Safety & Seamanship

How to choose a life raft? That is the question we answered in Part I of this series (“Choosing a Life raft,” March 2007). For Part II, we conducted a series of tests that mirrored those carried out by the U.S. Coast Guard and other certifying agencies. We asked manufacturers to send us six-man life rafts that they thought best suited a serious offshore sailor seeking a SOLAS life raft or its recreational equivalent. Six manufacturers responded to our request, sending a total of eight six-man life rafts: the 6-SOLAS from Elliot, the Switlik MD-3, the DSB ISAF, the Switlik SAR-6 MKII; the Viking RescYou (UKL), the Viking RescYou Pro (UKSL), the Winslow Ocean Rescue; and the Zodiac Class Ocean ISAF life raft. As it turned out, the life raft testers faced the very difficult task of distinguishing the best life rafts for cruising sailors among an outstanding field of entries.

At Practical Sailor, we approach every product review and test that we carry out with a high level of seriousness, and when it comes to safety gear, the level of responsibility is elevated a notch further. These are devices where the smallest detail can have grave consequences.

Our life raft test is carried out against the backdrop of relatively new marine safety standards. New criteria for life rafts for recreational boats have been established by the International Sailing Federation (ISAF) and the International Standards Organization (IS0). The Practical Sailor comparison features an in-depth look at eight life rafts: the DSB ISAF raft, Elliot SOLAS raft, Switlik MD-3 raft, Switlik SAR-MKII raft, Viking RescYou (UKL), Viking RescYou Pro (USKL), Winslow Ocean Rescue, and the Zodiac Class Ocean ISAF raft. As far as standards go, SOLAS is clearly top notch.

The U.S. Coast Guard instituted a ban on the use of both 121.5 and 243 MHz Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacons (EPIRBs) on Jan. 1, 2007, in preparation for Feb. 1, 2009, when satellite processing of distress signals from all 121.5/243 MHz beacons will terminate.

Sailors plying the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway (AIWW) should be keeping an eye the one thats not on the depthsounder on the federal government. In the mid-1990s, the U.S. Office of Management and Budget decided the IAWW was not a "high-use" waterway in terms of interstate commerce.

Cool weather sailors looking for something that keeps them warm as well as keeps them afloat if they fall overboard may want to consider a float coat. We look at six coats that cover the range of options available waist-length coats, mid-length coats, inflatable jackets, and foam-filled jackets. For the budget-minded sailor, the Stearns Powerboat Jacket offers good value, while the Mustang Integrity rated as our Best Choice. Two other jackets, the auto-inflating Float Tech jacket and the Stearns Windward Jacket earn our recommendation.

Noted West Coast sailor Skip Allan - fresh from "falling" off the deck of Wildflower in our harness test (December 2006) - spent several days offshore again, this time tangling with sailing safety tethers. The results were shocking. Several major retailers continue to sell safety tethers with jackline snap hooks that might disengage themselves, and one of the two child safety tethers we tested broke - twice.

Dogs are natural swimmers, but they do get tired. Our testers examine a wide range of life jackets designed to keep dogs afloat, including one device that automatically inflates. The seven products in our test of dog life jackets include products from Ruff Wear, the OTE (Kent/Boaters World), Plastimo, West Marine, Critters Inflatable, MTI, and NRS.

MARINE INSURANCE REDUXI have been reading with much interest your articles about marine insurance this year (April and May 2006).

It was mid-July 1990 on the Caicos Banks, a stretch of shallow, gin-clear water extending for about 70 miles east to west in the Turks and Caicos Islands. Along with a dozen other cruisers whod chosen to thumb our noses at hurricane season (ah, those were simpler times), we were pausing in Providenciales before heading south. …