How often do you wear your life vest?

[BUHurricane]

Re: How often do you wear your life vest?

I don't mean to be rude, but your response is absolutely classic - its called the "it can't happen to me rationalization." If you think that it is impossible for you to go overboard and to be knocked unconscious in the process, you are in a state of denial that is repeated over and over in rescue situations.

If you just don't want to wear a PFD, so be it. Just understand that none of us has "superman status." You can end up as a statistic as easily as anyone else.

Im sorry for being "superman", but on pontoon and deck boats i dont find it necessary to wear them.

Its similar to walking around with a face mask on so you dont get swine flu. yes it could happen, but is it worth being uncomfortable all day?

 

[jay_merrill]

Re: How often do you wear your life vest?

Here in Louisiana they changed the law this year for boats with tiller handles. All people in a boat with a tiller handle operated motor must wear one while underway. I was raised always wearing one while big motor is running, not wearing one while fishing, but having it close by. Little girl always wears one regardless. So does wife as she is not to swift of a swimmer. To me it is kinda life safety harnesses and tree stands. My safety harness is attached to the tree from the second I leave the ground. Some don't connect until they finish climbing and some not at all. My little girl loves her Daddy too much for me to be stupid.

As it turns out, this information is mostly correct. There is a limitation in regard to it that states that it applies to boats under 16 feet. There is also a rule that says that the lanyard type kill switch on a tiller steered outboard of greater than 10hp, mounted on a boat of less than 26 feet, must be used if the motor is equipped with one.

Here's a direct link to a thread that I started on the matter. The complete information is provided, right from the La. Dept. of Wildlife & Fisheries wwebsite.

http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?p=2130703#post2130703

 

[jay_merrill]

Re: How often do you wear your life vest?

Just because I think the info is worthy of its own post, here's a tidbit of info that I think says alot about the importance of wearing a PFD. I found it while doing research for the above post.

In the state of Louisiana, 74% of all recreational boating fatalities have been the direct result of not wearing a PFD!

 

[Fl_Richard]

Re: How often do you wear your life vest?

When I grew up Life Preservers - Oh wait PFD's - looked like to ones you see in the Titanic video. Big, bulky and obviously not made to be worn all the time. Now they have fancy inflatable ones. Like the suspender style.

$200.00 for suspender style is un reasonable. I agree life is priceless but 6 people with $200.00 PFDs on is $1200.00.

Thats a seasons worth of fuel for some.

Make them $20.00 and the who wears them pool will go from 48% to 90%.

Lets stop making the mfgrs rich and actually save lives. - I know liability reasons make them so costly right... BS I say!

I live in Naples and here right now today a trial with BMC and Bost Whaler is going on because some drunk azz took his wife for a ride, she was in a swivel fishing chair, he hit a wake, tossed her over, ran her over and the engine sliced and diced her. The plantifs attorney claims OMC was neglegent because there was no prop guard. OMC says a prop guard is unsafe as it can cause trapping and drowning.

It's not over yet but whatever the outcome boaters will loose.

Here's the news story if you care to follow it.
http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2009/jun/09/jury-chosen-boat-propeller-guard-case/

 

[skargo]

Re: How often do you wear your life vest?

WM has a sale going on now on inflatables, regularly $140 and on sale for 80(I think) got one for the wife and I, and we forget we have them on. We put them on at the ramp.
We wear them because we like life

 

[jay_merrill]

Re: How often do you wear your life vest?

Make them $20.00 and the who wears them pool will go from 48% to 90%.

I wish this were the case, but I don't think it is.

There are plenty of basic PFDs that can be purchased for 20 bucks, but most aren't very comfortable. My feeling is that comfort and ease of movement in a PFD, have been as much of the problems as anything else. Inflatables provide an answer to this issue, but some people (including me) just don't trust them. I do wish auto-inflatable PFDs would come down in price to about 40 dollars, though. If so, more people would probably buy and use them.

 

[fishon13]

Re: How often do you wear your life vest?

My kids wear them from dock to dock I only wear mine when enjoying water sports.

