yachting monthly lifejacket test

Yachting World

• Digital Edition

How well does your lifejacket work? We put 3 offshore models to the test

• Bruce Jacobs
• January 11, 2017

We asked professional skipper, Bruce Jacobs, of Rubicon 3 expeditions, to test offshore lifejackets.

Deployment – the ultimate test

If the worst happens and a casualty ends up in the water, everything needs to work and the jacket has to be completely intuitive.

First on trial was the Spinlock 170N. Having jumped in, the sprayhood was immediately available, was a great size and was very easy and intuitive to fasten under the bladders. I looked to my right and quickly found the inflation tube, the whistle and the pylon light (an optional extra). The jacket also had the Lume-On system that enables the jacket to glow in the dark. This additional security at night is a huge bonus for the Spinlock and should not be underestimated.

With the deployment complete, the rescue boat came over to pick me up. It was at this point that we realised the lifting strop was nowhere to be seen. The rescuer will attach a line to the lifting strop and haul the casualty out of the water. It’s vital but the rescuers searched around in the water for a good 30 seconds and ultimately had to give up.

Only when I had clambered in to the boat did we see the very clearly marked, bright red lifting strop hanging down from the jacket. It was clearly meant to be poppered on to the left bladder, where it would be easily visible to any rescuer. We believe that as the jacket inflated, it simply blew off the bladder poppers. From what we saw, this lifting strop could and should be the best system of all three jackets, but when the time came and it had to perform perfectly, the set-up failed.

Spinlock has said it is not aware of this ever having been a problem before, but on our test the set-up failed and without finding that strop any chance of me being successfully rescued was undoubtedly diminished.

Spinlock Deckvest 5D deployed.

Sprayhood issues

A little surprised, we moved on to the Crewsaver . This jacket has a massive 290N of buoyancy, giving vast amounts of flotation, even when wearing heavy clothing. I expected the size of the bladder to be a problem once inflated, but actually found it had little impact on my manoeuvrability or visibility. Again I felt safe and stable. Not only that, it has a very reassuring inflatable chin guard that ensures the wearer’s mouth stays out of the water.

This jacket also had a surprise in store for us however, as I couldn’t deploy the sprayhood properly. It stopped at my chin, barely covering my face. I struggled with it, but couldn’t find any way to secure the bottom of it to the bladder. Eventually I had to resort to holding the hood down over my face. Again, this is a serious issue: in heavy weather a man overboard without a secured sprayhood is in grave danger of inhaling spray leading to possible secondary drowning.

The rescue boat came over and this time the lifting strops were easy to find, poppered to the bladder with bright orange tabs. It would be better to have them clearly marked as such. The wearer may be familiar with the jacket, but a flustered rescuer shouldn’t have to second-guess anything. Having been hauled on to the boat, it became clear that the jacket did in fact have a superb sprayhood – actually the best of the three. It had fantastic visibility, a hoop to keep it off the face and lots of lateral protection.

So why hadn’t it deployed properly? The bladder attachment band and the remainder of the hood was still folded behind my head. I never worked that out in the flat calm and would have had no chance of doing so in a real-life situation. In response, Crewsaver has said the user needs to know to pull out the hood in a particular direction for it to deploy properly, but how would a casualty know this? That hood needed to be there, accessible, straight away – but it wasn’t. It was frustrating as it marred an otherwise superb jacket.

Crewsaver Ergofit Extreme 290N deployed: notice how casualty is more horizontal.

More lifting strop issues

Finally, we tested the Helly Hansen jacket. At only 150N, it felt noticeably smaller when inflated than the other jackets, but no less safe. As with all of them, the light, whistle and inflation tube were immediately accessible. The whistle on the Helly Hansen jacket seemed to make a much louder noise than the others and was our favourite of the three.

I found the sprayhood quickly and pulled it over my head. It had plastic buckles to attach to the bladders. In daylight, this was immediately obvious but I do wonder if I would have worked out the system at night. Simplicity is everything in an emergency situation and the traditional attachment method of a band around the bladders is tried, tested and effective. The sprayhood itself felt a little loose, especially around the sides, and I would have liked a way to tighten it up but the buckles did not allow me to do this.

The rescue boat now came alongside, but once again we could not find the lifting strop. The rescuers could see flashes of red below the surface, but concluded that these were the red thigh straps. There was no way anyone was going to risk attaching a line to them and hauling me up. Eventually, we gave up and it was only back aboard the rescue boat that we finally saw the red lifting strop. It was an identical colour and size to the thigh straps, and positioned directly above them. It was all but impossible to distinguish the lifting strop from the thigh straps in the water. Also, there are no poppered attachment points on the bladder, which means the strop is always likely to sink out of the rescuers’ sight.

