Lifejackets: A Rant.

[Scott2]

Why is it so fewer people wear lifejackets these days?! Even on the Broads its recommended and so few people do so. especially children! I've often seen kids playing on the decks of cruisers (with no safety rail!) unsupervised and not wearing a lifejacket

How stupid are people these days. Someone seriously needs to educate people that when on a boat or near the water they should wear a lifejacket, and even if they do not have one on children should have one on as a priority!

[Jono]

Yes... I'm amazed the human race has survived so long....

[Scary Des]

Originally Posted by Scott2

Why is it so fewer people wear lifejackets these days?! Even on the Broads its recommended and so few people do so. especially children! I've often seen kids playing on the decks of cruisers (with no safety rail!) unsupervised and not wearing a lifejacket

How stupid are people these days. Someone seriously needs to educate people that when on a boat or near the water they should wear a lifejacket, and even if they do not have one on children should have one on as a priority!

It never ceases to amaze me why people think that they have the right to make instant judgements about someone else’s ability or reasoning when it comes to safety(amongst other things).

Deciding to wear a lifejacket should be up to the individual and they alone should live (or die) with the consequences of their decision. It is not up to us to prejudge the issue and we should not thing that everyone else is incapable of weighing up the odds and make a reasoned, rational decision.

In this country we have gone from a judicial process that punished someone when they get it wrong, to a system that punishes when they might get it wrong a classic example being that you should not use your mobile while driving because you might have an accident Verses being convicted of driving without due care after having an accident while on the phone One punishes the possibility, the other the reality, the latter makes sense the former is nanny to the extreme

Incidentals Lady Ellen doesn’t wear a life jacket all the time shouldn’t be allowed someone arrest her Des

[Pete7]

Originally Posted by Scott2

Why is it so fewer people wear lifejackets these days?!

I disagree. Back in the last millenium, when Obi Wan Kenobi created Ribnet, the only peeps that used ribs were the RNLI, divers, wacky racers and smugglers.

We never carried life jackets on dive boats, so never wore them. And the myth that your stab jacket could quickly be donned was a none starter because it was attached to a bloody great metal cylinder or two, it would never float you face up and most won't hold air for more than a couple of hours.

Look at the photos in the cruising section and even on a calm day cruising in company you see folks wearing life jackets of there own free choice.

You will never get everyone to wear one all the time, but at least lots of peeps now have them on board so they have a choice.

Pete

[tcwozere]

I wasn't yesterday when towing the kids.. Mainly because if I have to get to them quickly in the water, I don't want to waste time taking a life jacket off.. (yeah they are easy to undo, but sods law etc..)

Sometimes a life jacket is essential, sometimes it ain't..

[Alan]

Hmm, I grew up on the Norfolk Broads, power and sail. Wore a lifejacket whilst a very small person on the boat all the time. (21ft shetland). As I grew up I wore one whilst dinghy sailing (in the mirror or wayfarer) and whilst doing safety boat crew at the local sailing club (Dell Quay Dory 13). Didn't wear one on the 25t yot or 27ft motorcruiser as a rule unless need justified. Mind you wasnt allowed to sit with feet dangling over the bows or larking around on the cabin top as you often see on the Broads. Point is that compulsory lifejacket use on an inland waterway is a bit silly IMHO. Enabling people to think for themselves (with a bit of education) and take responsibility for their own actions is much better!

Mind you this was in the halcyon days gone past when we werent so obsessed with petty rule, regulation and nanny safety. I mean back then the Broads didnt have a lifeboat service, & there were more boats on it!

[Jono]

Originally Posted by Pete7

... And the myth that your stab jacket could quickly be donned was a none starter because it was attached to a bloody great metal cylinder or two, ......

Pete

You're not as old as you look then..... In my day *ahem* we wore our ABLJs........

[osprey__viper]

Originally Posted by Jono

You're not as old as you look then..... In my day *ahem* we wore our ABLJs........

And as im typing this, im lookin at me trusty Spiro ABLJ. Ah the good old days of diving, when wetsuits were all the rage and we used to break the ice in Stoney cove, just to get a Sunday mornin dive.

