Water Safety Advice & Lifejacket Offer

[anthony2carr]

One more point. I've read that self inflating life jackets are only for swimmers. Non-swimmers should wear the traditional life jackets. Another drawback is once they get damp from say spray they inflate. They then have to be re-armed, this can take time and may encourage a person to venture out without a lifejacket.

Hi Anthony,

Self inflating jackets are not at all suitable for swimmers as they inflate in contact with water, are you confusing them with buoyancy aids? I personally have used 4 or 5 different brands of lifejacket, in all weather conditions and have yet to have one accidentally inflate on me. It does happen granted but in normal use, it shouldnt, certainly not with the ones on the market at the moment. You are more at risk from catching the manual toggle and inflating it than one inflating accidentally due to water ingress. Jackets do have to be rearmed and should be done so on an annual basis but its not prohibitively expensive I think its about 25 quid or so but I stand corrected on that.

I stand corrected. I read this information incorrectly.

I have taken a young fella out fishing who owned an inflatable life jacket. Spray from a single large wave and boom, he was Marshmallow man. You wanna see the look on his face when the thing went off without warning.

They do provide some great buoyancy though.

I personally have a lifejacket of the padded variety. I use this for a number of reasons, mainly because it is always ready to go and I am not relying on a mechanism to save my life. It was a very rare case, but the story about the kayaker in Cork whose jacket inflated incorrectly and dragged him to this death stuck out in my mind.

[petekd]

Havent heard that story but he shouldnt have been wearing one in a yak. A standard automatic self inflating life jacket is in no way suitable for kayaking.

For someone fishing from boats or from rocks like they are designed for they are something you should not be without.

[anthony2carr]

http://www.nsai.ie/uploads/file/lifejackets.pdf

Here is the true story, scary story:-

http://www.nsw.yachting.org.au/?Page=38 ... 65%2F0%2F0

FOOTNOTE:- There are a number of examples where the inflatables failed – in real circumstances – and death or near death, has been a consequence. In fact, in Ireland 2005, a man was drowned because the 3 week old inflatable he wore for safety actually drew water back in through the failed valve and forced him under water. The valve was subsequently tested by an Engineer and out of 20 tests, it failed 13 times. The same brand of life jacket – and valve – is still available on the market today. Go figure! By the way, the man’s widow successfully sued the manufacturers – who actually admitted liability. Case finalised in 2007.

Another case, real life, was investigated by Marine Accident Investigation Board, UK in 2002, a fishing vessel ‘Radiant’ upturned with 5 people thrown in to the sea – all wearing inflatables – 1 worked, 4 failed, 1 man drowned

[davetilly]

great read anthoney a PFD for kayaking all the way,

[kkontour]

I have my lifejacket 2 years now, self inflating. I go out on a mates boat a few times during the summer. Do I need to get it serviced/rearmed if it has never gone off?
Tks
K

[Viper]

Very interesting read on reading the signs of someone in distress...

http://gcaptain.com/maritime/blog/drowning/?10981

(Thanks to the lads at octane.ie for posting this up)

[stevecrow74]

i made this a sticky as it is important for everyone to see.

good find, and hopefully it will save a few more lives in the process of knowing what to look for.

[Tanglerat]

..... and I've pruned the thread and I'm locking it. Great link, but it seems to have attracted too many one-off posts by guys trying to get their post count up.

[Boilermaker1]

Check CO2 catridge for corosion. Inflate jacket using Mouth piece and Put it into water to check for leaks.

[Divisadero]

Just thought I should include this link to the RNLI site as there is fantastic detailed info on lifejackets including the differences between bouyancy/flotation aids and 'true' lifejackets and also the different newton ratings etc., apologies if this is already on here:

http://www.rnli.org.uk/what_we_do/sea_a ... t_campaign