About 20 years ago, an idea was officially floated to standardize the descriptions of life jackets across North America, in terms of how they’re designed and the performance characteristics they have. “You look at the Great Lakes, the boundary waters, the main coast, Nova Scotia—there’s a lot of shared space,” says Gordon Colby, certifications manager at Mustang Survival. “It seemed very sensible at the time.”
This kind of standardization required input from multiple governments, agencies and others, and was also intended to align with Europe’s system. “The best bureaucratic minds got together and said, ‘OK, how can we make this more complicated and less useful?’” Colby says with a chuckle.
Now, nearly two decades later, that standardization is actually happening. The US Coast Guard recently finalized a rule that means going forward, PFDs known by type, as in Type III, will be phased out. The new language is terms like Level 50, Level 70 and Level 100, with the numbers going up as buoyancy increases. Level 100, for instance, is commercially rated and has some self-turning capability.
“If you’re a dinghy sailor and you’re competing and you know you’re going to wear a jacket and it’s a requirement of the rules, you might choose a Level 50 when they’re available,” Colby says. “It will provide the mobility performance you desire and still meet carriage.”
Most boaters will need at least Level 70 PFDs, he says. They’re like what traditionally was known as a Type 3. “If you’re never offshore or never far away from somebody helping you, then a traditional Type 3 or Level 70 is a perfectly appropriate device,” he says.
Mustang Survival’s Elite 190 PFD, Colby says, is one of the first to market within this new system that boaters cruising offshore or in heavier sea states may wish to consider. “This is a Level 70 certification with Level 150 performance,” he says, adding that the new system doesn’t allow the company to certify it above Level 70.
Colby says the updated language can be confusing for boaters, but Mustang Survival is ready to match their needs with the right PFDs: “We have a full-time department where people can call. Our customer experience team is on deck.”
Take the next step: mustangsurvival.com
