wrote in message
oups.com...
Make sure they fit. Wear them in a small, open boat when conditions are
crappy.

Here's a tragic story about two guys out in a little 20-foot jet boat.
(low freeboard riverboat?) Four foot river bar waves, (not "rollers")
in an area known to be more hazardous than average. One of the waves
swamps the jetboat, so at that point they finally think it might be a
good idea to don the lifejackets. Problem: One of the two lifejackets
is way too small(kids jacket?) for one of the boaters, so they sliced
it up with a knife to get it around the guy.

Apparently they had no radio, and sent no mayday. The first the CG knew
of the situation was when a research vessel came across the two
floating near the Columbia River bar. The guy in the modified life
jacket drowned and could not be revived.

Its always tragic when somebody dies in a boating accident, even when
an individual's own stupidity or lack or preparation is a factor.


snip USCG link

Great advice and link Chuck.

We always have type II life jackets aboard that are properly sized for each
of us, along with 5 or 6 generic (one size fits all) type II, a heads up
infant and toddler jacket, 1 or type I throwable and 2 type III for water
skiing and tubing. They take up a lot of room on this 20 footer we just
purchased (not a problem with the 32 footer we had previously) but we know
that the safety equipment has top priority for storage considerations and
ease of access.

We will now make sure our guests select one that fits them. In the past,
we had only advised them where the life jackets were. I have had some big
guys on board in the past and I never thought about making sure we have a
life jacket that fits them......lesson learned. ;-)

Thanks Chuck.