Lifejackets Harnesses

Never mind what your experience tells you. Children do not go to sea. At least that is the only logical conclusion we can reach as we deal with the lack of adequate offshore safety equipment for kids. In October 2006, we ran down more than a dozen life jackets for infants and toddlers. There were only a few worth writing about, and none met our full expectations. Of the lot, we pegged the MTI Adventurewear Bay Bee 201-1, the Mustang Survival MV-3150 and MV-3155, and the Sospenders 12ACH as standouts, and all of these products are still available today. In the December 2006 and January 2007 issues, we dug into the topic of safety harnesses and tethers, and the outcome was worse. One product in that test, a safety tether designed for children more than 50 pounds, snapped under the load of a 35-pound weight being dropped from six feet. The tether, from Jim Buoy, underwent an upgrade immediately after our report.

Practical Sailor had a chance to compare how three common snap hooks and three tether types function in actual use on a passage from Boston to Bermuda. Testers evaluated the pros and cons of elastic tethers and non-elastic tethers, double-legged tethers, single-leg tethers, the new Kong snap hooks, carabineer-style safety clips, and the Gibb-style clip. The Wichard elastic single-leg tether (nearly identical to our 2007 tether test favorite from West Marine, the West Marine 6-foot elastic tether with Wichards double-action hook at the deck end) was unanimously preferred over the non-elastic tether. Testers also preferred the Kong snap hooks over the others.

One of the most important pieces of boat safety gear is a PFD, or personal flotation device. This update test included the reigning top inflatable PFD, Crewfit 150N, from UK-based Crewsaver, as a baseline for comparison of the other nine life jackets tested. The test field included Three SOLAS (Safety of Life at Sea) rated vests from European safety-gear maker Viking; two Coast Guard-approved PFDs from the Revere ComfortMax series; the new MD0450 inflatable vest with hydrostatic activation from Mustang Survival; and the inflatable bladder from Float-Techs popular float coat. Rounding out the field were a manual and an automatic PFD from West Marine, both of which are made by Stearns Inc. None of these had integral harnesses, though some have alternate versions with that option. PFD/harness combinations will be reviewed in a future issue.