View Full Version : Inflatable life jacket rant
Ok, so I saw the pic of the inflatable jacket when I just checked in.
You just happen to be wearing a life jacket of the inflatable type? Why? I dont understand why you are wearing it? Is it because if shit really f*cks up and you are drowning you can magically pull the cord? What if you bang your head and you cant pull the cord.
These things should be banned. Wear a real PFD or dont wear one at all. They are there to keep your head out of the water when you cant. An inflatable PFD cant do that.
Its a highly debatable point Andy.
My thinking is that this type of jacket would increase the number of people actually wearing a PFD due to its smaller size and ease of use.
When you consider where most people put their life jackets, under the seats in the cabin, under floor lockers etc, in the case of a boat that quickly sinks beneath you, the PFD is useless.
Not sure on research stats but I would think that the number of people who receive a head injury rendering them unconscious and then landing in the water, would be small, and the PFD would be in the locker under the seat anyway.
These are classed as the same as foam classes and therefore will have to perform the same, ie PFD 1 keeping your head supported.
I tend to agree with Dave. I wear my inflatable vest ALL the time when I am in my boat but if I wore a more bulky non-inflatable vest I would only wear it while I was under power as required by Tasmanian law.
As I spend most of my time on the water drifting as I fly fish, I would only be wearing a non-inflatable jacket about 10% of the time on the water as I find them too bulky to comfortably wear while fly fishing.
Another factor that comes into play in Tasmania, particularly the highland lakes where I do most of my fishing is water temperature. Much of my fishing is in water below 10ºC and sometimes below 5º. Not sure whether either vest would be of much use for too long under these conditions.
Pirate Pete
10-07-2010, 09:42
Our Vests are auto inflate for that exact reason Andy but the yokes that we got with the boats are the manual type.
I gave serious thought to getting an auto-inflate vest but decided against it on the basis that I sometimes wear it when wading in fast flowing streams and I don't want it inflating if I just stumble over (edit: as opposed to getting washed down stream or similar).
I don't know barry... it would be quite funny if you fell over in a stream and the PFD auto inflated.. yippy
It's usually funny enough (for any mates who happen to be along) WITHOUT the vest auto-inflating!doh
BTW, if you wear one make sure you wear it loose. If you have ever had one inflate whilst wearing you will understand.
We have to wear pfd's when on VMR duty, I have a foam one thats comfortable to wear, just as good as the inflatables. You need to get one that has lots of strips of foam as oposed to big chunks of it.
Pirate Pete
11-07-2010, 09:13
"The Orphan" & I wear the manual inflate on our Kayaks because of the extra maneuverability. As we are either in our local river that is just a big flat run with no class white water or in sheltered water & have wet suits on Im not worried about the fact we dont have any extra buoyancy from the vest until its manually inflated.
BigFella
11-07-2010, 18:51
The self inflating option has definitely helped to get boaters wearing their jackets instead of stuffed in a bag under the front bulk head. All the freshwater comps we have fished over the years have had mandatory wearing of approved jackets. Though go to the boat ramp and it shocks me to see the number of boaters with kids still not wearing jackets.
These new yoke style are catching on very quickly, good thing I say!
Hey Pete, we have special kayak jackets called "Blades" for the kayak hire!
Heaps of room for movement with small pocket at the front.
Compulsory wearing of life jackets cant come soon enough!
Pirate Pete
11-07-2010, 19:09
Hey Pete, we have special kayak jackets called "Blades" for the kayak hire!
Heaps of room for movement with small pocket at the front.
Stormy Seas make a nice looking Kayak Jacket with pockets etc.
http://www.stormyaustralia.com/product_images/z/458/KayakVest__74252_zoom.jpg
Compulsory wearing of life jackets cant come soon enough!
It is in Tassie in a vessel under 6m whilst under way.
................ Though go to the bat ramp and it shocks me to see the number of boaters with kids still not wearing jackets.
......................................
Compulsory wearing of life jackets cant come soon enough!
It's compulsory for kids to wear life jackets at all times when in a boat under 6m in length in Tasmania but I am always amazed at the number of kids NOT wearing them. As Pete pointed out above, adults only have to wear a jacket when under power but the same problem occurs.
Overloading is the other big safety issue in my opinion. I see it happening far too often.
What is actually classed as a vessel under 6m ? My poly yak is about 4m, but if on a surfboard or Mal?.Not saying do not wear em ,but what is the distinction between a boat, and other types of water craft ?.
The regs actually refer to a powered boat under 6m but also refer to PWC's (Powered Water Craft; i.e jet skis etc).
BigFella
11-07-2010, 20:36
Personally I would like to see mandatory wearing of life jackets regardless of vessel size, regardless of weather conditions and regardless of home state (NSW/VIC/TAS/SA/WA/QLD/NZ)
That is the best way to save lives, and make our sport a safer place to be.
What utter balderdash Big Fella!
Discuss!
Personally I would like to see mandatory wearing of life jackets regardless of vessel size, regardless of weather conditions and regardless of home state (NSW/VIC/TAS/SA/WA/QLD/NZ)
That is the best way to save lives, and make our sport a safer place to be.
In open water I dont think that is such a silly idea (unless you are on a cruise ship etc.). Me personally, if I am fishing solo at night, its always life jacket on and motor kill lanyard on. Daytime solo, not always lifejacket, but always lanyard on.
Yacht club events, I often use my boat as a rescue boat. The yacht club by-laws force all members to wear life jacket when on the water.
VMR is like the yacht club, lifejacket at all times on the water.
BigFella
12-07-2010, 06:56
What utter balderdash Big Fella!
