Should wearing a lifejacket be mandatory?

[Diva27]

Hey, it's one o'clock on a Sunday afternoon: what am I doing typing on a sailing bulletin board about sailing, when I should be sailing?
Wind here is light out of the NW, overcast, might rain.
I'm going sailing.And I'll wear my pfd, even on the dock

[Valiente]

Originally Posted by poopdeckpappy

That was a great post valiente, I too learned the theory of inertia, gravity and action/reaction though the same school. ( and wouldn't have it any other way ) Reading between the lines ( of your posts ) I understand that the campus and curriculum of this new school ( which I enrolled full time in 4yrs ago ) may not be as hard, but the mistakes may not be as forgiving; As I said previously, I wear my vest, but not always, after reading comments form you, Bosun and others I will wear it more.

Funny how peer pressure over regulations changes the minds

Well, I can just as easily take the contrarian/libertarian viewpoint and call for NO safety regs and let physics and Darwin remove the unsafe boaters from the gene pool. The trouble with that is, of course, that third parties or innocent guests can suffer for the poor decisions of the skipper to say "to hell with PFDs, flares, bailers and running blowers...no guvmint's gonna tell me what to (BBBOOOOOMMMM!!!!).

Imagine being securely tethered to a nearby sailboat, PFD on, MMSI coded into the DSC handheld, crisp new flares clearly at the ready underneath a bulkhead full of safety placards...and being brained by the pieces of the former S/V John Galt as gravity delivers its final verdict.

I fully support and indeed advocate the right of individuals to kill themselves by ignoring basic safety precepts, but it rarely stops there.