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| BUYERS GUIDES |
09 / 05 / 06 |
How to Choose a Life JacketBy The MainSail |  | |
There you are checking off your list of things for summer cruising - or maybe getting out on the water sooner than then. How high up on your priorities are life jackets for everyone on board? Life jackets, buoyancy aids, personal flotation devices - you know, the things that keep your head out of water if you're unlucky enough to go overboard?
Don't take chances
Important? You bet. But don't say to yourself, yes you must do something about them and then get sidetracked with something else. Almost 80 percent of all boating-related deaths occur by drowning. It's obvious, sure, but making sure everyone has a life jacket and actuallly wears it, could keep all of you from becoming a statistic.
Plus, don't forget. If you do wind up in the water, you may also be injured. So don't imagine that you'll be fit enough and strong enough to keep yourself afloat until help comes all by yourself - hyperthermia, fatigue and swallowing salt water, or other life-threatening circumstances all take their toll. Please don't risk it, especially with the family involved.
What are you up to?
So what do you look for in a life jacket? That depends on what you're going to be doing. There are different types for different activities, for instance:
- Purchase the full-length (and more bulky) off-shore life jacket for the greatest buoyancy - it will hold you up well in rough waters, but at the expense of some comfort.
- Choose the near-shore buoyancy vest if you will be on calmer, inland waters.
- Consider buying a simpler flotation aid if you will be on protected waters where a quicker rescue is assured. They allow some movement and are somewhat more comfortable than other jackets.
- If you're always active, go for the floatable types which are easy to wear and inflatable. There are all kinds of these, for everything from river fishing to sailboarding, designed to be worn at all times.
- Get yourself a throwable device as an extra safety measure, like the traditional ship's life ring. These are mainly flotation devicres that are literally thrown to someone who has fallen overboard, to hang onto until rescued.
Types of life jacket
Inflatable stand-bys
Taking up only a small space, these are kept compact and uninflated until an emergency occurs. They are inflated to full buoyancy by automatically or manually triggering a carbon dioxide cylinder that releases gas into an air tight flotation collar under the outer cover.
Semi-buoyancy inflatable
Really buoyancy aids, these jackets are good for non-swimmers without being bulky, the air foam inside them providing partial flotation at all times. When full buoyancy is required an air tight chamber is orally inflated, turning them into a proper life jacket.
Full buoyancy non-inflatable
These jackets provide full-level buoyancy at all times. Like miniature versions of the air bags used for cushioning parcels, they are filled with millions of tiny closed cell foam chambers, layered in soft PVC or polyethylene under a hard-wearing outer cover. With shaped neck collars to support the head right way up in the water, they are best worn all the time to make sure they're properly in place. The bigger the jacket, the more the buoyancy.
Buoyancy aids
These are not really life jackets. They provide partial flotation for various purposes, like shallow-water games and beginner swimming.
Special purpose buoyancy aids
Don't choose these unless you know what you're doing. They're mostly for active sports use, designed to provide buoyancy with optimum freedom of movement for a particular kind of activity, like sail boarding or dinghy racing.
Basic life jacket safety procedure
- Know where life jackets are stored on the boat. Make sure they are quickly and easily accessible.
- Be sensible - though in some waters aboard leisure craft life jackets are not compulsory, the Marine & Coastguard Agency requires that vessels should carry enough lifejackets for all persons on board for use in the event of an emergency. With a higher number of boating accidents, the Americans are more specific and more cautious, with a tighter code to follow. The U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) requires that everyone on a boat less than 16 feet long must have a life jacket; and if the boat is longer than 16 feet, you must carry an extra jacket on board as well.
- Check that gas cylinders on inflatable jackets are properly tightened.
- Make sure your life jackets are CE-approved.
- Regardless of regulations, when you're out on the water in a boat, children and nonswimmers, should wear life jackets at all times.
- Once you've got it wet, let your life jacket drip-dry thoroughly, then store it in a well-ventilated area.
Cautions
Try on every jacket before you buy it to be sure it fits. In an emergency, you could slip through a life jacket that is too large for you.
Check your life jackets and test them at least twice a year. Compression or getting them waterlogged can make them lose buoyancy - then they're useless. |
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| | Discuss this article, 1 of 2 messages, read more: |  Peter Fryer | |
| Posted: 15/05/06 16:36:29 29 | I've got to thank Julian Scott-Foxwell for some very useful perspectives to add to this article.
He says "I think it also worth mentioning that lifejackets can be numbered so that crews on joining can, as part of the safety brief, try on and size straps to fit. Thereafter they can pick up their own personalised LJ when needed."
And here's another point that I seem to have missed: "It should also be made clear that when LJs are wetted with salt water they should be washed down with fresh before drying and storage."
Thanks Julian, and I hope you have a very pleasant sailing season.
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