With the boating season underway, the RNLI’s Sea Safety team is stepping up its lifejacket awareness campaign.
People who use the water are invited to get their lifejackets checked out for free and find out more about this vital piece of safety kit. The RNLI lifejacket clinic will take place at Pwllheli Sailing Club on 28 May between 10am – 4pm.
The RNLI’s lifejacket campaign, first launched in June 2007, aims to encourage all who go to sea in their leisure time to always put their lifejackets on when going to sea, and then decide when (if at all) to take it off.
RNLI Divisional Sea Safety Manager, Nicola Davies, explains:
“A lifejacket is useless unless worn, if it is worn incorrectly or if it is not in full working order. It’s much safer to get into the habit of wearing a lifejacket at all times when afloat, because it means you’ll be familiar with your particular lifejacket and how to operate it should an emergency situation unfold. In the summer months when boat owners may take family and friends who don’t often go afloat, it’s even more crucial to ensure that all on board, including babies and children, are wearing a well-fitted lifejacket.
Lifejackets require care and maintenance in the same way as any other vital piece of safety kit. A lifejacket will not only help rescuers to locate you, it will dramatically increase your chance of survival in the water by helping to avoid the first stage of immersion, cold water shock, which happens within the first three minutes of falling into the water, this can kill you within minutes.”
Lifejackets should be stored in a dry, well aired area when not in use. RNLI sea safety managers and volunteers around the coast found that approximately a third of all lifejackets checked last year would have simply not worked.
Mrs Davies adds:
“I urge all boaters to get familiar with their lifejackets, and to look after them, so that it can look after you! I would like to invite all water users in the Pwllheli area to come along to the clinic at Pwlhelli Sailing Club for free checks and advice.”
For full advice on choosing, caring and wearing your lifejacket please see: www.rnli.org.uk/wearone
