I wear the same type of pfd. Many times I get in my truck to retrieve the boat and find I still have my pfd on.
I wear my inflatable pfd whenever I launch and retrieve my boat both as a promise and for safety. Just about the time I started boating there was a story about a couple who pulled up to a boat ramp east of here and saw a truck parked with the boat trailer in the water, no boat and no people. The boat was found not too long after floating down the Missouri river, the man’s body was found later. I never did hear the findings of the coroner, however it was thought the man either had a stroke or fell and hit his head knocking him unconscious while launching his boat. My friend was worried since I boat alone most of the time so I promised her I would always wear my pfd when launching or retrieving. If you think about it, the risk of falling is greatest when launching / retrieving. While fishing on calm and warmer waters I usually don’t wear my pfd, but if the water is cold, like 30 & 40° cold I have it on, or whenever I’m cruising around or “sport boating”.
Anytime I take people out we have a short safety briefing or tailgate, first thing I ask is whether or not everyone can swim (never make assumptions) I show them where the standard old school dayglow orange PFD’s are in the Tea Bag and how to open it, where the fire extinguisher is, offer everyone an inflatable PFD to wear, if the conditions are calm, not crowded and the water is warm 65°+ and they decline that’s fine. If the water is cold, rough, or there are a lot of boats around I just hand them a PFD to put on and help each person to adjust them so they’re comfy. No one ever argues, there might be a questioning look and I explain why, then they just smile and let me help them put them on, it takes like 30 seconds to adjust the straps and explain they are auto inflating, show them the manual pull handle and show them how to manually deploy the bladder and where the manual fill / top off tube is. If it’s me and my two main fishing partners I just hand them inflatable PFD’s before we leave the marina and we wear them until we are set up trolling or sight casting.
All my inflatable PFD’s are the highest rated pounds of buoyancy, I think they are 33#.
Preachy advisory.…
I also let my passengers know when I ask them to stay seated during docking I mean to stay seated until I say otherwise. I explain its great if you want to help with docking, but it’s a distraction if they move around or put their body outside the boat, I may need to make a quick maneuver and they could fall out. I have my docking stick in one of the vertical rod holders coming in and when I’m a few hundred feet from the dock I’ll hand one of them the docking stick and let them grab the cleat with it.
Last bit, alcohol is a rarity on my boat. I don’t know what t is about people, boats and alcohol, for some reason some people think / feel like it’s necessary to pound the beers when they get on a boat….anyway the only people I will allow to bring alcohol are those I’ve been around who were drinking on dry land, E.G.people I know can handle their booze. I had one experience with someone’s 20 something year old son who couldn’t handle his beer, slammed several tall boys and was a total douche bag, at one point yelling some verbiage in Spanish (he’s a white kid) at the girls on the shore about their big boobies, he didn’t think I knew enough Spanish to know what he was saying. After I told him to STFU, in Spanish, he went and passed out on the swim step and I had to ask his mother to sit there and keep an eye on him. His mother tried to say he was just tired, I told her, no, don’t make excuses for his behavior, he just can’t handle his liquor ?. Needless to say those people are persona non grata.
Don‘t mean to be preachy…but I figure if tell everyone what I do, share an experience and it keeps folks from having a bad day on the water then it’s worth me writing this out.
