Wearing PFDs while boat is moving

Does everyone (including the captain) where PFDs while your boat is moving?

  • Yes

    Votes: 4 3.2%

  • No

    Votes: 122 96.8%
  • Total voters
    126
Four Suns

Four Suns

Not a pot stirrer
TECHNICAL Contributor
Oct 4, 2006
10,533
Williamsburg, VA
Boat Info
2003 480 DB
Engines
QSM-11 Diesels
OK... No bashing... give honest answers... this poll is anonymous so you can tell the truth...

Does everyone (i.e. adults, captain, children) wear PFDs while your boat is cruising? This does not count if you are drifting around sunbathing but when going from point A to point B.

Hurry... Your vote and comments could make you famous.
 
Wow. The score is tied!

We wear them when weather and/or sea conditions warrent. Also when single handing, or when working on the foredeck in open water, but not while cruising as a general rule. Maybe it's a big boat thing?
 
We don't, unless as Sea Gull said, conditions warrant it.....even then I usually don't. I do have to get the new ultra thin vests so that even I will put one on when the weather turns to poop.
 
I have only worn them on one occasion. Came out of Fairlee Creek one night after dinner and had to cross the bay in 4 and 5 foot waves. I had everyone on board put them on.

Too be honest I do not see many boaters, if any, in our area wear them. Even on the very small boats that are out crabbing in 2 foot swells that should be wearing them!:huh:

PS What do I have to do to become famous? Drown??

 
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Could the Admins please add posthumorous NO votes for all the recent missing cruise ship guests?


Four Suns said:
Does everyone (i.e. adults, captain, children) wear PFDs while your boat is cruising? This does not count if you are drifting around sunbathing but when going from point A to point B.
Click to expand...
The only instances of personal unintentional rapid epidermal humidity transitions occurred while stationary, hence not covered by the poll.

Fortunately I float, to blog another day...
 
We dont use them, then again we only stay in local waters as well as not too far out in the gulf. If conditions got bad enough we would though.
 
If conditions warrent wearing PFD's. . .then I probably shouldn't have been out that day to begin with.

Having said that. . .I am very rarely on the ocean. I boat in protected waters. It is not easy to get 2' chop. 4' chop requires a tropical storm.
 
Kids under 12 always, Adults only when weather/seas warrant or when we are required like when we are in locks, etc. Not sure if all state require them in locks?
 
When conditions warrant, they're worn. The bay is very shallow and generally quite warm. Considering the risks, I don't believe that PFD use is required on every outing.

Best regards,
Frank
 
Gary,

I think there's one or two category missing (children under 12, children 12-18 or so).

I voted NO, b/c we don't ware them, but our kids or any kids on board (under 12) always do.

We don't ware them b/c we're mostly in calm waters (same area as FC3). If the conditions of the bay or ocean are so rough that I'd feel need for PDF we would never leave the dock. However, if we would be cought in a storm I wouldn't think twice and instruct everyone to ware PDFs and secure them selves in the cabin.

Looks like (based on the current results) most don't ware them. I guess, we can have another vote on categories like "If not waring during normal cruising, at what point would you feel the need to put PDFs on?"
-Seas 4-6' with winds 20-30mph
-Seas 5-7' with winds 30-40mph
-Seas over 6' with winds over 40mph

Just throughing some ideas to get other folks opinion.
 
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OK.. If you don't wear them, that's fine... the answer is "NO". I just want a little data...

data...

need data...
 
I do chuckle a little when people say they can stand in 4 feet of water. Anyone ever stood in water over 2 feet deep with a 2 knot tidal current? How about 4 feet?
 
Guests under 12 on-deck wear them, adults don't unless conditions warrant that they do or they prefer to. Vests are kept under the Captain's seat in our boat. We boat on the widest part of an inland lake and sometimes the weather makes some waves big enough that we have donned ours a couple of times "just in case." But normally, no.
 
All 12 and under wear a PFD. When in the ocean...they are out and ready....in the bay, they are nearby under the helms seat. I always show new guests where they are kept and ask if they would feel more comfortable wearing one.
 
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osd9 said:
they are nearby under the helms seat. I always show new guests where they are kept and ask if they would feel more comfortable wearing one.
Click to expand...

+1 for this.
 
jamesgang said:
Guests under 12 on-deck wear them, adults don't unless conditions warrant that they do or they prefer to.
Click to expand...

Ditto.. for me. NJ law requires children under 12 to wear them.

12:7-47.1. Child under 12 required to wear personal flotation device on vessel underway
a. Every person who operates a vessel on the waters of this State with a child 12 years of age or under on board shall have the child wear at all times a properly fitted United States Coast Guard approved personal flotation device whenever the vessel is underway.
b. Any person guilty of violating this act shall be fined not less than $25 or more than $50.
c. The operator of a vessel shall not be guilty of a violation of this act if a United States Coast Guard flotation device of a size to properly fit the child is not commercially available.​

There have been a few occasions on the ocean that I not only wore a lifevest, but I wore a wet suit in fear of sinking. There was one trip when I was taking my friends boat home for him on the ocean. (we rented a house on the water and needed to leave that Sat) I think the forcast said 4 to 7 foot seas. I was heading north and I got broadsided by a rogue wave that broke on the starboard and nearly flipped us. It put the boat on its side. I thought we were going to go over. 30ft Sundancer. The dashboard cracked on that wave. It normaly takes 1 1/2 hours for that trip. It took 5 hours on that day.
 
From the USCG...

There were 685 deaths related to boating in the US in 2007.
Two-thirds of those victims drowned. Over 90% of them that drowned were not wearing life jackets. Only 8 of them were children.
 
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