Live Vest Law Needed
Anglers And Boaters Are Still Dying

Thursday, February 26, 2004
by Ray Scott

"Boat Smart From the Start: Wear Your Life Vest" is a good slogan to live by. The U.S. Coast Guard annually counts some 800 lives lost to boating mishaps, a majority due to drowning. Yet 80 percent (8 out of 10) victims are not wearing a life vest.

In the case of riding in an automobile, the law requires – makes you – buckle up. "Click It or Ticket It" is the highway patrol's motto. As a result, many lives are saved in roadway accidents.

The time has come for such a mandatory law in the case of recreational boating. As the Coast Guard's figures show, many more lives can be saved by requiring boaters (i.e., bass anglers) to wear the required on-board life jacket, not just "have it available in the case of an emergency."

Photo: Ray Scott Outdoors Ray says inflatable SOSPENDERS life vests are comfortable to fish in, and are safer than conventional life vests.

There was a time when I would have joined the picket line protesting such a law. The old-style bulky lifejackets and even the later Type III personal floatation devices (the foam-filled vests) are uncomfortable to wear, much less to wear. While fishing on a midsummer day, they're an instant sauna.

But despite possible backlash, in the early days of the Bassmaster Tournament Trail, as founder of the Bass Anglers Sportsman Society (B.A.S.S.), I laid down the law that "anytime the big motor is cranked" the angler and his boat partner had to be wearing a Coast Guard-approved life vest.

Tournament anglers didn't protest. A rule is a rule, particularly in the case of a B.A.S.S.-sanctioned tournament. The pro fishermen buckled up without question. However, most stripped out of the life vest on reaching their fishing spot until time to crank the outboard again. (An exception these days is inflatable life vests, which are so cool and comfortable that anglers often keep them on because they're not hot and uncomfortable.)

The safety example shown by the Bassmaster Tournament Trail pros carried over, for the most part, into the B.A.S.S. Federation bass clubs, and to some degree influenced other fishermen to buckle up.

Today, with the newest Coast Guard-approved inflatable CO2-fired life vest, there's no excuse or reason to not "Boat Smart from the Start: Wear Your Life vest." These ultra-comfortable, suspender-style vests are a bass fisherman's friend. And a life-saving friend, if you're in need.

The SOSPENDERS Story

Some years ago, Scott Swanby, a Fruitland, Idaho fisherman, introduced himself to me as a man on a mission. He was on a quest to save lives. Scott had lost a close friend in a duck-hunting accident, who stepped into a deep hole and drowned while setting out decoys. Swanby had to tell his friend's family what happened.

Scott was so distraught he became obsessed with the idea of developing a life vest that outdoorsmen would wear. After years of trials and tribulations and knocking on the high-level doors at the Coast Guard, he achieved approval for his SOSPENDERS, an inflatable life vest.

As an advocate of always wearing a life vest, I've supported Scott's mission and carried the message as an "official" spokesman for his Sporting Lives Co. (now known as SOS Inc.).

Photo: Ray Scott Outdoors Here Ray proves that SOSPENDERS work as advertised. Note that he didn't take off his omnipresent cowboy boots.

With the camera rolling, the inflated SOSPENDERS popped my head above the surface in a matter of seconds. By actual stopwatch, from splashdown to riding on the surface, 2.6 seconds elapsed.

Bass fishermen can be tossed unexpectedly out of a boat and possibly get knocked unconscious, so listen to this: If you wear the popular Type III foam vest, make a point to read the manufacturer's label inside the jacket. Somewhere in the "small print" the company will state: "This jacket is not designed to float an unconscious wearer into an upright position." In short, if you can't hold your head above water, you drown. Simple fact. But by wearing the foam-type vest, it will make recovery of your body much quicker for searchers.

Scott Swanby, on the other hand, designed his SOSPENDERS to roll a person into a head-up, upright position. The 36 pounds of buoyancy – three times the support in the average foam vest PFD – will support you in the water without you having to tread water.

It's Time

As a long-time boating safety advocate, and during the years at the helm of B.A.S.S., I made sure that we as an organization were instrumental in making changes for the better in boating safety. B.A.S.S. led the charge to promote boating safety by requiring tournament contestants to wear a Coast Guard-approved life vest, and we persuaded manufacturers to install safety "kill switches" – a cut-off device to stop the outboard motor if the operator left the console. B.A.S.S. also worked with bass boat-builders to put upright floatation in boats, and supported the Coast Guard's efforts to set horsepower rating standards for bass-boat hulls.

So why stop short of the goal: to save more lives on the water?

The right thing for the Coast Guard to do is to make wearing a life vest (PFD) mandatory in recreational boating situations on boats 22 feet and less. Under present boat safety rules, children are required to wear life jackets, so why not every boater? But the Coast Guard is not going to successfully tackle this political football unless the boating and fishing public demands it.

Here are the facts and figures about PFDs and why you should "Boat Smart From the Start:"
> 815 – The average number of yearly recreational boating fatalities in the U. S.
> 574 – The number of people who drowned in those accidents.
> 509 – The number of people who drowned who were not wearing a life jacket.

These Coast Guard statistics speak for themselves, but the message too often falls on deaf ears of the boating public. There's only one sure-fire way, in my opinion, to turn the tide. That's to make it mandatory to wear a PFD (life vest) when on the water.