To Air is Human: Is Your Self-Inflatable PFD-Ready? By Harmon Heed
I think inflatable PFDs are the greatest sailing inventions since canned beer. And, like canned beer, they’re only good when they’re open. Does yours open? I was sure surprised when I tested mine!
W
hen I took up racing on San Francisco Bay in the early ’80s, we used to lose about four sailors to the cool California water every year. They weren’t drunk fishermen in canoes out in the shipping lanes; they were usually experienced sailors. But they weren’t wearing PFDs, because in those days, the PFDs we had were often bulky and cumbersome. Then in the late 1980s, Sospenders came out with inflatable PFDs, and we jumped on those like frat boys on a keg. They weren’t Coast Guard-approved, but they were comfortable and we wore them. And the deaths dried up. We
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SOUTHWINDS
wore them on windy ocean races out to the Farallons and races that lasted into the night like around the Three Bridges. On my first race from Oakland to Catalina in 1989, there was no moon; the wind was gusting to 35 knots all night long, and John Jonas’ Morgan 382, Meridian, was honking. We blew out the spinnaker, and our foredecker, Steve Strunk, called for help for a headsail change. I tethered up on the jack line and went forward. I might not have done that without my inflatable. Back in the cockpit, everyone was also tethered on. We did two unintentional gybes that night, the first one with the
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