My -not good- thoughts on inflatable PFDs

[Lyndsey Doyle]

Hi FM, might I suggest you put a link here to your excellent on-line book about singlehanded yacht racing? I am just a cruiser, mostly singlehanded, and I find your thoughts unique, and valuable from a philosophical point of view as much as technical.

Personally I always wear an auto-inflating lifejacket (Spinlock Deckvest) which I don't even notice (compared to the embuggerance of waterproofs which I loathe).

My L J has a harness and I always clip on, unless chasing around deck doing fenders etc. in harbour.

Also I always have, clipped on my L J, a VHF (if I am somewhere I know, so I can call something like: "Mayday I've MOB'd just south of Horrible Sharp Bastard Rock" ) or a GPS PLB (if I am like to be somewhere which I couldn't describe over the radio, or if I'm in foreign lands as usual).

Most UK yacht people have a strong culture of, "Always wear your life jacket", encouraged by the RNLI whose main motto I believe is "Useless unless worn", referring to inflatable life jackets, and I would say manual inflation is fading in popularity, with:
a) The fact that you might be in the water unconscious, or with a broken arm, and

b) The introduction of the Hammar trigger, as used on liferafts etc, which will not inflate you lifejacket if a wave splashes over you on deck but depends on real immersion.

Auto-inflatable with harness is, I believe, rapidly becoming standard in the UK, with good reason in my view,
Fair winds LD

 

[DownWest]

LD
While I find the OPs stance a little 'unusual', I use a manual gas LJ. Because I often sail in small boats that have a capsize risk. The last thing in that situation I need is a self inflating LJ, as it would probably make it impossible to reboard. Having spent a lifetime avoiding booms, I accept that risk.
The story about a missing gas cylinder just feflects someone's low level of simple safety checks. There is still mouth inflation, but having tried this for real, checking the cylinder is preferable.

 

[Foolish Muse]

Thanks Lindsay, I'm glad you liked it. You can download the free version of my singlehanded tips book here: http://sfbaysss.org/main/resources/

 

[ShinyShoe]

I'm beginning to think that perhaps we work with a different set of rules over on this side of the ocean.
Here is an example of a Canada or US Department of Transport approved PFDView attachment 57718
You can see that it would be easy to paddle a kayak with this, and it is also great on a sail boat. It meets all the requirements for a lifejacket here in Canada and the US.

And here is a non-approved

View attachment 57719
Very stylish but doesn't meet any requirements.

I don't know how many Newtons they support, I just know if they are approved or not.

OK Certainly very useful to see what you are referring to. Neither appear available in the UK - I assume because they don't meet the ISO Standards for buoyancy aids. They are certainly NOT lifejackets by ISO standards. The second one looks like its really low on buoyancy, and I don't think you can get type approval for a buoyancy aid that is only closed by a zip which appears to be the case. You can get impact vests in the UK that have buoyant material but there is no attempt made to claim they will float you at all in the sales pitch.

I thought the USCGA used similar coding to the ISO with an amount of buoyancy in Lbs (it would be!!) and a range of device types with roman numeral coding, Last I looked they described a Class III device as a floatation aid not a lifejacket, and they have about 70N in them that is similar to some kayak jackets in the UK but they only need 50N to pass the test.

Its not just the number of newtons they produce, its the position. So to roll an unconscious casualty face up they need a lot of buoyancy across the from and none or little at the back except the neck.

People who do sports where an auto are inappropriate will usually use a 50-70N Buoyancy Aid here instead. They accept they will be at greater risk if unconscious.