will I sink or float 50N bouyancy aid

[reginaldon]

Not exactly true, most people have positive bouyancy but a few do sink without assistance. Also you lose your bouyancy as your body is compressed by depth, when you get to 100 feet most people are quite negative and I have seen people without weight belts walk around the botton of a 100ft deep tank.

When I was a youngster & quite muscley, I found it very easy to swim on the bottom of the swimming bath in fresh water, in fact could do a length under water long before I could on the surface, 70 years later quite a different story.

 

[Salty John]

Dylan,
Get yourself an inflatable travel pillow - after all, you just need to keep your head above the water.

 

[Fantasie 19]

Up until now I have bene using self-inflators on my journey and felt completely safe in them. Confident that they are really likely to fire off when needed but having seen the videos of the failures to fire, or the bursting of the bladders I am now not so sure about them

Dylan - I would say that by nature you're a "worrying" man - I'm not having a go, I have the same tendencies... In this case you no longer need to worry about the Beast so have turned your attentions to something else.....

The problem is, the act of sailing is in itself an unsafe activity (in fact anything not involving lying in a nice warm bed in a nuclear bunker is) all we do is minimise risk... I take the view many people before me have sailed, and in the process gained a shed load of experience over the ages that I don't have a hope in hell of being able to duplicate.... so I look around and see what everyone else I respect is saying/doing (which is what you are doing here)......

In my case - they say "don't fall in in the first place" (use a good harness and or safety lines) and "wear a lifejacket" (RNLI/RYA/etcetc)

Being an idiot human of course I ignore bits of it - but I always wear a lifejacket* in the tender, & I always attach a lifeline or wear the lifejacket when I'm offshore... and I always service my lifejacket every year..... nobody really mentions PFD's in anything other than dinghy or canoe - and besides every time I've ever worn one they make me sweat like a sweaty thing....

..just my 2 penn'orth

* manually activated gas as I don't want to going off without me saying so....

 

[maxi77]

By 'ek if a wave puts me down that deep I reckon that Neptune has got me with or without a LJ / BA

Yes but they used to make us eit from a hatch at the bottome and get to the top, fortuneately or lifejackets had relief valves on them

 

[smeaks]

Like a duck full of christmas cake

 

[AntarcticPilot]

How about this for an idea?

Let's try it. Dylan should don his bouyancy aid and jump in.

There are two outcomes:

1) Dylan sinks, and is therefore an innocent man - drowning, but innocent!
2) Dylan floats, and is therefore a warlock.

I am willing to bet that Dylan is a warlock!

 

[dylanwinter]

good plan

How about this for an idea?

Let's try it. Dylan should don his bouyancy aid and jump in.

There are two outcomes:

1) Dylan sinks, and is therefore an innocent man - drowning, but innocent!
2) Dylan floats, and is therefore a warlock.

I am willing to bet that Dylan is a warlock!

I was hoping that by posting the simple question I would get an answer that would avoid me and all my best foulies (screwfix) from getting wet

I fear that your method is the only one that will work

Dylan

 

[Keen_Ed]

Sam Goodchild's experiences on falling in the Southern Ocean during the Global Ocean Race are worth quoting.

Calmly, Goodchild prepared for an extended period in the water: “I was wearing full foulies and boots and mid-layer thermals and they filled up with water,” he explains. “Waves began breaking over my head and started pulling me down, so, slowly but surely, I stated taking them off; mid-layers, smock, everything down to my thermal top.” Shedding the extra weight came at a heavy price: “It started getting cold,” Goodchild confirms. “I had a knife in my smock pocket, so I cut the hood off my smock, which is bright yellow, and gave me something to wave. I ditched everything else – there was no point holding on to anything that wasn’t going to help me.”

 

[dingdongs]

as stated before its to keep your head out of the water but my 50n buoyancy aid has no problem keeping my 100 kilo frame wetsuited with a wakeboard strapped to both feet afloat,even laying backwards with your feet up to the surface your heads still out of the water.can even put your feet in the boots and do the laces up whilst floating.trying to swim on your front is a no no though.

 

[AntarcticPilot]

I was hoping that by posting the simple question I would get an answer that would avoid me and all my best foulies (screwfix) from getting wet

I fear that your method is the only one that will work

Dylan

Kill two birds with one stone - go in in your swimming costume.

I don't see a down-side (says he from the nice, warm, dry computer chair!)