 

[Chesabay]

Re: How often do you wear your life vest?

I'm an old retired Navy SAR swimmer so I think I can swim pretty well, yet when I'm out in the ocean my vest is on. In the bay or if I am close to land I don't have it on. Seen to many people without them and flew to many missions looking for bodies.

 

[dooma_Flatchy]

Re: How often do you wear your life vest?

Before-I always wore my pfd under way, usually I was "skent back" when I wasn't fishing. I fish a lot below a dam and it's a law when your inside 800 feet of a dam. I just traded from a bass boat to a pontoon and I don't wear mine since we are in a play pen . I still make my little ones wear theirs but they are at the age where it's the law.

 

[Bifflefan]

Re: How often do you wear your life vest?

being from a stockcar racing background safety is for most on my mind. but like so many others i dont wear it, but i do have them for all on board and they are out in the open where they can be grabbed.

 

[jay_merrill]

Re: How often do you wear your life vest?

People think that accidents will never happen to them. Four people in a single Louisiana Parish found out otherwise this past weekend. Two were in a boat that hit the bank of a canal and two were out in a good sized bay to the east of this Mississippi River Gulf Outlet. The first two received significant injuries and the second pair were ejected from their boat when they hit an underwater obstruction. Marine authorities are investigating both accidents.

You just never know when this sort of thing is going to happen. It might be fair to discount the first case, because alcohol might have been involved, but I've read nothing that makes me believe it was a factor in the second case - those guys were just running along in an open bay, when they apparantly hit something just under the surface of the water. I had the same thing happen to me about six months ago. I was not ejected, but only because I was holding on the windshield at the time.

To me, its just too easy to put on a PFD. Why not do it?

 

[skargo]

Re: How often do you wear your life vest?

being from a stockcar racing background safety is for most on my mind. but like so many others i dont wear it, but i do have them for all on board and they are out in the open where they can be grabbed.

How is safety foremost on your mind when you don't even wear them

I rock crawl, and my racing seats, racing harnesses are always on when that vehicle is in motion, and my roll cage is 2'x.120 wall DOM tubing, overkill but safe.

Just about every boat I pass on the Chesapeake has occupants not wearing their PFDs, I guess they are too cool to be safe.

 

[Deprime]

Re: How often do you wear your life vest?

Just when skiing, wakeboarding, or tubing. Saw another post where they said they always wore theirs while by themselves. Not a bad idea, never really considered that one.

 

[jay_merrill]

Re: How often do you wear your life vest?

I'm an old retired Navy SAR swimmer so I think I can swim pretty well, yet when I'm out in the ocean my vest is on. In the bay or if I am close to land I don't have it on. Seen to many people without them and flew to many missions looking for bodies.

Chesabay, I too flew SARs, but it was in the USCG in my case. I think you and I share an understanding of this topic that others may not, simply because we know how hard it is to find people in the water. We also understand what you usually find when you do locate them.

As I write in alot of my posts, I still do SARs on a volunteer basis. One of the most heartbreaking was about a year ago, when I participated in a search for two teenagers, who jumped out of a boat with no PFDs. The boat was taking on water and they thought it was sinking, even though it didn't. We eventually found the bodies, but it took about 8-9 days (we found the first kid one day and the second kid the day after), because of decomposition/float time, combined with search time.

These were just kids who made a dumb mistake because they wanted to go fishing. They had no business doing what they did (the boat wasn't their's, had no engine, no oars, no safety gear), but they were still someone's children. Had they at least known enough to find some PFDs and wear them, the worst thing that would have happened, is that they would have gotten in some trouble. Instead, their families had to go through more than a week of emotional turmoil and they eventually had to put them to rest.

This is the reality of SARescues that turn into SARecoveries. We had as many as about 25 boats, a couple of CG helos and a CG Aux fixed wing aircraft involved in this effort. It was a very focused and intense search, but it just wasn't enough, because you can't save someone if they can't keep themselves on the surface.

