What is your lifejacket policy?

[rafiki_]

That only happens in movies, a mans head is rarely on the end of his feet as he's jumping off the bathing platform.

It’s only got to happen once.

 

[Hot Property]

My brother fell off a pontoon from his Thames riverboat as he was fastening the canopy. Luckily he was wearing an auto inflate lifejacket.

He was stuck in the Thames mud and, whilst someone saw him fall in, they couldn't get to him as there was a high metal fence and locked gate.

Fortunately he managed to extricate himself from the mud by using the buoyancy of the lifejacket and wade to the riverbank.

He ( and I) always wear them when afloat.

It's not a hard concept to grasp...

 

[ylop]

I have a friend with small children, they all wear life jackets apart from him. He says in one of them falls in (his youngest is 5 ish) he'll forget his PW2 man overboard, and simply dive in, no life jacket means he'll swim faster.

He might swim faster, but unless he’s an unusually good swimmer and/or in very sheltered waters he’s risks - cold shock, not getting to them anyway (seeing the casualty when you are both at water level is very hard), not being able to get the casualty back to the boat, not being able to climb back on board, etc.

 

[Boathook]

I have a friend with small children, they all wear life jackets apart from him. He says in one of them falls in (his youngest is 5 ish) he'll forget his PW2 man overboard, and simply dive in, no life jacket means he'll swim faster.

So who is in charge of the boat after he dives in ?

Years ago had a discussion with brother inlaw who said he would dive in if his children went overboard. I told him that it meant 2 people to be rescued rather than one and that normally the person diving in was the one who didn't survive. Not to sure on the survival bit but it made him think about the consequences.
The kids (my niece & nephew) always wore LJ when underway and could swim reasonably well in seawater, and they had been taught to always hold on to the boat when moving around.

 

[Little Ricky]

So who is in charge of the boat after he dives in ?

Years ago had a discussion with brother inlaw who said he would dive in if his children went overboard. I told him that it meant 2 people to be rescued rather than one and that normally the person diving in was the one who didn't survive. Not to sure on the survival bit but it made him think about the consequences.
The kids (my niece & nephew) always wore LJ when underway and could swim reasonably well in seawater, and they had been taught to always hold on to the boat when moving around.

The who's in charge question, sensible as it is, forgets the instinct of the father saving his kid. He's not thinking of a boat bobbing on the water, he looking at his kid's head bobbing in the ocean.

 

[benjenbav]

The who's in charge question, sensible as it is, forgets the instinct of the father saving his kid. He's not thinking of a boat bobbing on the water, he looking at his kid's head bobbing in the ocean.

What’s plan B when the boat blows off downwind faster than any of them can swim and they’re out of reach of the shore?

 

[Little Ricky]

Ok Im out. Too many people trying and succeeding in being pedantic.

 

[Greg2]

Ok Im out. Too many people trying and succeeding in being pedantic.

Not sure it is pedantic for people to point out the obvious risks (some might say folly) associated with his plan. I take your point about the potential for an instinctive (but still foolhardy) reaction from a parent in the heat of the moment but to have a pre-determined plan to dive in after a casualty who is wearing a lifejacket as opposed to ensuring that they have trained / rehearsed MOB recovery techniques seems a bit odd and needless to say wouldn’t pass muster in any kind of formal training.