Life Jacket recommendations

[Parsons]

Agree with the comments and brand recommendations above, and I wear a Mustang HIT with harness. To sum this up from my experience:

1. The PFD in the locker when you fall overboard is worthless - buy something that you will actually wear
2. The crotch / leg strap is worth any inconvenience in clipping it on. Those inflatables want to float, and when you fall in, they come off over your head like Mom pulling a t-shirt off a toddler. In a pinch or to try it out, you can jury rig this with a sail tie to the forward and aft straps.
3. The hydrostatic inflators (HIT) that only inflate when submerged (as opposed to the Alka-Seltzer inflator) is three times the cost to buy and replace ... and will more than pay for itself. I have had PFD's inflate in lockers on the boat, in spray on deck, at home in the garage, anywhere with humidity. At $25 an inflation, it adds up fast.
4. I race and sail at night, so need a harness, but it does add a pound to the vest, and I never used it - hopefully never will. You cannot hoist someone with that harness, and if you drag someone by the harness at 5 kts., they may drown.
5. Treat the edge of your boat like a 500 ft. cliff. If you fall in, you have a remarkably small chance of getting back on your boat. Weather, darkness, and on-deck crew size are risk factors that drop that percentage way under 50% - think about that next time you do a night watch alone.
6. In chatting with people who have actually fallen overboard, I have never heard one of them say "I wish I had saved that $100 and bought the cheaper vest".

 

[brockangelo]

Thinking about falling overboard as a 500 ft cliff vs just "oh, I'll just swim back into the boat" is just plain sense. I don't know why I never thought of it that way, but being tethered to a sailing vessel is a good way to get waterboarded.

I really appreciated this video of a surprisingly nimble guy demonstrating how you need to actually test your "jack lines". I think it's worth a watch if you're using a harness at all.

 

[Jacktar]

All my lines are "jack" lines cause my name is Jack, ha ha

 

[Kings Gambit]

Agree with the comments and brand recommendations above, and I wear a Mustang HIT with harness. To sum this up from my experience:

1. The PFD in the locker when you fall overboard is worthless - buy something that you will actually wear
2. The crotch / leg strap is worth any inconvenience in clipping it on. Those inflatables want to float, and when you fall in, they come off over your head like Mom pulling a t-shirt off a toddler. In a pinch or to try it out, you can jury rig this with a sail tie to the forward and aft straps.
3. The hydrostatic inflators (HIT) that only inflate when submerged (as opposed to the Alka-Seltzer inflator) is three times the cost to buy and replace ... and will more than pay for itself. I have had PFD's inflate in lockers on the boat, in spray on deck, at home in the garage, anywhere with humidity. At $25 an inflation, it adds up fast.
4. I race and sail at night, so need a harness, but it does add a pound to the vest, and I never used it - hopefully never will. You cannot hoist someone with that harness, and if you drag someone by the harness at 5 kts., they may drown.
5. Treat the edge of your boat like a 500 ft. cliff. If you fall in, you have a remarkably small chance of getting back on your boat. Weather, darkness, and on-deck crew size are risk factors that drop that percentage way under 50% - think about that next time you do a night watch alone.
6. In chatting with people who have actually fallen overboard, I have never heard one of them say "I wish I had saved that $100 and bought the cheaper vest".

Like every thing else, practice makes perfect. Sailors should practice hitting the water in the fix-foam jacket; crossing ones arms when going in. In my water check out before beginners’ sailing class, usually at a pool, the students must hit the water and not lose their jackets, etc., which they are wearing. I really wonder how many sailors have ever been in ocean water wearing a jacket to actually find out what s/he should be wearing, etc., in two to three-foot wind waves.