Again, the consequences of this in any real-life situation don’t bear thinking about. Helly Hansen states that the sprayhood on its 2017 model will include elastic sides and elastic straps for attaching to the bladder, and that its designers are working on making the lifting strop easier to find.

Helly Hansen Inflatable Racing Jacket deployed.

Ultimately a lifejacket has only two purposes: the harness is there to keep you on board and the remainder of the jacket is there to keep you alive and allow you to be rescued if you do fall in the water. The importance of those two functions working first time, every time, cannot be overstated. They also have to be utterly intuitive to operate for both the casualty and the rescuer. There is little doubt that each of these jackets is a good product and yet, in the cold light of day, not one of the three fully performed to our expectations.

Sprayhoods and lifting strops are critical, but we were unable to deploy both successfully on any of the three jackets. Without doubt, having the casualty and rescuer familiar with the jacket in its inflated state would have reduced the problems, but very few sailors jump in with their lifejackets to find out how they actually work, and how would a rescuer expect to be familiar with all the different models?

To be used on a Rubicon 3 voyage , the Helly Hansen jacket would need improvements to be made. However, the Spinlock and Crewsaver are both very capable lifejackets and the final choice of which to wear came down to personal preference. One of us picked the Spinlock as the winner, the other the Crewsaver. We would very happily have either.

That said, as I floated in those icy cold Icelandic waters, struggling with hoods and trying to find lifting strops, my over-riding thought was that while each of these jackets would surely help keep me alive, a casualty is in a hugely perilous situation in the water. The only genuine approach to a man overboard situation remains, as ever, its prevention in the first place.

Bruce Jacobs is a Yachtmaster Ocean instructor and MCA Master 200. Rubicon 3 runs adventure sailing expeditions, with an emphasis on training and exploring. Routes range from Spitsbergen to Morocco. Find out more at www.rubicon3.co.uk

• 1. Introduction
• 2. Deployment – the ultimate test

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• Digital Editions

How to wear a lifejacket: Top tips for buying, fitting and maintaining your PFD

• Top stories

Wearing a lifejacket is one of the most important things you can do to increase safety afloat, writes Jon Mendez.

But unless you wear and maintain your lifejacket correctly, it won’t work as well as it’s meant to if and when you fall into the water.

Any Personal Flotation Device (PFD) provides buoyancy that helps keep you afloat. This is measured in Newtons and for most PFDs starts at 50N.

However, from 150N upwards it should be buoyant enough to turn you face up even when unconscious, greatly improving your chances of survival.

Article continues below…

Boating gear: What kit do I need to get out on the water?

Best lifejackets: 10 of the best lifesavers tested to the max

We tested 10 of the best lifejackets on the market in a full-open water test to see how quickly they

Here are three things you can do to improve the chances of your lifejacket doing what it’s meant to do when you need it most.

Choose a suitable lifejacket

Buoyancy aids are not the same as lifejackets as they only provide 50N of lift. However, they are great for any form of watersports where there is a good chance of falling in but still being able to swim, such as paddleboarding or kayaking.

Anything that involves you being more than an easy swim from shore needs a proper lifejacket with at least 150N of uplift, and in my view it really should have automatic inflation – the last thing you want to be worrying about is finding the inflation toggle.

If you are of a larger build or likely to be wearing thick clothing then 150N might not be enough so consider a lifejacket offering a higher level of buoyancy – full offshore ones go up to 275N.

Read YBW’s guide to the best lifejackets on the market today

Also think about the features you might need such as a strong clip-on point, crutch straps, a water-activated light if you ever go boating at night, a sprayhood if you risk being caught out in bad weather or a holder for a personal locator beacon if venturing offshore. All are available if your budget allows.

How to wear a lifejacket correctly

The most important thing is that you wear it in the first place, so be sure to find one that’s easy to put on, quick to adjust and comfortable to wear for long periods of time.

While this sounds simple, some always seem to end up in a tangled mess, others push your head forward and cause neck pain, so I strongly recommend going to a well-stocked chandler and trying on the various shapes and sizes until you find the perfect fit.

For it to support you properly in the water, it needs adjusting to fit your build and the amount of clothing you are wearing – you can’t just adjust it once and forget about it – so make sure it’s easy to adjust.

The main strap needs to be tight enough for you to just be able to fit a clenched fist inside, while the crutch strap (an essential extra in my view) must not allow the jacket to ride up over your head.

