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.....