I have a Sowester Osprey life jacket with manual/gas inflation which is approximately 9 yrs old and never been used and was interested in seeing what happened, how easy/difficult boarding and manoeuvring was. As part of the experiment Colin Bell offered his Crewsaver 150 manual jacket which was much older and had seen a great deal more action, but had a replacement gas bottle fitted in 1996-ish...

The test took place just off Rampsholme Island on 15/5/04, the last day of the Derwent meet just before lunch on a very hot windless day. I was wearing a wetsuit longjohn. I jumped in with the Sowester lifejacket first. This inflated fast and positively. It was very tight around my neck and I found it difficult to breathe, this was alleviated when I turned on my back and held the floatation chambers apart. I climbed in unaided using an idea of Colin Firth's which involved using a piece of rope attached to the boat, putting 5 to 6 round turns around my foot as high as I could get it, then using it as a step. I then rolled in backwards using Colin Bell's jacket. Inflation was fast and efficient. It was not tight and did not restrict my breathing, but I could easily get my head out of it. In both cases, boarding was easy as Puffin is a wonderfully stable boat. The volume of the floatation chambers did not hamper entry.

In conclusion, the exercise created interesting debate over lunch by all present raising the following:

• These jackets provide excellent buoyancy.
• In both cases the crotch strap was not worn as no one had one available, although several members wore them regularly. The wearing of this item would probably have helped overcome the two problems i.e. restricted breathing and ease of removing head.
• The boarding stirrup worked very well and it was felt that it was best to have the rope only and no 'step' ready tied into the rope as in an emergency you won't expect to find a stirrup/step.
• If there is a person aboard while the other is in the water, the person on board could lean or tilt the boat towards the other while they create their stirrup as high as possible. Once the stirrup has been created the person on board moves over to the other side while the wet person begins their upward movement and therefore in effect starts pulling person out of water.
• Consideration needs to be given to boarding route as there must be nothing in the way to catch or puncture the jacket.
• Life jackets may get in the way when trying to right a capsized boat.
• If you are going to swim more than 5 meters use back stroke.
• When I carry out another 'test' I shall wear foul weather gear as it is more realistic. The problem of breathing may be worse with this clothing due to the high collars often found on sailing coats.
• Unsuitability of manual operation for singlehanded sailing due to danger of being knocked unconscious.
• Water temperature needs to be considered even with full wetsuit and neoprene balaclava, as falling in the water late or early in the year is not an exercise to be taken lightly.

When boarding a narrow boat such as a Stickleback Dory, these types of buoyancy aids could be of positive hindrance to boarding via the bow or stern due to these boats' pointiness. The stirrup idea worked very well on the bow.