Check and service your lifejacket

So many people just buy a lifejacket, wear it occasionally and chuck it in a locker without bothering to look after it.

A few simple steps can greatly increase a jacket’s lifespan and its ability to function correctly when you need it. If it gets damp, sponge off any salt with fresh water, hang it up and only stow it away when properly dry.

Take the time to read the instructions, open it up, discover what’s inside and how it’s activated, check the gas bottle is tightly screwed in place and the service dates have not expired.

For leisure boating it will normally require servicing every two years, but in the intervening years, I’d recommend opening it, inflating it manually (preferably with a pump to avoid moisture from your breath) and check that it stays inflated for 24 hours before repacking it. I spend a lot of time afloat so I unpack mine and check it all through at six-monthly intervals.

Watch Yachting Monthly’s in-depth guide to servicing a lifejacket

Do these three simple things and your lifejacket will give you years of reliable service and will be there to save you when you need it most.

How to use a lifejacket properly

1. Buoyancy aid or lifejacket? – A standard 50N buoyancy aid such as this one is great for close-to-shore watersports where there’s a good chance of getting wet. They are easy to swim in and they don’t need re-arming after use. However, they are not the same as a lifejacket as they won’t keep you face up when unconscious.

2. Choosing a lifejacket – When buying a lifejacket, make sure it’s easy to put on, comfortable to wear for long periods of time and that the buckle is simple for you to open and close as well as quick to adjust. Also check that the manual activation toggle is easy to find if the automatic trigger should fail.

3. Adjust to fit – If the jacket is too loose it won’t support you and may slip off. You should just be able to get a clenched fist inside the main strap. It will need to be readjusted if you add or remove a layer of clothing.

4. Use the crotch straps – In my view crotch straps are essential and they need to be pulled reasonably tight so that the jacket doesn’t ride up when you are in the water. In the worst case scenario the inflated bladder can even push your head under the water.

5. Without crotch straps – If you don’t use crotch straps then the jacket rides up and your body hangs below. If the main strap is also loose it can end up above your head and your airway becomes compromised.

6. Yearly checks – Ensure you check the date on the auto inflation mechanism and that the bottle is tight in the holder, then inflate it with a pump and repack, making sure the manual inflation toggle is available.

Our How To video series is brought to you in association with GJW Direct . 

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Yachting Monthly

• Digital edition

How to survive in a liferaft should the worst happen

• Toby Heppell
• September 13, 2024

No-one wants to end up in a liferaft, but if push comes to shove, your chances of survival are greatly increased by mastering your mind, say Frances and Michael Howorth

You have no idea how frightening it is to step off a sinking yacht and into a liferaft. There is just you, the raft and whatever you have managed to snatch off the sinking craft.’ Phil Nicolas is describing his feelings as he watched his yacht, Shiralee , sink from the comparative safety of the liferaft.

‘You sit there asking yourself, did the EPIRB device activate correctly? Or is anyone on their way to rescue me? You just look around at a vast inhospitable ocean and say to yourself, I must snap out of this gloom and get on with saving myself. On my first night at sea, I saw lights of what must have been another ship. I was so excited but also so very cold.

I found it very difficult to ignite the flare. The parachute flare did not work but the red hand flare did. It nearly blinded me but two or so hours later I had to admit that it must have been in vain, because no one came to my rescue. It would be so very easy to give up.

I am a strong person, but the feeling of desolation heaped upon fear is a terrible thing. Three things saved me. Firstly, the EPIRB had activated. Secondly, I’m stubborn and have a strong survival instinct, and finally, I had a very well-equipped grab bag and that really bolstered my confidence.’

Set the tone for crew to be proactive and positive, establishing a routine quickly. Photo: Graham Snook/Yachting Monthly

Proper Preparation

With an EPIRB or two in your liferaft and a well stocked grab bag, shipwrecked sailors in theory need not worry too much. Yet there are still wild and lonely places in the world’s oceans where few other craft sail. Search and Rescue authorities may well be on their way; fixed wing aircraft may even sight you, but the fact is, physical rescue may be delayed for hours or even days.

As the hours pass and those in a liferaft begin to become stressed, it is essential to keep up morale and maintain a vigilant lookout. Good liferaft management should start when you board the raft and continue right up to the moment you leave it.

If you spot a potential rescue vessel but it doesn’t see you, it can crush morale. Photo: Graham Snook/Yachting Monthly

Maintain morale

As hours become days without rescue, water or food, morale management will become increasingly important.

