Posted by Andrew Craig-Bennett on July 10, 2003 at 09:29:59 from 195.93.32.8 user ACB.
In Reply to: Re: Technically PFDs are not lifejackets posted by Katharine Edgar on July 10, 2003 at 08:44:54:
This might or might not be typical...
I have some pictures of me aged four on my father's boat standing alone on the deck without a lifejacket. That was in the mid-Fifties.
In the sixties my father taught us to sail dinghies without lifejackets.
By the late sixties and early seventies I was being encouraged to wear some sort of flotation device when sailing by myself.
Safety harnesses were invented by Peter Hayward, the doyen of yacht delivery skippers, after he lost a crew member overboard, in the sixties and were becoming commonplace by the later seventies.
Worth noting that whilst the dinghies have no bouyancy (and Swallow has ballast, and actually sinks!) the children are expected to be able to swim.
My children aged 8 and 1 must wear lifejackets at all times when on deck or in the dinghy and must wear a clipped on safety harness when on deck. Adults must wear lifejackets in the dinghy and safety harnesses at sea.... The 8 year old is allowed on deck on his own because he is conscientious about his harness.