Probing for Sensible Limits

Indignation spread through the online sailing community
when word got out that the U.S. Coast Guard planned to make anyone on a
boat shorter than 21 feet wear a personal flotation device full-time.
As usual on the Internet, the story got way ahead of itself, but the
Coast Guard had in fact floated the idea to the National Boating Safety
Advisory Council, which suggested looking instead at how to get people
in small boats to wear the PFDs they're already carrying. So an
industry workshop devoted to the topic will be held at the Miami Boat
Show, Feb. 13th.

But no regulation has been written yet, and even if it were, it would
be a very long process, says Jim Muldoon, a past president of US
SAILING who has chaired the NBSAC for five years. That's good news,
because we're already making progress toward safer sailboat racing
without an unnecessary and onerous new regulation.

Muldoon points out that the Coast Guard is fulfilling its basic
obligation to consider how to make boating safer, and that the annual
statistics on boating fatalities (http://www.uscgboating.org) show the
Coast Guard's impressive track record. Since the 1971 Boating Safety
Act was passed, even as annual power and sailboat registrations have
nearly tripled, fatalities have dropped from about 1,500 to 750.

Over the years, the Coast Guard has addressed problem areas by
requiring PFD wear on personal watercraft, rental kayaks, and canoes.
Now they're looking at the most recent numbers, which show that
drowning remains the most common way to die in a boat (524 of 750
deaths) and that in most cases people weren't wearing PFDs and were
lost from small boats.

The statistics for those of us in sailboats shows that in 2002 only
seven people drowned while aboard a sailboat that had an engine and
only one drowned from a non-powered sailboat (i.e. likely a boat under
21 feet).

Racing sailors shouldn't take too much comfort in this--the Coast Guard
hasn't been counting deaths during "supervised events," i.e. races.
Although it doesn't happen often, most of us know of racers who have
drowned.

The bottom line is we don't have accurate stats on drowning deaths
during races (although Muldoon says the Coast Guard will start counting
in 2004). Most racers agree it's usually a good idea to wear flotation,
and we have rules to that effect for some classes and situations. I
usually wear my PFD when I race; the crews I race with wear PFDs
regularly, too; and looking around our one-design keelboat fleets I see
we're not alone. Racers' attitudes toward wearing flotation have made a
positive change in the 10 years since Larry Klein died in the Big Boat
Series, and the trend has only been reinforced by more and more
comfortable PFDs (see "Performance Starts with Fit," July/Aug. '02).

It makes sense to require children to wear PFDs and for race organizers
to consider personal safety gear requirements in distance events or
windy, cold-water venues.  It makes sense to get better educated
about when we're most at risk (see stormtrysail.org for 
guidelines on when to wear a harness and flotation--at night, anytime
in winds over 25 knots, etc.). And let's keep pushing for more
effective, comfortable PFDs. But let's not start requiring them all the
time for adult racers. We'd save more lives mandating high SPF
sunscreen.

Whether or not you agree with me, tell the Coast Guard and others what
you think. Meantime, we'll cover the Miami forum in our next issue.

WRITE TO USCG: Richard
Kanehl,  uscginfoline@gcrm.coml; PFD Mfgs. Assn: Bernice McArdle,
bmcardle@nmma.org; US SAILING, info@ussailing.org; SW,
editorial@sailingworld.com