A TEACHABLE TRAGEDY - Readers Cast (Ken Morrow) - October 4, 2010

[rtidd]

A TEACHABLE TRAGEDY

A terrible, tragic accident occurred on Sunday, and one of our brothers in arms and of the fly lost his life. Our thoughts are with his friends, family, and those fellow anglers who were with him at the time. This is a horrible time for all of them. And no one should interpret anything found in this communication as an assignment of blame. That is not appropriate or the intent of my message.

[Bamboozle]

"It's just fishin'! No fish is worth dying for".

Words to LIVE by!

[Uncle Jesse]

Good thoughts on a hard learned lesson. I wear my SOSpenders whenever wading or in/on my float tube and pontoon. A couple of years ago I had my feet in the air and my head under the water for a few brief moments. I thought about that little ripcord on the PFD but floundered around like a seal moving on land until I got right side up.

On item in the article was that the Coast Guard does not approve inflatable PFD's. That's not what the label inside mine says. Sorry about the condition but that's what happens where you use these things outdoors.
PFD Label.jpg

[flyguy66]

Jesse,

There are a couple of models of inflatable PFD's that the USCG has recently begun certifying (past couple of years now). But most...and their general policy...is still "no." So I sort of hedged for the sake of not getting sidetracked in the article. But you are correct. There are, in fact, some inflatible PFD's that are USCG approved for use by adults only and with a couple of other caveats. Mostly, this has to do with neck flotation and upright positioning in the event of the individual wearer being rendered unconscious. As you probably know, the USCG will only approve PFD's that keep the wearer's mouth and nose above water even if they are unconscious so that they can continue breathing. This also requires that the PFD auto-inflates. The very best of these have a selectable auto-inflate feature, so that the wearer can set them to auto-inflate upon contact with water or turn them to manual inflate only. This allows you to wear them (as you do) when wading or floating in belly boats and such without setting off the charging mechanism. What the USCG does not approve for sure is the belt variety of inflatible PFD's. But I will say emphatically that any PFD is better than no PFD. And these belt style inflatible PFD's are actually better than what you get on a commercial airliner. If they FAA and NTSB will allow commercial airlines to fly folks over vast expanses of ocean for hire with less PFD than a good belt type inflatible PFD, then I have no problem telling folks that I would rather see them wearing one of these than nothing at all whenever they are using any sort of watercraft. And it is certainly a step up from having the very best life jacket in the world setting in the boat or stored in a gear bin in the boat, but not actually ON YOUR BODY.

[Bamboozle]

Is Sterns lying about the Type III Coast Guard approval on this MANUAL belt type?

or Cabela's lying about this one?

Inflatable PFD's are USCG Type III approved but NOT for personal watercraft, (jet skis) or water sking.

http://www.uscg.mil/hq/cg5/cg5214/pfdselection.asp

[flyguy66]

Bamboozle,

This is the issue! The "Type" stuff is constantly being revised. Says so right at the bottom of the page you linked to, by the way. This is mostly do to industry pressures and research/testing by the USCG in response to a constant stream of new product submissions and lobbying efforts. But not long ago there were basically two "types" approved by USCG: true life jackets and floatation devices. A life jacket was worn on your person. It had to right an unconscious person in the water and keep their head up and float a 300 lbs person indefinitely in fairly rough water. This is now a Type I or II (even this depends on the definition of "rough" at the moment). These could never be inflatible and no Type I will likely ever be inflatible. The old "floatation device" is now called a "Type IV" or "floatation aid." This is basically something that will float when a 200 lbs. person is holding on to it in water and is designed for that purpose. A throw buoy, a seat cushion w/straps, etc. What fits into which category today is almost constantly changing. It gets crazy...like most stuff regulated by gov't nowadays. Inflatible PFD's have made a lot of progress up this food chain in the past couple of years. Many are now classified as Type II and Type III PFD's. But here's the catch: a great many special regulations still exist that prohibit their use in certain circumstances and locations.

This is why I try not to get too far off into the regs when talking to the "general public" about PFD's. I try to stick to logic. You put something in print today, and it will be wrong tomorrow. As a professional, now I have liability exposure unless I put all sorts of disclaimers and fine print into everything I write. And that costs you massive credibility. Folks are tired of that crap (I know I am) and just turn off. The simple truth is most people don't obey the law regarding PFD's anyway. And even fewer use common sense. So why bother spouting the rules and regs at them? I try to appeal to their emotions and common sense. That's the only way you have a snowball's chance in Hades of persuading Americans to do anything today unless you're going to pay them or give them free beer, concert, or ball game tickets.

I was on a river under federal jurisdiction this past weekend that requires every person in any boat to wear a PFD at all times, and they are very adamant and clear about NO INFLATIBLE PFD's. They don't care about USCG approval, Type I, II, III, or IV. And if you have one strap unbuckled they will write you a ticket. If you have one foot in the boat and are still in the process of putting on or taking off the vest they will write you a ticket. Every PFD I saw on that river was a Type I. You know, I wore a Type I PFD for 2 straight full days of fly fishing from a drift boat and it never bothered me in the least.

You really can't write a brief article about PFD's and cover recommendations for everyone in the country accurately. There are too many variables and too and too many exceptions to the "rules." My real point was quite simple: SOMETHING is a whole world better than NOTHING. A type III or IV inflatible belt around your waist is 100% better than Type I Kapok Arctic Survival Vest that is stowed in a gear compartment or laying on the deck. And it just so happens I have had occassion to use both!