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Another ridiculous lifejacket article


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For all the back and forth this thread has given me some interesting thoughts on reflection. Not all may agree and that is entirely their prerogative, this is just my experience and point of view. Even though my boat is over the prescribed 6. whatever metres long everyone I invited from work on the crew rum race asked for a lifejacket. They all got one, with crotch straps. But then I got to thinking about the majority of sailing I do, which is racing around the harbour on my 8.5 cat. I have a good quality life jacket on the boat yet rarely wear it. I Wonder if the better analogy is to seatbelts in a car rather than crash helmets as was purported to above. I suppose the question is how much a well fitting good quality life jacket is going to impact my sailing ability vs. not wearing one and watching my boat disappear at 15 kts without a helm.... I think I'll start wearing mine more often to be honest as the benefits trend to outweigh the downsides

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For all the back and forth this thread has given me some interesting thoughts on reflection. Not all may agree and that is entirely their prerogative, this is just my experience and point of view. Even though my boat is over the prescribed 6. whatever metres long everyone I invited from work on the crew rum race asked for a lifejacket. They all got one, with crotch straps. But then I got to thinking about the majority of sailing I do, which is racing around the harbour on my 8.5 cat. I have a good quality life jacket on the boat yet rarely wear it. I Wonder if the better analogy is to seatbelts in a car rather than crash helmets as was purported to above. I suppose the question is how much a well fitting good quality life jacket is going to impact my sailing ability vs. not wearing one and watching my boat disappear at 15 kts without a helm.... I think I'll start wearing mine more often to be honest as the benefits trend to outweigh the downsides

ear a harness as well,what destruction will a helmless vessel do?

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The Harbourmaster at Coro was seen out regularly patrolling bays on a Jetski when we were there. 

There was this one particular dilemma for him in our bay - when you swim into the beach from the launch you don't need a life jacket, when you take the inflatable dinghy you do, but what about when you take your inflatable unicorn??

IMG_4017.jpg

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BP, Im sure the harbourmaster could be enforcing the rules as intended, perhaps at the local boat ramp, or even poplular fishing spots. To target boaties in tenders close to shore in calm conditions is unacceptable.

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I Am now a total advocate for the view that a LJ without a crotch strap is like a dog with a bicycle. Just helped rescue 20 crew from an overturned waka in a choppy TAURANGA harbour.

 

One non swimmer had a crotch strapless inflatable and was quite distressed when we got there. They'd been in the water for only 10 mins and she was being supported by two others. it was like she was being smothered by her own LJ.

 

And that is without raising the dual issues of why were there so many in the thing in the first place and the number of boats that went past without stopping to see if things were ok.

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Interestingly I tested this this weekend. Tried swimming with the inflatable not inflated, inflated and a standard adult jacket. Not inflated was the easiest to swim with and inflated was the worst. I'll be ditching the auto inflate I always wore in favour of a manual and should I ever need to use it I'll wait as long g as possible before pulling the chord - but not so long that I don't have sufficient breath to blow it up when it fails. Either that or I'll have knocked my head on the way over and karked it!

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I wore an inflatable in the wave pool (with the strap) - it was the most bloody uncomfortable thing ever and I think I would have a better chance of surviving with out it. Just MHO.

Took a group scouts to a wave pool,through a l/j in and said"now put it on"what a fail,now they respect why they put it on first.

 

Would never ever own an inflatable. A)did I puncture it with a hook? B)is the can going to work?

C)if i am unconscious whose going to blow it up for me?

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Must admit I'm having 2nd thoughts about my inflatable.

Pros:

comfortable to wear when sailing.

Doubles as a harness

Easy to store.

Easy to wear over wet weather gear.

 

Cons:

Doubts about inflating when needed

Needs servicing

No good if you get knocked out

Uncomfortable in the water.

Hard for the wearer to be useful in doing something like righting a capsized boat/dinghy.

Not sure I'd want to wear one in the water for an extended period.

Don't give that added insulation on a cold night/day.

 

My guess is that everyone on crew has experience in using a LJ in anger from dinghy sailing and wind surfing. I never had issues with a well designed one (and hate the old sausage ones) and from what I saw today I wouldn't go small boat sailing with an inflatable.

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Inflatables can easily be tested - manually blow it up and ensure it stays inflated overnight. If you are worried about being unconscious then use an auto model. They can be easily deflated if required - like you need additional freedom of movement for a specific task. If you find one particularly uncomfortable, try another brand/model. IMO, for dinghies, a buoyancy vest is better, but it's NOT a lifejacket. In a keelboat, if the situation is such you should be wearing a lifejacket, then it should have a crotch strap and a spray hood. And you should be clipped on.

A Ais sart or a PLB is also a good idea for an offshore setup.

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