The perception of risk

[dylanwinter]

I recently got this comment on one of my youtube films

"Dylan, sometimes you are funny!

There you go out onto the North Sea on little Slug in your jeans and hoody. Life jackets? They are for the racing guys.

Yet, sailing the duck punt on three feet of water you dutifully wear your life jacket..."

it was on this youtube film



How should I respond?

Dylan

by the way chaps.....build a duck punt

it is the one boat you can sail between tides

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYVYFFko9Ig

 

[Evadne]

I think you're being reasonable myself, I would always want a LJ or, better, a buoyancy aid when sailing in a dinghy that can capsize and sink in otherwise normal conditions. The chances of needing one in similar conditions when sailing the Slug are far less. If it got really lively, I'd prefer a harness myself, a lifejacket is for when you abandon ship.

 

[Angele]

Remember what the RNLI says, "a lifejacket is useless unless worn!"

 

[Salty John]

I think you're being reasonable myself, I would always want a LJ or, better, a buoyancy aid when sailing in a dinghy that can capsize and sink in otherwise normal conditions. The chances of needing one in similar conditions when sailing the Slug are far less. If it got really lively, I'd prefer a harness myself, a lifejacket is for when you abandon ship.

+1

 

[dylanwinter]

not sure that is true

Remember what the RNLI says, "a lifejacket is useless unless worn!"

a life-jacket - well a bouyancy aid - is a wonderful cushion for sitting on, a great back-rest and a pillow for a cockpit kip

and an unworn life-jacket can be chucked in the genral direction of some-one floundering in the water

so....

like most generalisations....it is not always true

I know I should wear my life-jacket more often

at one time in our household we had a bouyancy aid that was like a puffa waistcoat but stuffed with ultr-tough bubble wrap - it weighed nothing and was wonderfully warm

does anyone still make them or have they been banned?

D

 

[awol]

I have some old and very worn life jackets that are obviously more useful than new ones - available for a price!

 

[Lakesailor]

How should I respond?

Dylan

Ignore him. There are always people telling you what you should do.

What makes them experts?

Do what you feel happy with.

 

[Capt Popeye]

well wearing a 'life jacket' whilst sailing in a Yacht might just save jour life if you are knocked overboard (boom or broken rigging or even a Wave) and are dizzy or unconcious when falling into the water (sea), or the water temperature is cold enough to imobilise you

wearing a 'bouyancy aid' in similar circumstances might keep you afloat but not neccessarily 'head up' so as to speak, so you might be found floating but dead, not much help

I might suggest that when deciding wether or not to don a 'life saver' the decision is usually taken when the brain and body are active and in good working order, and can fend for 'one self', but when a 'man overboard' does actually happen the brain and body might not be in good working order, very sad but true!

personal decisions and personal risks

 

[prv]

How should I respond?

Ask him if he wears a neck-brace in the car while driving to his boat. He's far more likely to have an accident in that.

Pete

 

[Capt Popeye]

can I ask if you would not wear a Crash Helment if riding a Motorcycle?

and take similar risks!

certainly a lot or most Leisure Yachtsmen over a certain Age have got quite used to Sailing without, especially those who started Yachting later on in life, and have therefore probably no Family or Social awareness of the 'risks' on the water, or have experienced first hand the results of inadequate safety equipment on a human body thrown unexpectantly in water

certainly suggest that wearing a suitable 'life saver' is must

also suggest that you could consider publicising a slogan like -
'only posers do not wear a life jacket!'
on you web sites

 

[dylanwinter]

helmets and life jackets

can I ask if you would not wear a Crash Helment if riding a Motorcycle?

and take similar risks!

certainly a lot or most Leisure Yachtsmen over a certain Age have got quite used to Sailing without, especially those who started Yachting later on in life, and have therefore probably no Family or Social awareness of the 'risks' on the water, or have experienced first hand the results of inadequate safety equipment on a human body thrown unexpectantly in water

certainly suggest that wearing a suitable 'life saver' is must

also suggest that you could consider publicising a slogan like -
'only posers do not wear a life jacket!'
on you web sites

well,

I am not sure that the level of risk are anything like comparable

although the consequences of the stats coming out wrong can both be the same - the person dies.

I don't wear a helmet when I ride my push bike or my horse although I do wear one when riding the moped - my days of motorcycling are long gone

sometimes when riding the horse bikers will come past, they will slow down - which is nice of them - and then tap their helmets as a message to me that I should also be wearing head gear. You would be amazed at how many of them then gu n their engines once they passed - so maybe they are not being so nice after all and are worried that the horse will jump out in front of them.

I personally do not think they understand what a small risk I am taking riding my 20 year old nag who has never bucked or bolted in his life.

