Safety & Seamanship
Our group of male testers, ages 5 to 12, weighed between 50 and 135 pounds. Body types ranged from husky to rail thin.
Kids’ Life Jackets for Active Sailors
Youth PFD test looks at buoyancy, fit, performance, and price.
For this test, we rounded up six high-performance, U.S. Coast Guard certified Type III personal flotation devices (PFDs) designed for children (50 to 90 pounds) participating in active sailing and other watersports. The test lineup comprised life jackets from five manufacturers: Astral Designs, Extrasport, Gill, MTI Adventurewear, and Stohlquist. Testers rated the PFDs on fit (in and out of the water), buoyancy, comfort, ease of donning and doffing, and safety features like crotch straps and whistles.
More Safety & Seamanship
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Practical Tips for Survival at Sea
— In the course of writing five books about accidents and survival at sea, Michael Tougias interviewed many survivors... -
Mailport: June 2013
Subscribers Only — How thick is too thick for the buildup of old layers of bottom paint? This question arises because I have just... -
The Science of Safety
— We got some heartbreaking news just before this issue was on its way to the printer: On May 9, British Olympic... -
Crew Learns Along the Way
— When a storm packing gale-force winds with gusts to 115 knots and torrential rain left contributor Joe Minick’s... -
Buying into the MOB Fear
— This month’s review of man-overboard devices that both alert the crew and help them track a person in the water... -
In the Wake of a Storm
— Sailing west from the Turkish port of Marmaris, we reached across the Aegean Sea with its notorious meltemi wind... -
Mailport: April 2013
— I recently purchased the cord, and as packaged on the plastic spool, the shore end of the new 25-foot EEL cord has a... -
Practical Sailor PFD Research Looks at Capsizes
— After a series of tragic accidents involving sailors in organized sailing events and training programs in 2011 and... -
Life Raft Inspection, an Inside Look
— If it’s been more than five or six years since your life raft was inspected, there’s a good chance that it...
