Life Vests Please Wear It Can Save Your Life.

[monkutare]

Back in the day, the guy who still owns Skinner's striper record, drowned. They found his empty boat and body at the inlet.

[Harley51]

Curiosity got the better of me. I wonder why it was so hard to move after I went over board. So I weighted a pair of Levis. 1 3/4 lbs. Then I soaked them in a bucket and then re-weighted them. To my surprise they only weighted 4 3/4/ lbs.

[DEVOREFLYER]

It's not just about the added weight of your clothing it's the drag/resistance that your clothes create that will kill you. Competitive swimmers shave their bodies and wear caps to reduce drag, think how much drag your clothing creates. You will fatigue very quickly trying to overcome the additional drag.

[RocFish]

Here's my story. A few weeks back I was fishing the inlet and here's what happened.

About a year ago I slipped in the boat and fell between the motors with my old life vest sitting on the seat at the front of the boat. At that point I decided top invest in the automatic inflatable life vest. From that day on I would not get in the boat with out it on. The last trip out a few weeks back I had a bad accident at the spill way. I was bait fishing in the eddy. I decided to flip a lure into the eddy when I casted it out it caught one of my rods in the holder and it went over so I bent over to get it in the water and was about a foot from it and reached further and went over board. I got the rod but the life vest blew and brought me back to the surface. It’s true that your Levis and shoes are lead weights. It took about 25 minutes to get back in the boat with no step. It was very scary. The vest saved my life. I have now added a step to help get back in the boat and added some features so if a rod goes overboard it will only go about four feet. I am going to add one more feature on my forward controls I have a shut down switch if you have the cable attached to you and you fall out while trolling it will kill the engine. Please wear a vest while you’re on the water. You think you can swim but your clothes are like lead weights. I’ll be back out again sometime in June. What I did that day was really stupid trying to save a fishing rod.

Great reminder
....i too had an accident...my boat fliped over with my 3 year old boy...did not have much experience with an outboard....thought i was steering away from dock but steered right into it, thats wen my boat fliped....thank God i put my sons vest on before and mine as well.....ill never over look safety....especially in the water.....Fisherman ..always anticipate an emergency on the water and plan ur safety....

[P.A.W.]

Curiosity got the better of me. I wonder why it was so hard to move after I went over board. So I weighted a pair of Levis. 1 3/4 lbs. Then I soaked them in a bucket and then re-weighted them. To my surprise they only weighted 4 3/4/ lbs.

That means your jeans hold 3 pints of water ( a pint is a pound the world round). Now add the weight of your shoes and the shirt (also soaked) and it adds up. Add the more important fact that those clothes are not buoyant, but will sink and you see the problem. A soaked wetsuit weighs a fair amount but it will float.

[JAG107]

If you all read back in the Irvine forum back around march-ish 2010 my 12' Sears tin can sank along with all of my gear. It was cold, stormy and white caps started blowing me and my trolling motor-powered boat towards the dam. I was wearing a thick winter Carhartt jacket and boots. It sank in seconds and the ONLY thing that saved me was my life jacket that I had stowed under my bench seat floated right up under my arms as the boat went down. It took me about 30 minutes to fight my way across the waves to shore. Having a life jacket on is no joke, a fun day of fishing can turn real ugly for you and anybody who cares about you in seconds.

[BassinPLS]

Here's my story. A few weeks back I was fishing the inlet and here's what happened.

About a year ago I slipped in the boat and fell between the motors with my old life vest sitting on the seat at the front of the boat. At that point I decided top invest in the automatic inflatable life vest. From that day on I would not get in the boat with out it on. The last trip out a few weeks back I had a bad accident at the spill way. I was bait fishing in the eddy. I decided to flip a lure into the eddy when I casted it out it caught one of my rods in the holder and it went over so I bent over to get it in the water and was about a foot from it and reached further and went over board. I got the rod but the life vest blew and brought me back to the surface. It’s true that your Levis and shoes are lead weights. It took about 25 minutes to get back in the boat with no step. It was very scary. The vest saved my life. I have now added a step to help get back in the boat and added some features so if a rod goes overboard it will only go about four feet. I am going to add one more feature on my forward controls I have a shut down switch if you have the cable attached to you and you fall out while trolling it will kill the engine. Please wear a vest while you’re on the water. You think you can swim but your clothes are like lead weights. I’ll be back out again sometime in June. What I did that day was really stupid trying to save a fishing rod.

Harley51,

I had a very similar story to yours a couple of weeks ago at Lake Silverwood. A buddy and I went to Silverwood on a Monday to pre-fish for a small club tournament the following weekend. I was kneeling on the front deck of my boat to put a $500 D/S rod and reel down on the deck and bumped the end of the rod on the front console just as I released it. Naturally the rod went into the water and started to sink. It was about 7:30 am and I thought about how cold the water was going to be; but, I remembered I had my self-inflating life vest on, so I watched the rod sink. I marked a quick way point on the Lowrance and noted we were in 22 feet of water. We tried to snag the rod for about an hour with no luck. Good-by to a Batson Rainshadow RX8+ blank with ATC MicroWave Guides and a Shamano Sustain 2500 reel loaded with 5# Sunline Sniper line. I am bummed to say the least! So if anyone happens to snag a D/S Rod in Cleghorn Cove you have found one heck of a good D/S Rod!