Martin

[hannah]

i think life jackets are simular to wearing a seatbelt in a car , or even a helmet on a bicycle and like you say u will never get everyone to wear one
However i used to think that it was pointless wearing a life jacket if you could swim , but it soon prooved me wrong when not long ago i come of the skies a little to hard and winded my self , i would of survived without a life jacket , but with me wearing one gave me a lot of extra support

SO the verdict ............Saftey is there for a reason

[Jono]

Originally Posted by osprey__viper

And as im typing this, im lookin at me trusty Spiro ABLJ. Ah the good old days of diving, when wetsuits were all the rage and we used to break the ice in Stoney cove, just to get a Sunday mornin dive.

Martin

Now then, you ARE as old as you look.....

[Pete7]

Originally Posted by Jono

You're not as old as you look then..

Hmm, thanks Jono,


{Note to diary, must have photo taken standing next to Garfish}

Pete

[Jono]

Originally Posted by Pete7

Hmm, thanks Jono,


{Note to diary, must have photo taken standing next to Garfish}

Pete

Now that's too easy... everyone looks young compared to gArf.......

[osprey__viper]

Originally Posted by Jono

Now then, you ARE as old as you look.....

Nah mate, just had a hard paper round

[thorper]

A few thoughts on all this:

1) If you go in the water unconsious without a lifejacket (auto inflating or the fixed kind) you will most likely die

2) A great deal of people never have considered some of the things that could go wrong on a boat, causing them to end up in the water, especially when injured.

3) People do have the right to choose if they wear one or not, however it is not just about them. Families and personal responsibilities aside, you having to be airlifted or rescued by the coastguard or lifeboat due to not wearing a life jacket could mean someone else has to wait for their emergency that was not/less preventable.

4) Education should be the answer - making it compulsory to at least watch a video of the "Blood on the asphalt" style, but with a marine setting. Something to jolt people and make them think would probably be effective.

Any thoughts appreciated!

Ricky

[swginn]

In Ireland wearing your lifejacket was recently made the law!!

Anybody travelling on board a craft 7 metres or less in length must wear a lifejacket.

Also all children (under 16yrs) must wear a lifejacket while travelling on leisure craft, regardless of length.

Fines are €127 per person. A lifejacket costs a lot less although IMHO you can't put a price on a life!!

[brucehawsker]

Saw a big (8m ish) diesel Scorpion with three adults and three children on board in the dark coming back into Lymington at way above the 6 knot limit. Youngest - girl about 7 - leaning over the nose looking at the fluorescence (or is it phophorescence). Not one life jacket between them.

[Scary Des]

Originally Posted by thorper

1) If you go in the water unconsious without a lifejacket (auto inflating or the fixed kind) you will most likely die

Scare mongering why would you be unconscious sure some people might be but the chances are that you won’t. Anyway you can still die with a life jacket on

Originally Posted by thorper

2) A great deal of people never have considered some of the things that could go wrong on a boat, causing them to end up in the water, especially when injured.
Ricky

The facts are that more people drown on inland waters than at sea and usually while doing something not related to boating e.g. walking the dog and fall in.So boating is not the risk you think it is equally Should everyone wear a lifejacket all the time

Originally Posted by thorper

3)......rescued by the coastguard or lifeboat due to not wearing a life jacket could mean someone else has to wait for their emergency that was not/less preventable.

This is tenuous because you could argue that all accidents occur as a result of not taking appropriate actions and whether it is not wearing a lifejacket or getting the bends from miscalculating your stops both are equally preventable

Originally Posted by thorper

4) Education should be the answer.......

I agree but it should voluntary

I wear a lifejacket when the conditions dictate and that is both weather and vessel. But I do not agree with telling people that they must wear a lifejacket. In certain situations on a yacht, for example, that can be positively dangerous, the chances of getting tangled up in the sheets or guys while doing a spinnaker drop are greatly increased if you wear a lifejacket.

[Andy]

I can't believe this conversation .... anybody that does not wear a life jacket is either stupid or so up themselves that they think they don't need one, as it will never happen to them.

[Jono]

Originally Posted by Andy

.... either stupid or so up themselves ....

Whilst you are obviously a well balanced and socially graced individual...

[Phil]

mmmmmm.....the thought police arrive on this forum once again.

Sometimes I get the impression that the waterbourne equivalent of the bible bashers appear sitting on high proclaiming how we should indulge in our hobby.

Well no thanks -if I want to wear a life jacket I will and if I don't I won't ;

Of course if you take the argument to the full ribbing and boating would be banned as dangerous and you can all sit at home with your jackets inflated around your survival suits,spare engines running, sea anchor trailing out of the window and ....try to remember what it used to be like