea of sailing.

My thoughts too

If wearing a lifejacket gets in the way of having fun, you've got the wrong lifejacket

 

[stranded]

I wear a life jacket and cycle ride with a helmet and still have fun. Can't see how it does not fit into your idea of sailing.

Guess it just different attitudes to risk. I am not a brave person at all, quite the opposite I fear. But neither am I hapless. The risk of going in the water from our boat, the way we sail it, is very low. Likewise the risk of the sort of bike accident where the wearing of a helmet could help rather than not, or worse, exacerbate it, does not warrant the encroachment on my personal comfort and freedom. Where the cowardice helps is that where the risk exceeds that minimal level then I prefer to not participate in discretionary activity. So I don't sail when it's horrible. And I don't cycle much where I currently live because the roads are too fast and many of the locals hate cyclists, who do rather overrun the place at times.

 

[Kukri]

I have sailed from the Deben - that small, beautiful, quiet, estuary - for thirty years - and, every year, it has drowned a yachtsman.

One was a good friend of mine, who died getting to his boat from Eversons' pontoon in Woodbridge, a distance of a few yards.

I try to always wear a lifejacket or a buoyancy aid, in the tender and on deck, and always to be clipped on at sea. I ask my family and friends to do the same. But people do differ. A well known writer was rowing me out to her boat when it suddenly struck me that:

Neither of us was wearing a lifejacket...
The rigid tender had no buoyancy...
The crutches had no lanyards
The combined experience in that tender amounted to well over a century...