Morale and the will to survive are very important, and morale will almost certainly be at its lowest about three hours after abandoning the yacht. Seasickness, anxiety, extreme cold and the absence of either food or water all contrive to lower morale. Skippers should ensure that ration issues are fair and on time, and they should keep people’s minds focused on eventual rescue. Never permit talk of defeat or death to become a topic of conversation in the liferaft. Competitions, songs and jokes are all important to keep everyone cheerful.

This is where items in the grab bag, such as a pack of cards or a radio to listen to commercial broadcasts, might be invaluable. Case histories have shown again and again that people with a strong will to survive can overcome seemingly impossible difficulties.

Try to step aboard without getting wet, as this will make you cold quickly. Photo: Graham Snook/Yachting Monthly

Psychological Disintegration

As time passes in a life raft, it is all too easy for psychological problems to increase, just as easily as the physical problems of surviving do. Denial can lead to apathy, apathy to depressed reaction, depressed reaction to despair and despair to psychological disintegration. Once that final stage is reached death is not far away.

The initial symptoms of this disintegration include irritability, sleep disturbance and a mild startle reaction. Later comes social withdrawal, loss of interest, apprehension, general mental and physical retardation, confusion and finally death. Death when it comes, can be a passive sinking, or it can suddenly be considered a serious option, with suicide an easier alternative to the struggle to live. This breakdown can happen to an individual but can, if not checked, affect the whole group. It can develop progressively, or a particular event can act as a sudden trigger.

One common event that can severely upset survivors in a liferaft is to watch a potential rescue craft fail to sight the raft and then turn away. At such times a strong leader may be all that keeps a group functioning and fighting on.

Article continues below…

A fierce determination to live, the willingness to improvise and regular activity, both mental and physical, can overcome most things. Water and food may be scarce, but they can be found in most oceans and, with rationing, life can go on. The strengths of each member of the group add to that of the others and increase the chance for everyone to reach the goal of rescue and survival.

Caring for your liferaft If the time aboard the liferaft is measured in days rather than hours, it becomes even more important to take care of your delicate vessel as well as your mind. Unlike a yacht, rafts are manufactured for just days of use rather than years. Wear is the biggest problem and any line or object that touches an inflatable raft has the potential to eventually wear a hole.

It is important to try to prevent this by padding and changing their position. Outside the raft, problems may come from sea creatures underneath. As the time in the water increases, rafts without antifouling are susceptible to weed and barnacles and these are attractive to turtles, fish, and sharks. Whilst anything touching the raft can be frightening, this may have a positive side, such as an opportunity to catch something for dinner.

The thought of sharks in the water are among people’s greatest fear in a liferaft. Photo: Wildestanimal / Alamy

Fighting fear

Talking with survivors of shipwrecks, and to those who have spent time in a liferaft, there are two mind-crippling fears that stand out as those that most preoccupy their minds: sharks and bad weather.

Sharks are creatures that invoke fear in most sailors despite the softer picture projected by nature films. There are sharks in every ocean, and while many live and feed in the depths, others hunt near the surface. If you are in a liferaft and you see sharks, you should not throw anything overboard by day. Instead wait until it is dark. Do not fish and if you hooked a fish as the sharks appear, quickly discard it.

When sharks are circling the raft do not let arms, legs or equipment hang in the water and make sure everyone keeps quiet and still. If a shark attack is imminent, hit it with anything except your hands.

Be careful not to break or loose the article you use. Do not attempt to kill shark for food except as a last resort. They are very difficult to land without damaging oneself or the liferaft. Do not bring sharks aboard the raft unless you are certain they are dead. Cut off the head and skin the fish immediately. Do not be tempted to eat the shark’s liver because it is poisonous.

Knowing what to do in heavy weather will help crew who may well be scared of encountering a storm. Photo: Viking

The second greatest fear is heavy weather. While it is also important for the liferaft lookout to be alert to any worsening conditions it is equally important that everyone is ready for rough times inside the raft. Good skippers will ensure that lifejackets are being worn by all on board and that anti-seasickness tablets are taken.

They will ensure sea anchors are deployed and a second anchor prepared for use. Skippers should make sure all equipment is stowed away or is tied on with lanyards. The entrances to the raft should be closed to prevent water entering. Crew should be evenly distributed around the liferaft with backs against the tubes and feet into the centre.

If the liferaft is not full, crew should sit to windward to aid stability. In very rough conditions a second sea anchor can be streamed. If this becomes necessary, ensure the drogues’ lines are of different lengths to prevent fouling.

