Life Preservers a must !

[striperjoe32]

too many drownings lately guys, I personally would like to see lp's a requirement for all JRCC future tourneys. I would wear mine cause it's smart. Most younger guys don't feel the "need" to wear one. Let's consider making it a Must at all JRCC tourneys in the future(that is my opinion not the club's). Not that we would be held responsible because there would be no liability involved but......it may be your son, father, best friend, cousin or maybe someone who did'nt know he "should" have had one on - especially the way the water has been running lately - Unbelievable at times depending on which part of the river you are fishing at the time. Any reactions, feedback or response????????? just curious....striperjoe

Let's hear some feedback - positive or negative...Keep in mind most accidents happen when we think we have things under control and it's not nice to fool mother nature. I almost drowned once as a college student in the New River. So I've been there done that....

[Big Cat]

You know my opinion.

I would be up for making that a recomendation at the tournys though.

[catnaround]

Not for me! I will make the decision when I choose to wear my pfd.
Jay

[RANGER690]

I think we should keep the rules to a minimum. But I am all for encouraging each other to be safe. So feel free to make an announcment at each event.

Does a lifejacket make me look fat?

Dayton

[catnaround]

No, that would be your belly.[grin]

[Stickin Em]

Jay, don't you have a couple tires to mount????[grin]
Now get to it. AND I MEAN IT!!!!!

[Fisher of Men]

A lot of Coast Guardsmen will tell you that they never retrieved a dead body in a life jacket! I have been associated with marine casualty investigations for nearly 15 years and have seen a lot of horror stories. Most of the incidents involved totally unexpected events which occurred out of the blue; and a life jacket could have made a difference in about 99% of the drownings.

Boating is very dangerous and anything you can do to protect yourself is an added plus. Remember that you share the river with a lot of reckless folks.

[Gottheblues]

Dayton, to make yourself look taller and slimmer make sure you wear a life jacket with vertical stripes. I am 6ft tall but the horizontal stripes on my jacket make me appear much shorter.

[earlyriser]

Steve dont you have some MSDS material to review, now you get to it.

[wasabi]

I keep telling myself I'm going to wear one when running up/down river on night trips. I really need to do a better job at that. How ironic would that be to become food for the mighty blue cats we love to chase!

[Hawkeye]

You would save more lives by wearing a helmet in your car then wearing a life vest in your boat. Car accidents are far more frequent and more people drive them there for the helmets would save more lives. Personally I feel much safer on my boat with no LV then in my car driving down the road with my seat belt on. I think the ratio of drowning vs outing is like over a million to 1 on boats. USCG reports a 5.5 deaths per 100,000 reg. boats and 80% of those were from boaters that recieved no saftey training. I never told anyone they cant wear a LV on my boat but leave it up to them. My crew and I have worn LV on a few occasions when conditions were bad but most the time we dont. What does all this mean? You do what you think is right for yourself and persons on your boat. I hate when big brother tries to save us from ourselfs with more rules. Now, how many people here wear a LV but still smoke ciggaretts? I think there are 300,000 dieing from them each year. Here is a link to some statistics on child deaths and one from the USCG. Interesting reads.

http://www.life-saver.com/stats.htm

http://www.uscgboating.org/statistics/accident_stats.htm

[boss hawg]

I wouldn't worry about the pfd most of the cat fishermen are so full of sh** that they float. Actually that goes for most fishermen.

[catnaround]

earlyriser originally wrote:
Steve dont you have some MSDS material to review, now you get to it.

thanks slade, he never works! Wake up steven[grin]

[Stickin Em]

huh,,,,,what,,,,oh sorry, i dozed off a bit there.[shy]

[RANGER690]

Learn that stuff good. You might get a quiz.

[Katnip]

Here is my take: What someone does on his or her own boat as far as PFDs are concerned is their own business. I loathe the day when PFDs are required for everyone on every boat all the time, but you know its coming under the guise of reducing health costs and protecting ourselves from ourselves and our children from others because of the certain percentage of absolute morons in our society that ruin it for the rest of us. Oh, and don't forget about the lawyers who represent those morons to line their pockets as well as the politicians who pander to them to get re-elected. Geez, I'm, already getting pissed, so I will step down off the box. This is a fishing board...deep breathes....OK!

I used to never wear one because I am an expert swimmer and swam competitively for years. However, one day out of curiosity (provoked from a similar discussion on this forum last year) I wanted to find out survival times in cold water regardless of your level of swimming expertise. The chart I found is below and is a general guideline. Obviously, your actual survival time will vary! Now I always wear one (solo or otherwise) when the water is below 60 degrees, no matter what. When the water is below 70 I wear one at night, no matter what. I figure if I can't swim to shore in 10 hours, or nobody finds me in 10 hours, then its probably my time to go. I want to have at least that chance, though. Your choice is your own, and I respect that.

http://www.westpacmarine.com/samples/hypothermia_chart.asp

[bigcatdaddy]

I too agree that I should not be regulated to wear my pfd, but I always wear it when I am underway. Too much under the water that you cannot see, and you don't swim too well when you are unconscious. Think of your family and not of your personal comfort.

[Hawkeye]

Striperjoe, I apoligies for barking like I did on your post. With a lot of smaller open boats it is a good idea to wear a pfd while under way and some all the time. Especially with the glitter big motor jobs.

Most people feel pretty safe in the boat I got now. Lots of good hand holds, high sides and a closed stern. I know a freak accident could happen at any time but that goes for anything.

[martineta]

I had a good scare Tuesday. I was fishing by myself in my dinkly wobbly 15 foor aluminum Starcraft. I like to set two anchors and fish sideways to the current. I threw out an anchor off the bow and pitched my stern anchor at the same time. Stern anchor rope tangled in my mess so I scrambled to the rear of the boat hopping over tackle bags, rods, coolers, and all my other junk. I lost my balance and came darn close to going overboard. Water is 62 so no worry about hypothermia but no one could swim against the james and get back to the boat. I would have had to swim to shore and hope someone would see me hollaring on the bank to take me back to my empty boat. That's if I was lucky enough to make it to shore. I fished in my PFD after that and slowed down my movements. I probably won't wear the PFD when I have company in the boat but fishing solo I plan to wear it at all times. I still have a 10 and 13 year old to raise and a wife I plan to outlive.

[Stickin Em]

As strong as the current is on the James, it might not be a good idea to anchor sideways to the current. Just my opinion.