What’s on your life vest?

I always find it interesting to compare gear and outfitting among different crews I come in contact with. Even more interesting is the thought process and the experiences that inform those choices. The Internet presents some fascinating and detailed perspectives from sailors all over the world on how and why to equip yourself and your sailboat, but I am always most curious about what folks who are sailing the same waters as I am are doing. There can be some significantly different conditions from region to region, after all, and something taken as gospel on, say, the Florida coast, may not make a lot of sense to Northwest sailors, and vice versa.

So since Tim Flanagan at Navagear and Captain Richard Rodriguez at Bitter End have both posted recently on their choices for wearable emergency strobes for their PFDs I thought I would throw my own selections into the ring. I come to the conversation to find Rodriguez swearing by the AquaSpec AQ98 and Flanagan currently using an old ACR Firefly 2 but wavering between the AQ98 and the ACR Hemilight 2 for an upgrade.

I think both are in the minority among local sailors in wearing a strobe at all, at least from my extremely unofficial observations around the Sound, but it’s a minority that Mandy and I are also happy to be a part of. We both have ACR Firefly Plus lights velcroed to our lifevests at the shoulder, together with a plastic rescue whistle tucked in and tied off to the lanyard. Mandy, not coming from that peculiarly male tradition of pocket-knife ownership, and facing the same problem as female sailors everywhere, a lack of pockets, also has a small Gerber Paraframe tethered to hers… although I will probably replace it soon, having discovered that Gerbers are a bit crap when it comes to nautical knives.

We’re in another minority in wearing plain old fashioned life vests instead of inflatable PFDs (you were probably having some trouble visualizing how we strapped a bulky ol’ Firefly Plus to the shoulder of an inflatable harness, weren’t you?) but we’re happy to belong to that as well. They’re bulky, they’re ugly, they’re uncool, but there is absolutely zero chance that they will go in the water and fail to float.

That simplicity and reliability was also a factor in selecting the Firefly Plus. They’re not SOLAS or even USCG rated, so I don’t mean to imply the construction is superior. But they aren’t just a strobe light; the other end of the unit is a plain old flashlight. Hands-free lighting on deck is important for sailors and like most, we have headlamps on board for that purpose, but we find that it’s easier to use our shoulder-mounted Fireflies. They are already with us, won’t get knocked off, and are easily switched on and off (too easy, sometimes; if they have a failing it is the potential to be turned on accidentally). I don’t think we have pulled our headlamps out of the locker in years.

Because we use them so regularly, we never have to wonder if the battery has gone dead or if the light has broken. They take standard AA batteries you can find anywhere in the world and we always know they are ready to go in an emergency.

I’m not blind to the appeal or advantage of inflatable vests or micro-strobes. The freedom of movement and light weight can be safety features in and of themselves, allowing safer and easier movement on pitching decks or in restricted cabins. Some people are also more likely to wear the devices in the first place if they are less obtrusive, and none of this stuff does you any good if you don’t wear it.

In our particular circumstances, I like the trade-offs, though. Neither of us mind wearing the gear, and the peace of mind that comes from knowing for certain that it will all work when we need it is worth whatever small inconvenience it may introduce.

So that is my reasoning and our personal safety gear. What’s on your PFD?

(Edit 3/25/10 – Grammatical corrections)