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PFD's


Megwyn

Do you wear a PFD when you weigh anchor?  

39 members have voted

  1. 1. Do you wear a PFD when you weigh anchor?

    • sometimes
      14
    • always
      4
    • never
      22


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If solo generally a Yes and it's always a Yes after sunset or if the weather is shite sun up or down.

If 2 up, yes but usually only after dark or the weather is shite. Sometimes during the day if the weather is a shocker.

Fully crewed, No

If offshore, Yes in all crap weather and especially Yes after dark.

In dingys, it depends on the dingy but generally No unless it's a race rule. Had a cussy and on another occasion nearly lost the now Wa, both due to being caught in lifejackets which got caught in the rigging holding them underwater. Only one of those 2 came up still alive.

 

The same often applies to safety harness also, I/We tend to group the 2 together as it's hard to put on a harness under a PFD if the PFD is already being worn.

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When the weather is bad, then yes, Or when the skipper tells me to put one on.

 

Fully crewed, No

 

Dinghy- Its a rule for at any club you go to, that you HAVE to wear a floatation device.

 

Once you have a feel for the boat, then You will know your limits, having the life lines helps, I know multi's dont have them..

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It has to be pretty ruff for it to start worrying our boat and then, only if I am out in it. Otherwise we are inside in the Pilot hous or "Storm Room" as I have heard someone call their Pilothouse.

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Delivering the Catana 471 on of the crew asked about it. Seemed a bit silly, to fall over you would have to take a running jump at the side of the boat.

But wrestling an errant forestay in 20kn in the Indian Ocean I was harnessed up. Always preferred a harness to a lifejacket. My Offshore kit had buoyancy built in. not legal but I have tested it in the wave pool, it supported me and I swam a couple of lengths for good measure. Same jacket also has an integral harness.

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I wonder about wearing life jackets and if they are as safe as we presume. If down below and say the keel detaches and the yacht inverts, water coming aboard then trying to swim down deeper to get out through a hatch with a inflated jacket seems doomed to me. Also getting hooked up in the rigging as KM mentions. Trying to swim with one on looks like a lot of trouble. In a way they make us give up control of the situation to a sort of mindless get to the top energy when it could be better to go below.

But yes I usually wear one because I'm mostly shorthanded. Carrying a waterproof mobile phone is a big plus when coastal.

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I think some of you guys would be surprised as to just how much use an inflatable lifejacket is without crotch straps. Better than nothing if you're in the tide I suppose, but you'll be worn out pretty fast trying to hold the thing down.

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Only ever have a harness with PFD (and crotch straps). Rule on our boats is harness always offshore. Harness at nights coastal (but I never seem to remember to put my harness on as it gets dark....)

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I think some of you guys would be surprised as to just how much use an inflatable lifejacket is without crotch straps. Better than nothing if you're in the tide I suppose, but you'll be worn out pretty fast trying to hold the thing down.

100% Totally agree. I wore one for many years without a strap and it was only after I had to use it once did it become very obvious why a crutch strap is a damn good must have thing. I was in the water for nearly an hour and holding the bloody jacket down so I could breath knackered me. The next day 6 straps were brought and fitted, or 4 were as I got 2 for spares.

 

Until I went splash I would have pooh poohed anyone who said straps were 'essential'. Now I've swung 180 degrees on that thinking, straps are definitely essential.

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For anyone who gets annoyed about crotch straps, simply set it up and then just have it resting against your hip. If you were to get wet the crotch strap is already there and easily put on properly.

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