1. We find out if you're a warlock.
2. You find out if the buoyancy aid works.
3. You determine your resistance to cold water - are you a SeaRush or an AntarcticPilot?
4. You can film it - that will challenge you technically - and make a killing on the video.
5. Your best foul weather gear stays dry!

PS, you're not allowed a stunt double for point 4!

 

[CAPTAIN FANTASTIC]

1 Newton = 0.102kg; 9.81newtons = 1kg; therefore 10N is approx 1kg
In water the body needs aprox 30N buoyancy to remain afloat; hence 50N is plenty.

However, the job of a lifejacket is totally different to that of the buoyancy jacket aid. I, too, use a buoyancy jacket most of the times.

 

[Searush]

September is probably the month when the sea is at its warmest, after a full smmer of sunshine (or whatever) so it shouldn't be that cold yet. It's certainly a lot colder in spring & early summer after 6 months of cooling down.

 

[mlines]

I capsized an inflatable dinghy into the sea in March this year. I had a manual lifejacket on but the cold shock meant I could not find the cord to fire it. Fortunately I found after the initial shock that I could touch the bottom with my feet.

I have now changed to a 50N Buoyancy aid to give me instant help instead of having to struggle with a lifejacket. I weight around 14 stone and the 50N jacket gives enough support to gain you breathing space. I would still wear a "real" lifejacket in conditions other than benign (benign in both weather and intended boating activity terms). As the manual lifejacket is adjustable I can even wear it on the outside of the buoyancy aid.

 

[lustyd]

Sam Goodchild's experiences on falling in the Southern Ocean during the Global Ocean Race are worth quoting.

Calmly, Goodchild prepared for an extended period in the water: “I was wearing full foulies and boots and mid-layer thermals and they filled up with water,” he explains. “Waves began breaking over my head and started pulling me down, so, slowly but surely, I stated taking them off; mid-layers, smock, everything down to my thermal top.” Shedding the extra weight came at a heavy price: “It started getting cold,” Goodchild confirms. “I had a knife in my smock pocket, so I cut the hood off my smock, which is bright yellow, and gave me something to wave. I ditched everything else – there was no point holding on to anything that wasn’t going to help me.”

When he says "pulling me down" it's more about the drag than the weight. The drag and bagginess will make your swimming movements less effective. As said above, the weight is almost neutral in the water of most of this stuff. In fact, my oilies float if left unnatended.

 

[lustyd]

the fact that the tides on the Humber would have taken you a fair way from the boat in no time at all.

Actually, the boat and the human would both be subject to the tide, so they would be side by side without influence of the wind. Hence the different approach when sailing to a MOB than to a fixed buoy.

 

[lustyd]

when you get to 100 feet most people are quite negative and I have seen people without weight belts walk around the botton of a 100ft deep tank.

Most people actually have the same buoyancy at 100 feet as on the surface because people are mostly water and we don't compress well. The difference is generally in their kit, so a wetsuit or undersuit will compress which reduces buoyancy.

I assume you're talking about the SETT in Gosport? That's pretty much the only 100 foto tank around and is great fun to swim in

 

[maxi77]

Most people actually have the same buoyancy at 100 feet as on the surface because people are mostly water and we don't compress well. The difference is generally in their kit, so a wetsuit or undersuit will compress which reduces buoyancy.

I assume you're talking about the SETT in Gosport? That's pretty much the only 100 foto tank around and is great fun to swim in

Yes it was SETT, and in my day the swim boys, who were only wearing trunks so no kit to compress, used to swim to the bottom and walk round it to show the effect of compression on the body. I agree as much of the body is water it is pretty resistant to compression but the squeeze on the lungs reduces the body volume enough to make it possible.

 

[lustyd]

Yes it was SETT, and in my day the swim boys, who were only wearing trunks so no kit to compress, used to swim to the bottom and walk round it to show the effect of compression on the body. I agree as much of the body is water it is pretty resistant to compression but the squeeze on the lungs reduces the body volume enough to make it possible.

Yes when freediving you're quite right, I was thinking of scuba when I replied

 

[lenseman]

I've tried this. It's hopeless. It disintegrated at the first sign of water and the ink ran too. I'm going to try a word document next and see if that's any better...

 

[AntarcticPilot]

Most people actually have the same buoyancy at 100 feet as on the surface because people are mostly water and we don't compress well. The difference is generally in their kit, so a wetsuit or undersuit will compress which reduces buoyancy.

I assume you're talking about the SETT in Gosport? That's pretty much the only 100 foto tank around and is great fun to swim in

Our lungs are full of air, and that compresses VERY well!