I had a partner fall in the lake last year, fortunately in ended happily with him just being wet and cold. But it got me thinking about life vests.
I contacted both Sospenders and Mustang as I did not see a speed rating on either of their products manuals. Despite the fact the pros wear the Mustangs mostly, I wanted to be sure either would stay on at high speed if you came out of the boat. Not an impact rating, I know the old, non inflatable styles are much better for that, but just staying on at high speed ratings.
Sospenders indicated a 50 MPH rating, Mustang would not give me one, the woman on the phone actually asked me why someone would go over 70 MPH in a bass boat. She obviously does not have a clue what is going on. Especially since many of the pros wear their product and we all know KVD and Iconelli have two speeds flat out and off. I run the same set up as Iconelli and I know it will do 70+ tournament load.
I also emailed ESPN/Bassmasters, their response was they don't allow email solicitation. Hmm.
Anyway, I thought I would post something here and get feedback if anyone had any concrete info or comments. I have both the traditional high speed, 100MPH rated vest, and Sospenders. Would rather not have to go back to wearing two different ones.
PUMA you need to call rick at basscat and ask him about it...if you remember the accident he had a couple of years ago...his mother said to us if he had been wear th suspendors instead of the full jacket with the collar he would of been a lot worse off than he was...I know in the summer they are cumbersome and awkward b ut they do serve there purpose....
I refuse to put my life in the hands of a non inflated device. I stick with the vest for its impact protection and constant floatation properties.
Yeah, and another factor that I did not consider was that you have to recharge them every 3 years whether they inflate or not. So, I have the tourney Mustang and it will cost me $27 or so every 3 years. I think I am going back to the normal vest, since I find I still normally take it off when not running.
I'll only wear a full/real/traditional life vest for running flat out. Due to some physical limitations last year I started wearing a belt-style PFD while up on the decks. One rogue wave and bye-bye for me... It is easy enough to jump down and take the 3 1/2 seconds to put on the full vest to sit and run, in my opinion.
I'll simply state this: "There are no shortcuts in safety!"
I am not sure, but will a regular buckle type PFD, vest, roll you to a face up position if you are unconscious? The Mustang will.
I know from my experience in my own boat what I feel I need to be safe, but then there are times I'm in others boats and really feel I'd like to be the safest ie. traveling in Tommy Biffle's boat at full throttle in the fog. For that reason, I am looking at not only the safest PFD, but a helmet. I thought about the face mask type of protection, but if you are thinking of an ejection at anything above a few miles per hour, you need to think head protection. I once asked a bike salesman how much I should spend on a bike helmet and his retort was, "How much do you value your head." If they recommend a helmet for a bike, then 70 mph in a bass boat is a no brainer, and the pun is intended.
I have a Mustang and wear it religiously. It doesn't have a "collar" because it does inflate very tightly around your neck to float you face up if you end up unconscious, which is a very real possibility. I also carry two good vests as well. Here are a couple of good links to safety items.
http://www.tackletour.com/reviewfishhedz.html
http://www.fishinghelmets.com/
http://www.bassclubdigest.org/features/rough_water_boat_rigging.htm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RE2Pz8k8TUA
Gary, if you find any more info on vests vs suspenders I'd be interested in putting a piece together for the blog. This is a very good discussion piece for the forum, and I hope others can find some good reviews of PFDs that may be out there. I don't have any more time this morning, but will be surfing to see what I can find.
I saw a co-angler go in headfirst in a lock on the Ohio river. His inflatable never went off. Its old school for me all the way.