{"id":21281,"date":"2014-10-01T16:14:38","date_gmt":"2014-10-01T16:14:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bwsailing.com\/cc\/?p=21281"},"modified":"2014-10-01T16:48:31","modified_gmt":"2014-10-01T16:48:31","slug":"life-jacket-type-code-labels-go-away","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bwsailing.com\/cc\/2014\/10\/life-jacket-type-code-labels-go-away\/","title":{"rendered":"Life Jacket Type Code Labels Go Away"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"type?<\/a><\/p>\n

In a move that\u2019s expected to benefit recreational boaters, on Oct. 22 the US Coast Guard will drop the current life jacket type code scheme \u2014 Type I, II, III, IV and V \u2014 that has been used for years to label and differentiate the types of life jackets and their specific use. Chris Edmonston, BoatUS Foundation for Boating Safety President and Chairman of the National Safe Boating Council, said, \u201cThe boating safety community believes this move by the Coast Guard will help lead the way toward more comfortable and innovative life jacket designs, help boaters stay on the right side of the law, lower costs, and save lives.\u201d<\/p>\n

Explains Edmonston, \u201cThis is positive news is that we will no longer see a Type I, II, III, IV or V label on a new life jacket label after Oct. 22. This type coding was unique to the United States, tended to confuse boaters, limited choice and increased the cost of life jackets.\u201d He says removing the type coding is a first step towards the adoption of new standards that will eventually simplify life jacket requirements for recreational boaters.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis move is expected to lead to the introduction of new life jacket designs, especially those made in other countries as US standards will be more \u2018harmonized,\u2019 initially Canada and eventually the European Union,\u201d said Edmonston. \u201cAlong with a wider variety, aligning our standards with those to our neighbor to the north and across the Atlantic will help reduce prices as manufacturers won\u2019t have to make products unique to the US market.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, Edmonston cautions boaters must still abide by the current standards when using older life jackets marked with the Type I-V labeling, as they will remain legal for use. \u201cWe must continue to have a properly fitted life jacket for all aboard, and as always, you\u2019ll need to follow the label\u2019s instructions regardless of when it was made. Simply put, if you follow the label, you\u2019re following the law.\u201d A full list of the current life jacket types and descriptions can be found at BoatUS.org\/life-jackets, and any update on new life jacket types and styles will be posted here when available.<\/p>\n

In additional effort to help change the mindset of what a life jacket must look like, The BoatUS Foundation, the Personal Floatation Device Manufacturers Association (PFDMA) and the National Marine Manufacturers Association (NMMA), recently kicked off a \u201cInnovations in Life Jacket Design Competition\u201d to seek out the newest technologies and design ideas. Running through April 15, 2015, the contest seeks entries from groups or individuals, including collegiate design programs, armchair inventors or even boat and fishing clubs. Entries may be as simple as hand-drawn theoretical designs to working prototypes and will be judged based on four criteria: wearability, reliability, cost and innovation. For more, go to BoatUS.org\/design.<\/p>\n

Courtesy of\u00a0cruisersnet.net<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In a move that\u2019s expected to benefit recreational boaters, on Oct. 22 the US Coast Guard will drop the current life jacket type code scheme \u2014 Type I, II, III, IV and V \u2014 that has been used for years to label and differentiate the types of life jackets and their specific use. Chris Edmonston, BoatUS Foundation for Boating Safety President and Chairman of the National Safe Boating Council, said, \u201cThe boating safety community believes this move by the Coast Guard will help lead the way toward more comfortable and innovative life jacket designs, help boaters stay on the right side of the law, lower costs, and save lives.\u201d Explains Edmonston, \u201cThis is positive news is that we will no longer see a Type I, II, III, IV or V label on a new life jacket label after Oct. 22. This type coding was unique to the United States, tended to confuse boaters, limited choice and increased the cost of life jackets.\u201d He says removing the type coding is a first step towards the adoption of new standards that will eventually simplify life jacket requirements for recreational boaters. \u201cThis move is expected to lead to the introduction of new life …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":21282,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[157,158],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bwsailing.com\/cc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21281"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bwsailing.com\/cc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bwsailing.com\/cc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bwsailing.com\/cc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bwsailing.com\/cc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21281"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.bwsailing.com\/cc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21281\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21288,"href":"https:\/\/www.bwsailing.com\/cc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21281\/revisions\/21288"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bwsailing.com\/cc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21282"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bwsailing.com\/cc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21281"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bwsailing.com\/cc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21281"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bwsailing.com\/cc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21281"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}