Stormy Seas Life Jackets and Vests Save Lives.

As a commercial fisherman I can personally attest to the durability and effectiveness of Stormy Seas life jackets and vests.

While working on drag boats it is a common occurrence to need to do a wire walk out to the ends of the outriggers in order to grease the blocks. While this is not the most dangerous job in fishing it definitely leaves you very vulnerable to the sea's fury. Many a fisherman has been dunked, and even ripped from the boat by a rogue wave while doing an outrigger crawl. This is the reason that all deckhands are required to wear a Stormy Seas vest while crawling to the end of an outrigger at sea. With a Stormy Seas vest donned and a grease gun strapped over your shoulder you walk the cable that is dragging the net, and hold onto the outriggers until you reach the block, where you have to climb onto the end of the outrigger and hang off of it to grease the blocks. Of course the grease zerts are in the most awkward of places and you end up hanging upside down from the end of the outrigger like a monkey while the ocean is just feet below you while in a calm sea. If the sea is angry you will be lambasted by wave after wave before finalizing the task and making the precarious crawl back to the boat. Luckily we always have a crewman watching our back in case any mishap should occur, but keep in mind that with the drag net on the ocean bottom it can take the boat five minutes or more to make the turn to pick you up. This is where the Stormy Seas life vest comes in handy.

The Stormy Seas life vest comes with a CO2 cartridge, if necessary you just rip the string connected to the cartridge and it inflates the life vest in seconds. If for any reason the CO2 cartridge fails, there is a tube inside the Stormy Seas life vest that can be used to manually inflate the life vest. The Stormy Seas life vests are rather small, so it doesn't take long at all to manually blow it up and be somewhat buoyant while waiting for your boat to get back to pick you up. Hopefully you are in somewhat tepid waters and not in Alaska.

Stormy Seas life jackets and vests are often required on crab boats by many skippers. It is not an uncommon occurrence for a deckhand to fall overboard while setting or loading crab gear. Some of my best friends have had this happen, and they said it was one of the scariest experiences of their lives. Luckily for them they has an observant crew mate who saw them go over and was able to throw a buoy into their hand and pull them in immediately. There isn't much scarier than going overboard and having your extratuffs and rain gear filling with cold ocean water. So be sure to wear your Stormy Seas life vest when you know you will be in harms way and be safe out there.