CHESTIES - A SAFETY ISSUE

[TC]

Following on from Gogs\' topic, \"one lucky,one not so lucky\".............

I got to wondering again about the safety of wearing chesties when fishing rock marks.
Now I don\'t know if John (the guy who was rescued after slipping into the water and being caried out to sea) was actually wearing chesties or not - but the story did say that he was wearing a floatation jacket.
We all value the bouyancy properties of float suits incase such an event ever happens to us.......but what if (like me and many others) you wear chesties combined with a float jacket when fishing the rocks?

We know waders are great for keeping you warm and the water out - but in a situation such as Johns\' wouldn\'t the chesties fill with water?

If so, then they would weigh a ton........would they not drag you down by sheer weight?

OR......On the other hand........would they (particularly the neoprene type) trap the air between the wearer and the insides of the waders and give a bit of bouyancy, themselves??



[Edited on 21/2/2006 by TC]

[gazzawill]

thats an intresting thing tc\' and ive had chesties on when waves hit me just on beach and they filled up a bit with water and they do wheigh a canny bit , but never tried the neoprrene ones . will be good to know

[Edited on 21/2/2006 by gazzawill]

[Hiram.A.Biff]

Hi Tc.
I was going to post on thi subject anyway. I wear neo chesties, there are belt loops, they will take a luggage strap as a belt to supposedly keep the water out.
Now to my point. after last easter( see the link)http://www.nesa.co.uk/modules.php?op=modload&name=XForum&file=viewthread &tid=5132#pid

or search fort my post titled \"The one that got away\"

I decide to buy a lifejacket, I paid £30 on ebay, If Im fishing from rocks, I wear it. In all honesty lads, you dont know you have it on, It does not impede casting, and weighs next to nowt. Its well worth thinking about.

Dont make the mistake of thinking It cant happen to you. It bloody can, I know.

[Edited on 21/2/2006 by Hiram.A.Biff]

[Chippy]

Let us not forget that a floatation suit/jacket is not a substitute for a lifejacket. They don\'t provide sufficient bouyancy to stop you sinking if you can\'t swim or are unconcious, as far as I am aware, they help you keep afloat but that is it.

Regarding the chesties/float suit question. You could always go to the local swimming pool and ask them if you can try it. And no, I\'m not being flippant.

[MikeR]

I\'ve often thought about this and a good point was put to me once - why would waders full of water pull you under?

Water inside a pair of waders is the same density as water outside a pair of waders. This should leave you, once fully emersed, having only to support the weight of the waders, less their bouyancy.

Once you raise the level of the water inside the waders above the level of the water outside the waders that\'s when you\'ll have problems as the weight of the water inside the waders becomes an issue.

Neoprene is also pretty bouyant due to the foam rubber it\'s made of.

Just my thoughts.

[Davey.adair]

When I bought my chesties, they were advertised as \"an excellent bouyancy aid when worn with a floatation jacket\", no mention of wearing a belt with them though. I have since read you need to wear a belt, as paul mentioned, to stop them filling up. Was just wondering who actually wears there floatation suit correctly i.e. fastening the straps on the jacket between your legs? I never do, so I don\'t suppose a belt on my chesties would be of much use, if my jacket rode up and wrapped around my neck, frightening thought, will have to start making an effort to wear my gear correctly.

[Chippy]

You\'ve got a point Mike. Although I\'m told that old sailors used to wear boots a few sizes too big to make them easy to get off. I\'m guessing that climbing out of the water on to a rock with 30-40 litres (30-40kg, nearly half your body weight) sloshing around inside waders may be tricky.

[Hiram.A.Biff]

Get this.
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Lifejacket-Inflatable-150-newtons_W0QQitemZ7219684431QQcategoryZ112964QQrdZ1 QQcmdZViewItem

[Davyred]

A few years ago, a lad I knew from Kirkcudbright (Albert Marshall) drowned after being washed in at Fox\'s snoot. He was wearing chesties and apparently he sank like a stone. Anyone who knew albert will have known how strong a fella he was - if anyone could have taken his chesties off, he could.

I\'ve fell into a pool of water down Easington with my chesties on, and I bobbed out like a cork - I never touched the bottom. A mate of mine done the same at Sand Point crabbing when the channel was dredged for the shipyards - took a step too far and went down, but bobbed straight back up. God knows what would have happened if the water had gone over the top.

Personally, I know how hard it is pushing your foot into chesties on dry land, let alone trying to take your feet out while fighting for breath in freezing water. It just doesn\'t bear thinking about.

[YoursTruly]

The thing to do if you fall in wearing chesties is not try to swim. When you first go in try and relax ( hard to do when panick sets in) and you will float to surface, lie on your back and use your arms to paddle backwards.
I was watching a video many years ago, an angler was fishing for salmon from what seemed like a bit of a cliff some 20ft above the river. The guy introducing the video mentioned the safety factor (or lack of it) what would happen if you fell in wearing your chestwaders surely you would drown.
The angler then passed him the rod and out of the blue just jumped in, when he surfaced lay on his backed and paddled back to safety giving a running commentry while in the water.

[SIXFOOTSTEVE]

I remember watching that as well Terry.

[ollie]

the saltburn lads will know who im talking about as im not going to mention the lads name but he was always wearing waders ,he fished from one of the boats near the ship inn ,long story ....they arrived back near the shore anyway he somehow went over the side his waders filled in seconds and he drwned very quickly he was supposed to be a strong lad and a good swimmer but panic can change everything .....just be carefull fellas

[Hiram.A.Biff]

I think Ill try that at the mull.............................

[RGF]

the guy who jumped in the river and floated on his backwas Hugh Falkus famous sea trout/salmon angler,I think it was part of the Salmo the Leaper video....could be wrong tho..

[alan]

Davy I remember the story about Albert losing his life very sad,
To be honest I wont wear my chesties if I\'m fishing by myself.
Terry thats good advice but its easier said than done,I would\'nt like to try it out