Funny that this thread came up on the week that I took delivery of a Baltic lifejacket. I'm a non swimmer, have done a bit of boat fishing in the past and hope to do so again in the summer, so its a bit of insurance for that. Also some of the rock marks that I visit are potential death traps. Me and Pondlife fished at Torrs Point near Kirkcudbright last summer and it was a canny morning but around lunchtime the heavens opened, it was fairly light stuff to start with and we thought it might blow over but no, it set in for the day. Within minutes the rocks were like a skating rink. We packed in immediatly but you still had to pack up and get off the rocks. I slipped and fell 4 times on the climb off the rocks. At Torrs you'll probably be fishing about 15-20 feet above the water and under those conditions, vey easy to slip and fall in and if you hit your head on the way down, you've got no chance.
At least with a automatic self inflating life jacket you've got a chance as the life jacket puts your head into the correct position so you can breathe. With flotation suits or any other flotation device that is not described as a life jacket, then your chances of your head being clear of the water are slim. Starting at around £40 for an automatic system, as you can't self inflate it or pull the manual firing toggle when you're unconcious, it is well worth the insurance of knowing its there. There's still an element of "it won't happen to me" out there. Sea angling always has an inherrant risk with some of the venues we fish. We all know what has happened over the winter to 3 of our fellow anglers in our area.
