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DogWatch
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Questioned by RNLI re not wearing lifejacket.
- Thread starter longjohnsilver
- Start date
Ubergeekian
Well-Known Member
I've got a Velosolex moped. Top speed on a good day is 24mph. I've never really seen any point in wearing a helmet on it, though of course I do.
Searush
Well-Known Member
Welcome to the forum. I presume you didn't bother to read all the thread.
I can remember when it wasn't compulsory to wear a helmet & I can remember one hot summer riding along the prom in just my speedos. You have to experience it to understand, but I guess it is still possible in places around the med. Sure I wore all the gear for longer trips, for bad weather or night time - same with life jackets. I have them & I wear them if there is a likelyhood of going in the oggin. But generally, I use the harness aspect rather than the flotation.
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Deleted member 36384
Guest
No, no, no,no, NO! I much preferred the image of young lady with the huge mammary glands.
Merry Christmas Searush, hope 2011 is a good year for you.
BlowingOldBoots
Searush
Well-Known Member
It was 45 years ago & I was a helluva rake then - well, at least I thought I was & that's all that seemed to matter then!
Mary Xmas to yourself an' all
stephenc
New Member
you'll only miss not wearing a lifejacket once! Having lots of experience doesn't mean that you float better.
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timbartlett
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timbartlett
Guest
No, but it might make you able to assess risk better, and a bit less gullible.
Plenty of people have died wearing lifejackets (and other safety equipment) that they thought would save them.
NormanS
Well-Known Member
Ludicrous! You are at much more danger of falling overboard when getting your warps and fenders aboard and stowed, than you are when sitting in the cockpit.
The time that I am most likely to wear a lifejacket, (actually a buoyancy aid), is when going back and forward in the dinghy. But that is my own personal choice, and long may it continue to be.
Lakesailor
Well-Known Member
You seem to be saying that only the stupid would not wear a lifejacket.
Thanks.
Welcome to the forum.
DownWest
Well-Known Member
Rotrax. You have a a sticker to remind you to wear LJ's ? Best give up sailing before your memory loses any idea of which way the wind blows.
Jamesuk
Well-Known Member
rotrax
Well-Known Member
Hi, DownWest.The sticker makes a factual statement. If you are in the hoggin and your lifejacket is in the locker it wont help you stay afloat.I can usually tell which way the wind is blowing-memory has never been required for that job.
rotrax
Well-Known Member
Hi,Ludicrous or not,like you it is my personal choice.Untill you are aware of where my boat is situated and the time/distance that I am SOMETIMES without a lifejacket you cannot make a judgement on the likelyhood of me going over the side.Like you, it is something Iam comfortable with.
Lakesailor
Well-Known Member
You're either a troll or going to fit in here like a fart in a space suit.
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timbartlett
Guest
If you are in hoggin you definitely don't need a lifejacket! A pick-axe, maybe.
(Hoggin is the stuff used to make "rustic" paths and car parks - it's like a mixture of small stones and sand)
richardbayle
Well-Known Member
Answer: Move here to the French Mediterraen. No one wears a life jacket, not even the children. UK? Health and safety gone mad!
Now I'm not saying lifejackets are not a good idea, but teaching folk to rely on them is equally a bad idea. Here, no crash helmets for the little sailors; apparently a good bang on the head teaches them to duck, as it did for you and I, and a good near drowning teaches the value of a life jacket.
I bought one for my dog and a local; sailing, vet pointed out all I was doing was delaying the inevitable, he would still drown, but it would take longer and induce more panic!!!!
Now I'm not saying lifejackets are not a good idea, but teaching folk to rely on them is equally a bad idea. Here, no crash helmets for the little sailors; apparently a good bang on the head teaches them to duck, as it did for you and I, and a good near drowning teaches the value of a life jacket.
I bought one for my dog and a local; sailing, vet pointed out all I was doing was delaying the inevitable, he would still drown, but it would take longer and induce more panic!!!!
BrianH
Well-Known Member
In 30 years of Med. sailing I've worn a life-jacket once - it was a wild ride and I could hardly hold on at times - although what good it would have done in those conditions I cannot imagine, particularly as I was alone. Of course, on that occasion and a little more frequently I have worn a harness and clipped on as I am usually single-handed and don't like the thought of watching the yacht crashing on under autopilot without me.
The thought of having something extra on the skin in +30 degree temperatures just doesn't appeal and it is certainly very rare to see LJs being worn where I sail.
The thought of having something extra on the skin in +30 degree temperatures just doesn't appeal and it is certainly very rare to see LJs being worn where I sail.
Felixcat
Active Member
Thats right. Do you know the work of John Adams?
"What does a transport safety regulator have in common with a shaman conducting a rain dance? They both have an inflated opinion of the effectiveness of their interventions in the functioning of the complex interactive systems they purport to influence or control. There is however a significant difference. The clouds are indifferent to the antics of the shaman and his followers. But people react to the edicts of a regulator and frequently not in the way the regulator intends. There are two different kinds of manager involved in the management of transport risks: there are the “official”, institutional, risk managers who strive incessantly to make the systems for which they are responsible safer, and there are the billions of individual fallible human users of the systems, each balancing the rewards of risk against the potential accident risks associated with their behaviour. Conventional road safety measures rest on a model of human behavior that assumes that road users are stupid, obedient automatons who are unresponsive to perceived changes in risk and who need protecting, by law, from their own and others’ stupidity. The idea of risk compensation underpins an alternative model of human behavior: that road users are intelligent, vigilant, responsive to evidence of safety and danger and, given the right signals and incentives, considerate."
Much the same applies to many other attempts to make people safer than they judge appropriate. Very few work, including seat belt legislation.
Kurrawong_Kid
Well-Known Member
Even if you've been taught to duck, sometimes you can still get bashed on the head. I have dinghy raced for decades, but now wear a helmet because I have had 1 skirmish with the boom requiring stitches, once caught by the gunwhale as the boat righted (stitches again) and once a mighty whack when a gybe went horribly wrong. As you get older you get slower!
Same judgment with lifejackets. I havnt been told to wear one, it now just makes sense. Besides which if you dinghy race you know the value of a personal bouyancy aid (and drysuits and wetsocks etc.!) if you capsize into a lake which has just dethawed! The personal bouyancy aid gives you that moment to catch your breath as the cold hits you before you start the process of righting the dinghy.