madyottie 82 Posted November 9, 2013 Share Posted November 9, 2013 Well, how's this? ( Caution, subtle ranting ahead ) I was attending a water safety education day today, and a MNZ (I think, bit hazy on it now) volunteer told me that for dinghy sailing I should have an auto-inflating lifejacket, and that my type 403 buoyancy aid was not the right thing at all. When I said that I disagreed , as wiping out at high speed would result in immersion and probably set it off he said I should get a manual inflation one instead. So i guess I get an auto-inflating lifejacket that only inflates when I tell it to? Which would be no good at all if I went in the drink, after all, a buoyancy aid is supposed to make it easier for me to get back to, and on, my boat, by helping to keep me afloat while I sort out whatever went wrong that I ended up in the water in the first place, right? When should I deploy such a device? About the only time I can see it being useful is if I'd turtled, and the 'board had snapped or floated away. Maybe then I could dive to the end of the mast, lash it on and deploy it to float the mast to the surface or something. I asked him how much small boat sailing he'd done, to which he responded something along the lines of "lots of it, all around the world actually!" and went on to say that he always wears his auto jacket, and he's still alive! Guess what mate, I've been sailing in buoyancy aids, in several continents, for over 30 years and I'm still alive too! Idiot! I really hope he's not an advisor to the government on the new lifejacket laws, because quite honestly if he is, things could get pretty ugly! Link to post Share on other sites
DrWatson 381 Posted November 9, 2013 Share Posted November 9, 2013 World is full of so called experts who are approved by various regulatory powers. Many of them have half an idea about nothing, especially common sense and assessment of actual risk Link to post Share on other sites
grant 40 Posted November 9, 2013 Share Posted November 9, 2013 oh dear...sounds like enthusiasm over actual knowledge, I really hope it was a volunteer and not staff from MNZ or whatever organisation. I'd suggest a quiet word to the organiser of the event to make sure the correct info is passed on in the future Link to post Share on other sites
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.