blurocketsmate
Anarchist
What color do y'all like? Black (stupid, IMO), red, yellow, white, orange, which?
Offshore racing gear
- Thread starter Canuck Andrew
- Start date
Elegua
Generalissimo
Black or blue colors do make it easier for your beneficiaries to claim the insurance.
Last edited by a moderator:
I wear black because I think it looks cooler.
My rationale is that there is plenty of florescent yellow and flashing lights on my PFD, which also gives me one more incentive to wear the thing.
I could be an idiot though, who knows. I've never fallen off a boat unintentionally so I have zero experience.
My rationale is that there is plenty of florescent yellow and flashing lights on my PFD, which also gives me one more incentive to wear the thing.
I could be an idiot though, who knows. I've never fallen off a boat unintentionally so I have zero experience.
Is it too "twee" to go with the same colors as the boat? I had the same color as the cove stripe (red). During the Safety At Sea session, all of us discount schmucks in WM gear looked like we were on the same team.
IDK, my new Spinlock PFD is black. So it must be cool, eh?
IDK, my new Spinlock PFD is black. So it must be cool, eh?
SailingTips.Ca
Feigns Knowledge
I'd be wary of anything with a liner that can trap water!
IDK. We did jump in the water with the "cheap stuff" lined gear and swim around for half an hour. Wasn't that much of an issue. And my PFD didn't auto-inflate, so I had to tread water for a while. I suppose on the initial plunge, the liner might hold air and only later fill with water. But you know, water has neutral buoyancy. And there weren't huge volumes of water draining out in the rafts. But nobody was specifically looking at this issue at the time.
SailingTips.Ca
Feigns Knowledge
I used the "cheap stuff" in an ISAF Safety at Sea course and it was fine in the water, but I felt like a water balloon climbing out of the pool, with significant amounts of water retained between the nylon liner and PVC, especially in the arms and legs.
Might also depend on the specific suit, but good to test!
Last edited by a moderator:
ahab in puget
Member
I have done two SAS pool sessions with full foul weather gear on and have 'refreshed' my DWR coating on lots of my gear in the tub and have found that all of it is positively buoyant for a good amount of time. It was long enough in all the cases that you would really need to worry about hypothermia for most places I sail with full gear on before it would show negative buoyancy. And that was in fresh water so it would only be more buoyant in saltwater. I also almost always wear a PFD. I do think I have ever heard of anyone being concerned about the buoyance of foul weather gear.
I could be wrong here, but my interpretation of the clip is that the foul weather gear (or the liners, rather) filling with water isn't a problem until it becomes time for you, or someone else, to drag you up and out of the water in a rescue op.
When you or your rescuer might already be exhausted from trying to stay alive, every lbs counts and having to lift an additional 4 gallons of water could mean the difference between being able to pull yourself out of the water or being stuck in it.
When you or your rescuer might already be exhausted from trying to stay alive, every lbs counts and having to lift an additional 4 gallons of water could mean the difference between being able to pull yourself out of the water or being stuck in it.
I have some Musto MPX but have recently been using Zhik offshore gear. I can highly recommend the Zhik Isotak stuff.
