Backgrounder on safety

What are fashionable people wearing on the water these days? Surprisingly enough, they are wearing personal floatation devices, or PFDs.

In the past, despite the risk to their own lives, many people have avoided wearing bulky, ugly PFDs, which are similar to life jackets.

Of the 264 people who drowned in recreational boating accidents in 1993 and 1994, 90 percent were not wearing either a PFD or a life jacket, and 93 percent were men.

Last October, the Canadian Coast Guard approved new models that are both more comfortable and more fashionable, in an attempt to appeal to people of all ages and both sexes.

"Wearing a PFD is a boater's best chance for survival," says Cathy Sandiford, director of the Coast Guard's Office of Boating Safety. "We are confident that expanding the range of colours for Canadian-approved PFDs and including approved inflatable devices is an important step in giving manufacturers the flexibility to change colours as fashion dictates, enhancing the attractiveness of PFDs, and giving boaters more chances to save a life."

Michel Vachon, an Ottawa communications consultant who taught sailing for 15 years, says the children in his classes were reluctant to wear the old PFDs. "Once the kids got in the water, they would take them off," he says.

But the new PFDs are a hit. "The difference is mind-boggling," says Vachon. Because it's easier to swim and move in the new garments, children are less likely to remove them.

"Once they're on, they stay on," Vachon says.

Kids weren't the only ones who were reluctant to wear the old PFDs. Teenagers and adults weren't keen on them either.

As Wayne Brown, national sales and marketing director at Canadian Recreational Products, explains, "Young men like to look good. Why haven't they been wearing PFDs? Why do they drive too fast in red cars? They don't want to be seen in their mother's Toyota."

He says that this season's hot colours will be burnt orange, mango, teal, aqua, purple and navy blue. "The colours have to be up to date with the colours of Sea-Doos and other personal watercraft," says Brown. While not as bright as the traditional red, orange and yellow, many of these colours are still bright enough to be seen in the water.

Rob Thomson is the product manager at Fitzwright, and he believes that colour was holding people back from wearing neoprene PFD vests, which are more comfortable than the nylon PFDs. "I think drowning took place because people didn't want to wear the old colours. So instead, they wore vests that weren't approved PFDs."

He adds that, "With the Coast Guard allowing manufacturers to manufacture nylon and neoprene PFDs in different colours, we should see more sales of PFDs and also fewer drownings."

Steve Wagner, research and development manager at Protexion Products Inc., agrees. "The change in colours alone is going to create some excitement," he says.

"We can build in a lot of style by making a PFD a little shorter, but a little thicker so that it stays buoyant," says Lisa Harvey, senior product manager at Mustang. "You can have wider armholes, or thicker collars. Or you can have wide webbing for belts and buckles, instead of just a zipper." Harvey says that techniques such as silk screening or moulded textured badges can add stylish logos, as well.

Unlike most garments, however, PFDs present some unique challenges for a fashion designer. "It's easy to create something fashionable," says Brown.

"But it's difficult to create something that is fashionable, comfortable and suitable," he adds. "We have never lost the focus that PFDs save lives."

Fitzwright, meanwhile, has dry suits and wet suits as well as matching PFDs. "We have design lines that are anatomically correct, where the patterns accentuate the male or female physique," he says. "We use contrast stitching against black, yellow or green fabric."

Several manufacturers have designed special PFDs for different sports. Those for canoeists and kayakers, for example, allow more freedom of movement and more ventilation.

Members of the Canadian Sailing Team appreciate the new PFDs designed for top-level competition. In the past, many team members preferred PFDs made in other countries, where standards allowed manufacturers to make more comfortable PFDs.

"That attitude has changed dramatically with all the new styles," says Ken Dool of the Canadian Yachting Association, who leads the team. These days, he says, team members are much more willing to "shop Canadian."

New PFDs designed for particular activities suit both the sport and the sport's participants. Fishing PFDs made by Protexion, for instance, have lots of pockets and come in subdued colours such as tan and green. The company's PFDs for water skiers, on the other hand, come in wild neon colours and have extra straps to ensure they stay on in churning water.

Some companies even make PFDs for sports that aren't primarily water sports, such as camouflage-colour PFDs for hunters.

As well as saving people from drowning, some PFDs also provide some protection against hypothermia. Floating in cold water can be almost as deadly as drowning in it, so these PFDs partially insulate key parts of your body against heat loss.

But it's heat, rather than cold, that has caused many people to avoid PFDs. In the past, consumers have complained that PFDs were too hot to wear on sultry on summer days. So designers came up with inflatable PFDs.

"The inflatable is a nice alternative," says Peter Wood, training and cruising director with the Canadian Yachting Association. "They're quite comfortable to wear on a cruising boat."

They're a good choice for people who intend to stay dry, but inflatable PFDs don't mix well with some of the high-velocity sports, so they're not permitted for activities such as white water rafting.

In fact, rafters may want to use a life jacket, which is designed to keep you floating upright, no matter how conscious you are. With a life jacket, your mouth and nose are generally out of water within five seconds of falling in. In a PFD, however, it is possible to float face down.

In most cases, a PFD will provide adequate safety protection. Needless to say, however, no PFD can save a life unless it is worn! Manufacturers are hoping that consumers will consider the new PFDs a trendy fashion item that they won't want to leave at the bottom of the boat.

"We'd like to get to the point where someone gets out of the boat, goes onto the dock and doesn't take the PFD off," says Wagner.

"We want to take the PFD to the next level, where it does become an apparel item as well as a safety item," he adds.

Scott Ogilvie, education coordinator with the national office of the Lifesaving Society, agrees. He anticipates that the new PFDs will become "a cool piece of equipment," like trendy bike helmets. "We're certainly hopeful that those changes in colour and style will bring about increased wear," he says.

And everyone hopes that increased wear will mean fewer lives lost in the water.

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FACT BOX
 

All boats must carry one PFD or life jacket for every person aboard, and that device must be approved by either the Canadian Coast Guard or Transport Canada. Otherwise, you could be fined $200.
 

After buying a PFD, read the manufacturer's instructions, particularly if you have an inflatable, which requires special maintenance.
 

You must be at least 16 and weigh at least 36 kilograms to use an inflatable PFD.
 

Laws governing PFDs and life jackets are a little different for commercial boat operators.
 

Children need special PFDs. If their PFDs are too large, they may simply slip off. And no PFD is ever a substitute for adult supervision.
 

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