The U.S. Coast Guard says it, the National Boating Safety Advisory Committee (NBSAC) says it, and the National Park Service says it: “Always wear a life jacket.”
It’s a phrase that’s all too common among boating safety experts, but I’ve always disagreed, and I wish they would all stop. They’ve been saying it for decades, it hasn’t made a difference and it’s not good advice. Why? Because it’s impossible to define what “always” means when it comes to lifejackets.
In fact, you shouldn’t “always” wear your life jacket, and the fact is that nobody wears their lifejacket all the time, and certainly not the U.S. Coast Guard. So, the message—which is meant to reduce risk—becomes an inactionable platitude.
As with all safety issues, context matters. Staying safe on the water quite often depends on the situation you find yourself in. Are you underway on a 19-foot Yamaha Sport Boat? Then you and everyone aboard should be wearing a life jacket while underway, and there is no good excuse for not wearing one. Are you on the bridge of a Coast Guard cutter underway off the Atlantic Coast like our friends in the above image on the USCG Dallas? Then tee shirts are enough. See? It’s about the context.
Some boaters can get totally absolutist where safety is concerned. I am a longtime advocate of just a few absolutes. A PLB, for example, is one. You should own a personal location beacon—whether it’s required or not—and take it with you to sea—whether you own the boat or not. But I am less absolutist about most other things related to risk management and safety. I have opinions about certain subjects and a lifejacket is one of those things that requires context before you can decide what your position on it should be.
When boating on very cold water, do you wear a dry suit to manage the risk of hypothermia, or do you make do with an immersion suit on standby in case an emergency occurs? Again, this kind of decision has more to do with the how, where and what of your excursion than the water temperature. If you are underway on 33-degree water for a week, you are far more likely to degrade your own performance due to the heat fatigue from the dry-suit you’re wearing, then you are to need the dry suit to keep you alive if you happen to fall overboard. The fatigue you suffer from wearing the drysuit may actually cause you to suffer the mishap that gets you wet in the first place.
Risk mitigation, boating or any other, must include all the information you can get your hands on so you have context. It helps to think to yourself, “what problem could this solution cause?” If it causes no real problem—like stowing a PLB in your life jacket—then it’s an easy decision. If, however, your boat is taking on water and you fall into the trap of believing that “You don’t step OFF the boat until you have to step UP into the life raft”—which is the dumbest thing ever said by any mariner—then your attachment to absolutes may get you killed.
In my last post, I probably sucked the fun out of boating by telling you just how dangerous a place the water is, but the truth is, I’m also the first one in for a swim call. Let’s not take things too far where safety is concerned. You have to take in all the information you have about a problem, apply context, and then make the best decision you can. Because after my time on the helm, you’ll find me down below in my rack…on an underway vessel…not sleeping in my life jacket. Sorry, Coast Guard.
