From: william@castle.ed.ac.uk (William Warburton)
Newsgroups: rec.windsurfing
Subject: Re: Lifejackets while windsurfing (pretty long)
Date: 28 Aug 92 13:56:01 GMT
Reply-To: W.Warburton@ed.ac.uk
Organization: Edinburgh University Computing Service

In article <badn9qk.westes@netcom.com>, westes@netcom.com (Will Estes) writes:
|> 
|> If you are a good swimmer, you are eventually going to catch up to the
|> board, with or without the jacket on.  As a worst case, if you lose
|> the board, you are going to spend a few hours in the water swimming to shore,
|> but you have something to keep you floating when you get tired.

 I disagree with your assertions. It is easily possible for the speed
of a drifting board (especially if the rig has become detached) to
exceed your ability to catch it, particularly when wearing a lifejacket.


 I will introduce a few definitions:

 Lifejacket:	Designed to keep you afloat for a prolonged period in a 
		face up position, normally has foam buoyancy which can
		be supplemented by inflation. Also available in
		inflation-only models. Should meet all applicable
		safety regs. 

 Buoyancy aid:	Designed to help you keep afloat & enable you to "work"
		in the water without having to worry about keeping
		your head up/tiring etc. Also designed for comfort and
		convenience out of the water. Should meet less stringent
		safety regs.

 Racing vest:	Minimal buoyancy aid. designed to meet requirement to
		wear some sort of buoyancy, give you freedom of
		movement and reduce the need to swim when in the water.
		Unlikely to meet safety regulations but fulfils the
		requirement to wear some sort of floatation which
		many clubs etc. lay down.

 Most windsurfers I know don't wear any of the above, just rely on the
buoyancy in a thick wetsuit & harness. A few wear a Racing vest, either
to ease waterstarts or for peace of mind. Most drysuit users seem to
use a buoyancy aid rather than a racing vest.

|> Now, examine alternatives without the jacket on: if you get hit hard on
|> the head and knocked unconscious, without the jacket, then you die.

 Agreed- though few people sail alone, if you get lucky someone might
pull you out before you die. I think this accident happens very rarely,
see below.

|>								    If
|> you get pulled offshore by an ebb tide, or if you have to spend the
|> night on the water, you are eventually either going to fall asleep or
|> become exhausted.  In either case, without the jacket, then you die.

 Agreed, however in my locale these are pretty unlikely scenarios and
again it is a fair bet that someone would help out. Perhaps your sailing
area is more dangerous? If so then I suspect your advice is less
applicable to the "average" location, whatever that is.

|> To me, those are much worse worst cases than any reasonable scenario when 
|> you are wearing the jacket.  

 I think I (technically) agree with you here, however I think that the
worst cases you have described are so unlikely to occur that they
provide no support for your argument. The inconvenience and discomfort
of wearing a lifejacket is so much of a liability during "normal"
sailing that it seems unjustifiable.

|> PLEASE, LET'S NOT TALK ABOUT WAVE SAILING.  That's a special case, and my
|> comments above only apply to sailing on the open ocean, a bay, a lake, etc.

 Ok, but the risk of getting into trouble on an ebb tide is quite small
on a lake, and that seems to be the highest risk scenario you present
(ebb tide- not lake :-).
 I'm not sure what you mean by open ocean so I won't try to dispute it.
 I certainly agree that bays and, in particular, estuaries can be
dangerous in tidal waters.
 
|> The fact is that if you don't wear a lifejacket, you do so for reasons of
|> comfort or personal preference.

 Absolutely, after all I go windsurfing for fun...

|>			    And you have made some decision that the
|> worst case scenario just isn't going to happen to you.  Fine.

 If I anticipated the worst every time I went out I probably wouldn't
go very often (Worse things happen at sea, you know :-).
 A realistic assessment of risk is required and sensible precautions
should be taken. Obviously if you sail in company in a "safe" and
predictable environment you need be less cautious than if you sail
alone in unpredictable weather and strong tides.

|>							  But, wave
|> sailing excepted, I have a really hard time believing any argument that says
|> you are safer without a jacket than with one. 

 My argument is:

 A lifejacket severely restricts your ability to swim and therefore
increases the likelyhood of being seperated from your equipment. Since
this is dangerous* I would prefer to accept the small@ risk of being
knocked unconscious or abandoned by my friends and wear less
restrictive buoyancy. Thus I feel safer without a lifejacket.

* rule #1 when you get into difficulties is "Don't leave the boat"-
  it's big and it floats. Also applies to a board.

@ IMHO, I suppose. I know of a few people who've been banged on the
  head while windsurfing, it seems to happen a lot more if you wear a
  helmet (funny that), generally this doesn't seem to be fatal but
  obviously it is possible that it would be.

 I am quite prepared to accept that you don't believe this, particularly
if your sailing venues change the risk factors significantly. However
I do feel your post verges on the paranoid- maybe you'll still be
paranoid when I'm dead :-).

 Thanks for listening, folks- sorry to pontificate!

	W.
-- 
VitSea 292, Tiga Slalom, Baxter 270 wave and half a Fanatic Bee,
6.2 Topsail 5.1/4.6 Tushinghams 4.2 sShokwave & half a Gaastra 3.2 :-)
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Newsgroups: rec.windsurfing