Over the years I have been present for 4 major incidents that could have easily ended in death. Some of these did end up with major injuries as in multiple surgeries and weeks in the hospital for some. I have been on a boat where one occupant was knock out and off the boat, under water unconscious. During the hurricane evacuations I went by Academy and bought a zipper bag full of life vests. The manager was there and we started a conversation. When I told him where we were headed he handed me self inflating life vest and said try it out and I'll make it 50% off. I wore it through the duration of the evacuations. I pretty much forgot I had it on.

I just feel like there is no reason to push the envelope. They have made safety so much more comfortable I just decided to draw the line. The new rule is if your feet are on my boat, you're wearing a life jacket, end of story.

Sounds to me like you are a wise man, now that I'm older , I don't feel invincible anymore, when I started wade fishing last year, I wore a manual inflatable , didn't even know I had it on.

good rule

Only one of these accidents was in my boat. I was there for the other three. The one in my boat is a long long story but in short, my now wife got hung up in a rope, detached her upper jaw from her skull behind the k9 teeth, yanked her out of the boat, rendered her unconscious and under the water. I jumped into the prop wash to trail back to where I thought she was at. I knew I had seconds and one shot to find her. AS I got close to where I thought she was at she popped up. She was in absolute shock. We drove her to Brownsville to the hospital (Ambulance would have had to come from Brownsville and then back so it was way faster) and the doctor said she was clueless as to how to put her back together. They took her by ambulance to Harlingen where by the grace of God was a reconstructive surgeon's convention. They made an announcement at the convention and the absolute best facial reconstruction surgeon in the world answered the call. That happened at 4 PM. She came out of her first of many surgeries at around 4 AM. When I talked to the doctor he said he had no clue how to put her back together. He asked God for direction and into it he went. After umpteen surgeries you can hardly tell she had that happen.

It's high time we wear them.

What a blessing that convention was going on....God definitely there that day!

I spent 6 years doing search and rescue in the Coast Guard. I never once pulled a drowning victim out of the water with a life jacket on. Not to mention people get ejected, , more often than you think. If you get knocked out in the process, having a life jacket on makes you 1000 times easier to find. Accidents happen, people need to plan accordingly. I think you are doing the right thing here. It's risk management, just like wearing a seatbelt.

Thank you Captain, I agree.

I wore the inflatable vests exclusively while working lake patrol. I never wore a bullet proof vest while on lake patrol because it was hot and they became a sponge when wet. I went in a few times, and only once did I have my BPV and the inflatable over it. I almost passed out due to the extreme cold water and the damn inflatable trying to squeeze me to death, lol. I had forgot to let slack out to fit over my BPV. Damn scary feeling in the middle of the lake at 10pm in January.

That’s the incident as to why I left lake patrol

That's my rule. I wear the auto-inflatable vest and make everyone else wear the cheap foam ones...

That has been my rule for a long time now.

I read a story years sago about a father and 10 year old son hunting in Louisiana. Dad was ejected, whacked his head, was unconscious. Kid had to make the decision to hold his Dad above water or let him go so he could get back in the boat. Kissed him goodbye on the forehead, let him go, and saved himself. My son was around the same age at the time. Hit home big time.

He will forever blame himself, no doubt.

I hope not, I would have wanted my son to do the same, and it's still better than losing both of them

I hope not either, but you know he will.

From what I recall the coroner (or whoever makes the call) came to the conclusion that the Dad was already dead. Hopefully that gave the son some peace of mind in his decision.

In any case, still a very jacked up deal. Usually I'm pretty hard headed and not very emotional - it takes more that a story or two to get me to change my ways, but for some reason that one did.

It all works out cuz usually people that hunt with me the first time don't realize how well I know the places that I take them. They prolly think I'm bat chiat crazy and am really glad to have a vest LOL!

I never wore or made anyone wear a lift jacket in the boat until last year. I spend all this time before hunts talking about safety once at the pond, but never in the boat. Well last year we had 2 hunts with crazy wind; the first hunt on the way out I knew we should not have gone. Had my motor died or we got turned and took a wave wrong the boat would have filled up. My hunting buddies had no idea since they were hunkered down but I knew it was a bad decision. After that hunt I went straight to academy and bought some good life jackets (the excuse I always used was I only had the cheap-o orange ones). Now the life jackets get put on as soon as you step foot in the boat. I will not start the motor until all parties have jackets on and buckled.
It's funny we always have confidence in what we do until that one time where you know you took it too far. Then the pendulum swings way hard the other way.

We always wear them when it's dark and if the water is rough. Really should all the time.

Any thoughts on if the inflatable ones are any better than the traditional foam?

Same rule in my bass boat. When the boat is gonna be on plane, a life vest will be worn. We wear the traditional full vest for extra padding around the ribs incase of an accident and it’s guaranteed to float. If I get thrown from the boat and am unconscious, I want to know my life jacket isn’t going to fail. Had a buddy get tossed from a boat while wearing an auto inflat that didn’t go off. Luckily he was able to pull the cord and inflat it himself.

Traditional life jacket (buckled up and put on correctly) in my bass boat when the big motor is running. Don't like it - will be glad to leave you at the dock. Above all things as a boat owner your job is to get everyone back safely. Have personally seen auto inflators fail 3 times and have heard numerous other stories. Don't trust them.

While in Houston a few months ago I motored up into a family's garage and my buddy and I loaded them and their belongings into the boat from the entry door that leads into the house. There was a father, mother and three children, one of them being an infant. The house was on a large corner lot and as we s-l-o-w-l-y (idle speed, couldn't go any slower) motored across the yard towards the street we center punched a submerged fire hydrant and it stopped the boat IMMEDIATELY. There was no gentle gliding to a stop or even slowing down first; it was instant brakes. Even at the slowest possible forward speed there was enough force to send everyone except me to the floor. Luckily everyone remained in the boat, was sitting down, and no one was hurt. (Afterwards the father said, "I guess I should have said something about the fire hydrant in the corner of the yard.")

I guess my point is, you don't have to be running on a plane before a life jack is needed. Even at really slow speeds a sudden stop is more force than you would imagine.

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This is true. Happened to me last week. We were using the boat to round up ducks on the ice. Apparently I didn't back out the same way I went in. Hit a big arse stump, boat stopped immediately. It sat me down and rolled me onto my back and I was barely moving.

WAL as accident prone as you are you should have to wear a life vest on dry land.

I kind of figured one of yall would be sniffing around before too long

Amazing how dead this place is without the usual suspects.

Hey Wayne you got 15 positive posts before you got a negative one, that’s not a bad ratio.

My A1C levels and post ratios have both seen vast improvements over the last 6 months