I started out as a dinghy sailor at age seven - never went in a boat without a life jacket

had to wearr one all through school while sailing

- although amazingly once we had finished out o level exams then we were allowed to go sailing unsupervisied and then we did not have to wear a life jacket. The logic was that should we die the school could claim that we had already left.

at our local pond they used to have a rule that you could only sail when there were two boats on the lake

we used to tie a canoe - unnatended to the pontoon - so that we were comlying with the rules

then they decided that as the two boats on the water rule was unenforcible they would stop making it compulsory

they have also decided that you do not have to wear a life jacket when recreatrional sailing

but you have to wear the life jacket whren walking along the pontoon

you are not allowed to swim from the shore - but you are allowed to swim from a boat.

On a recent job in new zealand they have a helmet law for cyclists

but I also filmed at a few rodeos - whne riding a bull you do not have to wear a helmet

as for putting a slogan on my website.......

perhaps I should have a mission statement

not sure the life jacket one would be top of my list

and just imagine - should I fall overboard and die while not wearing a life-jacket then that might encourage lots of people to start wearing them

needless to say, at my wife's insistence, I always wear my harness in bed

Dylan

 

[Evadne]

While you were typing this, Dylan I had a quick Google for accident stats and found a US one here.

The US is not the same as the UK but it's bigger, which is always a help when looking at statistics. The one thing that always stands out is just how safe it is to sail in a boat.

Yes there is a risk of falling over and drowning, and it is probably higher than the risk of catching Weil's disease when you fall in the river or breaking a femur and bleeding to death out of sight of land, but it is tiny.

The statistics prove to me that while wearing a lifejacket will save you from drowning, not falling overboard is far more effective, and statistically more important.

 

[awol]

Saving lives? Not really, just prolonging them.

Life Jacket? For the single-hander it makes a choice between drowning and dying from hypothermia. Better not to fall overboard and that depends on technique and ability backed up with a suitable life-line when necessary.

Dylan, your horse-riding is probably the most dangerous thing you do - get off and give the nag a rest.

 

[IanH]

can I ask if you would not wear a Crash Helment if riding a Motorcycle?


certainly suggest that wearing a suitable 'life saver' is must

also suggest that you could consider publicising a slogan like -
'only posers do not wear a life jacket!'
on you web sites

I ride a motorbike and, of course, wear a helmet. The law requires that I do so. I don't wear a helmet when riding my pushbike because my assessment of the liklihood of having an accident which risks a serious head injury is low. Of course if I were to suffer a head on collision with a fast moving vehicle then the liklihood of serious injury is high but the lilihood of that accident is, in my estimation, low. Similarly I and many other make decisions on similar lines when it comes to wearing or not wearing lifejackets/bouancy aids afloat.

Many of us don't preach to others though.

 

[prv]

Dylan, your horse-riding is probably the most dangerous thing you do - get off and give the nag a rest.

By far, according to the stats. Horse riding tends to come top of nearly every ranking of risk in sports. Admittedly that's covering everything from the Grand National to walking a kid on a pony on a leading rein, but then again the sailing stats cover many activities much riskier than the slug.

Pete

 

[dylanwinter]

alcohol

Saving lives? Not really, just prolonging them.

Life Jacket? For the single-hander it makes a choice between drowning and dying from hypothermia. Better not to fall overboard and that depends on technique and ability backed up with a suitable life-line when necessary.

Dylan, your horse-riding is probably the most dangerous thing you do - get off and give the nag a rest.

Alcohol,

I am more worried about my liver than I am about falling off the horse

but I love a glass of wine or a shot of scotch

as for giving the horse a rest..... he shows every sign of enjoying going out for a bit of a hack along the bridleways

but then he has had his genes manipulated to make sure that he does enjoy it

it is one of the reasons why it is very hard to tame a zebra but easy to tame a horse

Dylan

 

[Searush]

Remember what the RNLI says, "a lifejacket is useless unless worn!"

That's OK then, mine are almost worn out.

 

[st599]

http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/bruce_schneier.html

 

[Searush]

BTW, I wear a BA and or a wet suit on a sailing dinghy if there is a risk of falling in or the water is cold. Some lakes still require BA's to be wornas a condition of letting you on the water. More a CYA issue than saving lives I suspect.

Seldom use the harnesses or LJ's on SR as I like to sail in good weather, but when caught out, harness for deckwork & life jacket for dinghying to/from the shore.

Helmets on mobikes? Never used to wear them round town where speeds are slow & journeys short, but always on a long trip. Still don't always see the need;

 

[IanH]

BTW, I wear a BA and or a wet suit on a sailing dinghy if there is a risk of falling in or the water is cold. Some lakes still require BA's to be wornas a condition of letting you on the water. More a CYA issue than saving lives I suspect.

Seldom use the harnesses or LJ's on SR as I like to sail in good weather, but when caught out, harness for deckwork & life jacket for dinghying to/from the shore.

Helmets on mobikes? Never used to wear them round town where speeds are slow & journeys short, but always on a long trip. Still don't always see the need;

Oooohh you're naughty you are