2021 National Safe Boating Week: Focus on lifejackets

For the first of these, we're looking at lifejackets. Boatsales.com.au is, and always has been, a strong advocate for wearing a lifejacket at all times while out on the water.

It makes sense. These days, manual or self-inflating lifejackets are comfortable and non-intrusive to wear, meaning there’s no real reason why you shouldn’t wear one.

A boat can sink in seconds, which makes preparation key in an emergency. Depending on how your boat goes down, there may be no time to grab a lifejacket and put it on.

Inflating lifejackets should be inspected on the day you buy them – the one big check is to ensure the gas canister are not tightly screwed into the inflator mechanism – and at least twice a year to ensure they’re still serviceable.

They should also have maintenance performed on them according to the manufacturer’s recommendation. Sometimes this may require you to send the jacket back to the manufacturer.

Likewise, standard lifejackets need to be checked to ensure there are no tears in the fabric or frayed straps that need to support you in the water.

Here are some of the top boatsales.com.au tips on lifejacket safety:

Wear a life jacket, rescue groups urge WA fishers

When the people that need to come and rescue you once something goes wrong on the water start harping on about lifejackets, it’s time to listen.

Western Australia’s problem is more than just boats, with rock fishers also vulnerable to be swept into the water if a freak wave washes over.

NSW is the only Australian state or territory to introduce compulsory lifejacket use in recognised high danger zones, and recreational fishing groups still rail against more widespread adoption of the practice.

How to self-service an inflatable lifejacket

This quick video done in conjunction with Maritime Safety Victoria is a good introduction to how you should be self-servicing your lifejacket.

Of note, servicing relies on the manufacturer’s recommendations with, in this instance, a checklist of what needs to be looked at in the service.

At a minimum, the gas cylinder – life jackets use a canister of compressed carbon dioxide to inflate a flotation bladder – needs to be inspected for rust and weighed to check it has not lost any gas, and the jacket must remain fully inflated overnight as part of the test.

Water safety watchdog issues warning for decades-old lifejackets

Lifejackets definitely have a use-by date. However, it’s surprising that Australia’s national maritime safety watchdog has had to issue a plea for people to throw out decades-old units that are still in use.

The oldest of these use sealed plastic pockets filled with a natural fibre called kapok. Over time, the kapok fibres start to absorb water rather than resist it, acting like a sponge.

If the plastic covering of the lifejacket has aged and become brittle, or a hole has been punched in it, these life jackets will have become extremely dangerous.

Treat lifejackets like a disposable commodity; if it ain’t right, replace it.

Bushfire haze sparks lifejacket warning

Remember that lifejacket use is mandatory when boaters are exposed to heightened risk. That means in anything other than ideal weather, think about donning yours.

A case in point was the recent Black Summer bushfires. Pretty much most of the eastern seaboard of Australia was alight at some stage in late 2019 and early 2020, with smoke spreading across the water and impairing visibility.

Normally we think about fog or rain as impeding vision, but smoke from fires proved to be a pretty new and novel reason for placing boaters in higher-risk situations.

Buying the right PFD Type 1 lifejacket

There is no such thing as an all-rounder lifejacket. Depending on how you use your boat, there are different types of lifejackets that may be better, or worse, suited to what you do.

For instance, heading offshore on a rough day is very different to fishing in the middle of an inland lake in glass-out conditions. In one instance, a self-inflating lifejacket with higher levels of buoyancy, and maybe even a flashing light, is the right choice, where for the other a manually inflating jacket at the minimum rating is all that’s needed.

What you wear also can come down to the type of activity you’re doing; a self-inflating lifejacket is important on a sailboat just in case the boom knocks you overboard, especially if you’re hit on the head.

Life hack saves boater from certain death

And we finish with a reminder that no matter how dire things look, tenacity and a bit of clever thinking can always save the day.

Be safe out there.

National Safe Boating Week runs from October 2-8.