Discuss!
Whats wrong Doug?
Treat the wearing of life jackets like compulsory seat belts, people tried to fight them too, but time has shown just how effective they have been in reducing death and personal injury.
How often have we turned on the radio to the news of another pair of old timers swamped in their 5mt runabout, jackets found still in their bag????
Just my thoughts Doug, thats all!
There was a push to make jackets compulsory across the board in Tasmania about ten years ago but a concerted push by commercial fishermen (primarily) saw it watered down to the current situation; i.e. compulsory for adults on powered vessels under 6m but only when under power.
"regardless of vessel size, regardless of weather conditions and regardless of home state"
The only thing I would agree with there is that the rules should be uniform throughout the country, but then I'm keen to do away with state governments altogether.
You'd have to make so many exceptions to your everyone, all the time rules that you'd be no better off. Do you want my customers on a 45' houseboat to wear a PFD? Even in bed? When anchored? (I suspect more people fall off an anchored H/B that one under way?)
There a 50' ferry that punts up and down the river here - you going to make them wear PFDs? I could think of another dozen situations just here on this river that would have to have exceptions made, but I'm a slow typist so won't enumerate them all.
AND (and this is my biggest objection) it all just reinforces the Nanny State mentality. If you haven't the wit to know when it would be a good idea to wear a lifejacket then making the rest of us suffer for it is not the way to teach you. I'm afraid life is like that - stupid people drown, electrocute themselves, drive into solid objects and put a 9mm round through their foot, and the only sure way to stop it would be compulsory sterilisation of these folk at puberty to stop them reproducing. (Now there's an idea - pass those two bricks please.)
[QUOTE=Doug;4798]" Do you want my customers on a 45' houseboat to wear a PFD? Even in bed? When anchored? (I suspect more people fall off an anchored H/B that one under way? QUOTE]
Dear Doug, have you forgotten? You dont own any houseboats or have customers anymore... now go polish your gold like a good boy! pointlaugh
I do agree with Doug though. HOw many stupid laws do we have to introduce to accommodate the shallow end of the gene pool. God created accidents to cleanse the shallow end thus improving the species.
The way we are going, well... I dont want to think about it doh
exposure suits and PFD should be mandatory to all fools
clever blokes like me -leave it to my discretion - so what if some more ppl drown while not wearing PFDs -thins out the genetic pool-less fools around
Now all we have to do is define the fools, DrvDve. Just thee and me, eh, and I'm not sure about thee?:D
(Big Chief) Dave - you're right. I'd forgotten.
Let's bring in more Nanny Laws then, and bugger up someone's business.
[That's what MSQ tried to do a couple of years back - bring in a law that said you had to have a boat licence to hire a tinny or a houseboat. It would have wrecked the industry, but they hadn't thought of that, nor did they really care when we pointed it out to them.]
The rules in NSW are about to change, as of 1/11/10 it will be compulsory to wear a life jacket in boats less than 4.8 metres in conditions of "heightened risk"
I.E. when boating alone
at night
in open ocean
in alpine waters
when you are a moron.
http://www.maritime.nsw.gov.au/docs/wh/Lifejacket_Reforms_Report.pdf
Thanks Chin. I ran through that attachment and on the face of it, I think those proposed regs are quite sensible.
The 4.8 metre cut-off is intriguing though. I mean it has to be someplace, I suppose, but is my grandson any less likely to fall out of my brother's 4.55 than my 5.3. I accept the risk of swamping/overturning is higher in the smaller boat, but the "moron factor" stops my brother taking my grandson miles out to sea in his 4.55. I think the regs should probably apply to boats up to about 8 metres.
Why can't we agree that the NSW proposal be Australia wide? I can't see that the risks are any different for small boats in any state of mainland Australia. (And in Tassie you can't drown - you just walk home on the ice.)
C'mon, what do you think? This is what bulletin boards are for.
BigFella
12-07-2010, 17:41
I'm all for the sterilization of those deemed not fit to breed!pointlaugh
That way after about 20 years we should be rid of most delinquent teenagers, easy fix really.2thumbsup
Doug your a champion!wtf
bushbeachboy
12-07-2010, 20:45
BF, OBJECTION!!!!!!!!!!
Not to the license to breed thing. Bloody good idea I reckon.2thumbsup
If you were to come up north in summer and try fishing a mangrove creek, you would understand immediately why I'll never support mandatory wearing of PFD's under all conditions. It's stifling hot. The intensity of the sun has to be felt to be believed. Those foolish enough to be in a tinny can cook eggs on the foredeck without heating utensils. It's difficult enough to keep hydrated and avoid heat stress without adding any kind of layer of extra material. I consider it to be a real health risk.
It might be a different matter if heading to sea. While underway there is at least a breeze to cool you. But a still day on the blue water is a killer too if you're at anchor or drifting.
I always make sure my 4 yr old son has a PFD on when in the boat. I just won't take him out in the heat.
Mind you, if I lived as close to Antarctica as you lot I'd probably like a nice comfy warm floatation jacket too.pointlaugh
Good to hear from you BBB, especially when you feel strongly about something.
We get our share of days in the high 30s and low 40s here too, maybe not as humid though.
I guess they have to regulate boating, and as Doug says they have to draw a line somewhere. Everything is over-regulated now days, but you can't make anything idiot proof.
From a personal point of view, I don't mind wearing a life jacket at all times because the inflatable types are so unobtrusive you forget you are wearing it most of the time. The exception would be (as BBB explained) when in an estuary on a stinking hot day, then even an inflatable PFD becomes uncomfortable, and unnecessary (for an adult).
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