Every single serious offshore sailor I know uses Spinlick Deckvests. So do all the Volvo and Vendee sailors. Good reason #5, an integrated sprayhood. For exactly that reason you describe.
Replacements for flare kits.
- Thread starter 25yearslater
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Spray hood is really interesting. Obviously I'm not an offshore sailor 
. Again, from experience, floating on the surface in a vest in light wind and 6-8foot swell is not difficult without a snorkel. But 3-4 foot + driven by 15-20 kts can be a real challenge and tiring even in a vest without a way to protect your breathing. Wave crests start to spray or break over your head a little, at least enough to where you would welcome a snorkel or that spray hood!
. Again, from experience, floating on the surface in a vest in light wind and 6-8foot swell is not difficult without a snorkel. But 3-4 foot + driven by 15-20 kts can be a real challenge and tiring even in a vest without a way to protect your breathing. Wave crests start to spray or break over your head a little, at least enough to where you would welcome a snorkel or that spray hood!
You may need a subscription to open the following link, but Practical Sailor noted some issues with Spinlock that I was not aware of.
http://www.practical-sailor.com/blog/Report-Cites-Problems-with-Spinlock-Deckvests-11226-1.html
Does anyone have an opinion based on experience about wearing non inflatables for rough or offshore conditions?
http://www.practical-sailor.com/blog/Report-Cites-Problems-with-Spinlock-Deckvests-11226-1.html
Does anyone have an opinion based on experience about wearing non inflatables for rough or offshore conditions?
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I guess one issue is the "one-size-fits-all" view of products and the consumers who buy them. I doubt any inflatable vest manufacturer thinks to test his product using stuntmen or manikins who are basically abandoning a boat in the literal "middle of the night" that has already rolled past 90-deg in surf propelled by 10 - 12 ft seas approaching a rocky lee shore, and that will likely roll again. Personally, I do NOT see inflatables as "abandon ship"-quality PDFs. That's why we have two each of different types aboard for my wife and me; a working vest (floation aid) that should be adequate for a turn-around rescue as in MOB, and then another, more substantial, "abandon ship" quality one w/greater flotation; snugly fitted and strapped on tight! The "appeal" of inflatables is that you're more likely to wear one moving about the ship, etc., and that's a selling point, even though one crew member of the Uncontrollable Urge still did not have his on when the boat rolled in the surf. The same with the anchors; two light-weight Fortresses (i.e., one-size-fits-all situations). Both faced the same conditions not favorable to light fluke anchors. Also needed a heavy one that can sink fast and set as a boat is making way to leeward.
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one benefit of the inflatable is that it provides much more buoyancy than a foam type vest, or at least a foam vest that you would want to wear
between the required rating and the expiration on the sales shelf and not being to retail the expired ones i suspect that is what makes them so pricey ...i also suspect that the expired ones or sent to third world countries and sold there or maybe they are re labeled with new dates ...does make one wonder
I recommend carrying a pyrotechnical visual distress signal that meets USCG standards at all times! In 2014, my new Hunter e33 was de-masted in the middle of the Cheasapeake Bay on a bright, sunny Monday afternoon. After I made contact with the USCG via a handheld VHF radio, I had to vector rescuers to the boat using two shotgun-style pistol-fired flares. Being so far offshore near the confluence of the Potomac, it was hard for them to see me without the flares. I now know the importance of a good set of new or updated flare kits!
As someone who uses deckvests all the time, I was of course interested in that. In 2013 the raceboat Uncontrollable Urge lost her rudder at night in big weather, and went aground on rocks. People died. Not a pretty situation at all.
I personally spoke to the person who chaired the US Sailing investigation. The conditions when the sailors when into the water were horrible, survivors likening it to being in a washing machine, with large boulders. Several of the sailors wearing deckvests had one of the air bladders (and strap) slip over their heads. Due to the nature of the event, it was not possible to tell when this happened, and in particular if it was before or after the blunt force trauma and water ingress that killed the sailor.
The one thing that the investigation could not determine was if their sailors had their straps tight. This is KEY for ANY vest system, and perhaps the deckvest even more so. In later testing, neither US Sailing, Spinlock, or any other organization could cause the strap to come over when worn properly.
We'll obviously never know exactly what happened. But in my mind the Deckvest is the safest, most comfortable, and most complete system for surviving a MOB situation made. The fact the the Volvo and Vendee teams use them as their personally selected MOB vest says a lot as well.
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