As I mentioned before, I don't use inflatable PFDs, because I don't trust them. That said, I have another reason for preferring a regular vest - mine has pockets with a signal mirror, a signal light with an extra battery in a sealed container, a whistle, and a small flashlight. The next things on my list to add, are some small water packets and some green sea dye canisters. I'm also a little more "nuts" about wearing a PFD than most people - mine is on at any time the boat is underway, no matter where I am.

I probably drive folks here crazy because I "harp" on this issue all of the time, but its something that I wish more people understood. PFDs can be uncomfortable if they are not of the right type and don't fit properly, but when those issues are resolved, you just get used to having them on. What seemed like a big deal before, just becomes a matter of routine and its a routine that can very definately save a person's life.

 

[wood2turn]

Re: How often do you wear your life vest?

I have a powerboat and use it exclusivly on Puget Sound.

The last time I put mine on (alone or with another onboard) was when I got caught out in 6' seas while on a shrimping trip.

So...I guess you could say never in my case. But then with my boat and the freeboard of 42" it's nearly impossible to fall out of.

Terry B.

 

[scutly]

Re: How often do you wear your life vest?

only kids and the dog. i have them on board though

 

[Mark_VTfisherman]

Re: How often do you wear your life vest?

.....my racing seats, racing harnesses are always on when that vehicle is in motion, and my roll cage is 2'x.120 wall DOM tubing, overkill but safe....Just about every boat I pass on the Chesapeake has occupants not wearing their PFDs, I guess they are too cool to be safe.

The level of safety does not change with a roll cage in motor sports or while wearing a PFD aboard a boat! The level of risk is the same; the chances of surviving an "incident" may be higher with safety equipment.

What it comes down to is that everything is a calculated risk. If one is uncomfortable with or when assessing the risk, then that person should be more attentive to preventative measures and - in a boat - to wearing their PFD.

The chances of an incident in an intelligently piloted rock crawler are markedly higher than the chances of an incident in an intelligently operated boat. I assess the risk of being out on my boat as a small risk, other than the occasional fish hook in my hand or stuck to my jeans:redface:. Wearing a PFD doesn't help with either one of those, so I seldom don a PFD unless boat traffic is heavy or the seas warrant wearing one because the risk has become high.

I am all for wearing a PFD if your assessment of the risk leads you to be more comfortable wearing a PFD. I do it myself. But I object to being called unsafe because I choose not to wear a PFD in most circumstances. And I object to some who have said that those who do not constantly wear a PFD are stupid. I am just as safe aboard my boat wearing or not wearing a PFD. I operate safely in all circumstances. And I object to the condescending tone of suggesting that not wearing a PFD stems from being "too cool."

Just like seat belts in automobiles: I wear mine, but I really get offended when the gov or people with opinions require that I wear my seatbelt "for my own good." If my judgment and the judgment of other drivers is actually that poor in assessing risks, then I don't want them to be on the road! If I operate endangering others, however, that *is* unsafe. If I need a PFD to help make up for my lack of good judgment, THAT is unsafe.

Conclusion: PFD's save lives, but they don't make one any more safe. I was born in New Hampshire and growing up I drank a lot of the same water that made our NH forefathers- who valued safety and freedom- name the state motto, "Live Free Or Die." Don't tell me what to do; educate me and let me assess my own risk and give me the freedom to make up my own mind.

 

[Mark_VTfisherman]

Re: How often do you wear your life vest?

In the state of Louisiana, 74% of all recreational boating fatalities have been the direct result of not wearing a PFD!

An accurate statement of the idea should say, "In the state of Louisiana, 74% of all recreational boat fatality victims were not wearing a PFD.'

Not wearing a pfd doesn't cause fatalities.

 

[HappierWet]

Re: How often do you wear your life vest?

Mark,
You mean the government ( at the behest of the insurance industry ) should not pass legislation designed to protect us from ourselves?

 

[BugsBunnyBoater]

Re: How often do you wear your life vest?

A lot of people seem to wear their vest only when they sence danger. But how many times has danger came when we were not expecting it. Its the things that we are not expecting that normaly cause the most problems..