It's often difficult to convince people of the need to wear lifejackets.

Most people have a romantic notion that they:

1. Won’t ever fall overboard
2. If they do they will be able to float or swim of get rescued very quickly.

As we all know people can and do fall overboard and unless they are wearing a well fitting and maintained lifejacket, with crotch straps, a light and a spray hood, or if someone is following them very closely, they may end up being a statistic.

The Canadians have a great model to use that is generally appropriate for accidental cold water immersion in the UK, which is “1 - 10 – 1”, and it goes something like this...

If you fall overboard or suffer accidental cold immersion, you have...

• 1 minute to overcome the cold water shock and natural gasping reflex which can drown you or cause heart attack.
• You then have 10 minutes use of your faculties to get aboard that life raft, climb back on the hull of that boat, or to do something intricate and useful with your fingers...like ignite that flare or use the waterproof VHF portable..
• You then have 1 hour to conserve heat loss before you begin to suffer from hypothermia and begin to lose consciousness.

Obviously wearing a lifejacket will enable you to relax in the first 1 minute and give you positive buoyancy. It will then keep you afloat, upright and safe so you don't have to exert yourself but just have to adopt the HELP position to retain body heat.

Should after 1 hour or so you lose consciousness, then the lifejacket will keep you buoyant and your airway clear.

So 1-10-1, Easy to remember, easy to convey, and it might just save a life.