Blue-water cruising vessels should be robust, and prepared in accordance with the distance you will sail offshore. Photo: David Harding

Hope for the best, plan for the worst

As a responsible skipper, part of the planning for a passage includes ensuring the correct safety equipment is carried aboard your yacht. It’s not easy to part with hard-earned money for an item of safety equipment that you doubt will be used and may even be thrown away after a few years still unopened.

It is easy to cut corners at the purchasing stage and buy only the barest minimum. Sadly, when the unimaginable catastrophe happens it will probably be too late to go back and purchase that safety item you previously rejected as an unnecessary expense.

The danger is greater the further you go offshore, because of the higher risk of being at sea in rough weather. While you might not run aground in the middle of an ocean you can hit a submerged container or a sleeping whale. Through-hulls and keels have been known to fail. Shipwrecks can happen anywhere, at any time.

There has been a spate of whale strikes in the Gibraltar straits. Brend Schuil / Team JAJO / The Ocean Race

If you do have to take to your liferaft, what can you do to improve your chances of being rescued, without injury or loss of life? Take time to consider this at the passage planning stage of the voyage. Decide what to select for your emergency bag – and store a liferaft survival book in that grab bag so you will have it with you when you need it most.

One sailor who owes his life to positive action, clear thinking and an EPIRB is Pablo Pirenack. He left the USA to fulfil a lifelong ambition to sail a small yacht single-handed across the Atlantic. He got more than he bargained for when a hurricane battered his 8m yacht to bits, and he took to his liferaft carrying his grab bag. It was his EPIRB stowed inside the bag that saved him by enabling a gas tanker to come to his rescue, just 26 hours after he first hit the transmit button.

When the hull of the lost Cheeki Rafiki was found, it was clear the crew had not had a chance to deploy the liferaft or EPIRB.

No shame in calling for help

Other sailors have not been so lucky when it comes to speed of rescue. Jennifer Appel and Tasha Fuiava drifted powerless for months while trying to sail Sea Nymph, a 15m sailboat, 2,600 miles from Hawaii to Tahiti. The pair had a grab bag. In it was an EPIRB, but they never turned it on. Appel believed the beacons should be used only when sailors are in imminent danger or at risk of death within 24 hours. She said, ‘EPIRB calls are for people who are in an immediate life-threatening scenario.’

She felt that it would be shameful to call on the United States Coast Guard (UCSG) resources when not in imminent peril as someone else could perish because of it. The Coastguard officer responsible for search and rescue operations, said that there is no shame in using an EPIRB in any true emergency and in this case stated, ‘The women would have been found very quickly if only they used what they had inside their grab bag.’ He added,

‘Had they turned their EPIRB on, a signal should have been received very, very quickly and we would have known a whole lot sooner that this vessel was in distress.’

Floating shipping containers pose a hazard to yachts. Photo: Ritzau / Alamy

Not all disasters at sea end well. While attempting to sail across the Atlantic, tragedy cost the lives of four sailors. Cheeki Rafiki, a 12m Bénéteau sailing yacht, lost her keel roughly 720 miles south east of Nova Scotia and subsequently capsized in a Force 7 storm.

The yacht’s EPIRB was never activated, but rescue services were able to locate her upturned hull before she sank because two of the on-board Personal Lifesaving Beacons (PLB) devices had sent out emergency signals. Sadly, the crew where never found. Once the storm abated US Navy divers boarded the still-floating wreck and confirmed her liferaft was still secured to its storage location. Clearly the crew had not had chance to bring their raft or their grab bag out onto the deck.

We will never know why the boat’s EPIRB was not activated, or why the liferaft failed to be deployed. Nor will we know what state of mind the crew were in when they began to consider their options as the storm began to toss their boat about.

Thanks to modern satellite distress signalling, help should arrive sooner or later. Photo: Finnbarr Webster Editorial / Alamy

What to do in a liferaft

Immediate actions:

• Cut the painter and get clear of the ship
• Look for and pick up other survivors
• Stream sea anchor when clear of ship
• Close the raft entrance
• Read survival instructions

Subsequent actions:

• Identify a person in charge of the liferaft
• Post a lookout
• Open equipment pack
• Distribute seasickness medicine and bags
• Dry and inflate the floor
• Administer first aid
• Arrange watches and duties – skipper, lookout, inside watch to manage needs and equipment within the raft
• Check liferaft for damage and all features functioning properly
• Deploy EPIRB and SART and start signalling routine
• Protect against heat and cold
• Evaluate and plan water and food rations
• Establish routine and morale boosting activities
• Set up toilet arrangements – over the side in calm weather, and in a bucket or bailer in rough weather
• Begin liferaft maintenance
• Prepare for rescue by air or sea

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