What is the best way to wear a trapeze harness? Over the years, I've tried over the life jacket, under the life jacket, with splash coat, without splash coat, with and without rash vest, etc etc etc......Looking in any typical sailing magazine, there seems to be a lot of different options. The reason behind this, is for kids wearing a trapeze harness. My 10 year old daughter like to be on the trapeze, but her life jacket always seems to ride up to high and no amount of adjusting of harness or life jacket seems to get it all to sit right...any suggestions? 

I wear my bouyancy aid over my trapeze harness for the reason that if I get trapped under the boat, I can take it off to prevent the aid from trapping me up against the hull because most of the "new-design" boats don't have an air-pocket when fully inverted. However other people wear a harness over their bouyancy aid so that if the hook snags on any part of the boat, they can release themselves from their harness..... I prefer the option I use because harnesses can have parts cut away with knifes, whereas it would be really hard to take a harness off then a bouancy aid off when being pushed up under a hull with no air. I also feel more comfortable with the straps closer to me than over a bouancy aid. If your daughter has draw strings at the bottom of her life jacket, make sure they are as tight as possible.

I'd agree on the earlier comments about the cut of the bouyancy aid...loads of them out there seem to ride up, either due to trapezing or floating.  When your weight is on the wire the hook moves away from your body and the shoulder straps tend to push the bouyancy upwards from just above the hook.

Re the floating thing, I have been doing a lot of rescue work at my club recently and it amazes me how many people you see floating round looking like turtles...shoulders of bouyancy aids over their ears and their noses being held conveniently out of the water by the neckline.  Some bouyancy aids seem more of a hindrance than a help, although I have to say the Magic Marine ones with the wide internal velcro elastic strap seem excellent. 

As a sometime safety boat driver - I'm a bit nervous of people wearing stuff over their bouyancy and/or trap harness.  When you knock yourself out, where are the handles to haul you out with?

On the other hand - covering up stops you getting snagged,  knocked out, entrapped and drowned in the first place.

Cultural thing I guess.

Ive no experiance with hauling people out with them wearing the 'overtops' but mine certainly is pretty stretchy and is probibly loose enough that someone could grab the shoulder straps of my bouyancy aid through the lycra and still lift just as easily. If that doesnt work I know for a fact that a rescue boat crew can get their hand under the bottom of the aid from the back and lift that way. not the most gracefull way to board the rescueboat though

I'm sorry to be a killjoy here but there is absolutely no excuse for not wearing a bouyancy aid!

Those who try to argue the point are probably the same people who claim wearing a seatbelt in a car is dangerous because it stops you getting out if the car catches fire.

Get real people, bouyancy aids save lives and I would change clubs in protest if they even contemplated letting people sail without.

sorry there, i didnt want to sound like "everyone should wear a vest" i was just commenting on some misconsetions from the rescue boat point of view there and i'd have to agree with you there above, that having a knife along the lines of an RRK knife on the transom area of the boat is a big bonus as everyone knows where it is.

I wear a bouyancy aid because I have too - Racing Rules !!!!!!!!!!,

 after getting trapped under two canoes I was trying to swim under whilst only wearing a wetsuit as a nipper I realised your average WETSUIT provides more than enough bouyancy , extra is not needed nor helpfull , maybe different with a drysuit , but I don't like them anyway .

PS Divers have to use Lead to make them sink !!!

I've been considering that myself recently and the only excuse I can think of is that there is a lot less 'stuff' to get knocked out on. However there is a much greater chance of getting separated from a board then a dinghy.... maybe windsurfers are expendable?

I don't think that 'most (sailors) not dieing' (IE over 51%) would be an acceptable safety record in any sport. Entrapment has been shown by the RYA to be a media driven perceived risk which is tiny compared to other sailing hazards. Promoting the sort of bravado that relates wearing a buoyancy aid to lack of 'bottle' is completely irresponsible.

But you are forgetting that you were conscious, alert, in contact with your craft/the shore and wearing a wetsuit. Not everyone is wearing a wetsuit all the time so to keep rules simple and avoiding having to regulate the amount of buoyancy in a wetsuit we are stuck with buoyancy aids.

PS It is also possible to drown whilst floating!

I was not forgetting anything ,

My point was that if I am wearing a wetsuit I WILL FLOAT , alive dead unconscious or otherwise ,

A bouyancy aid will not turn me over so my face isn't in the water - lifejackets are intended for this and is a requirement to be a lifejacket .

I don't promote not wearing bouyancy aides merely pointing out the obvious and reminding folk , most SI's will require the use of EXTRA bouyancy .

Ps it is still possible to drown whilst floating  head up and conscious in a LIFE JACKET it does happen !

Bouyancy aides keep you warm !!! perhaps why I can get away with a 2/3 mm wetsuit all year round .

When I sail leadmines I wear a self Inflating Lifejacket , as I could sink otherwise if unconscious etc.

Sorry to hear that Spot. There will always be people who've had bad experiences and getting them to change their minds will be difficult - I had a girlfriend once who refused to wear a seatbelt in a car for the reasons I mentioned earlier.

However I believe it's very important to separate that from a general disregard for safety otherwise our kids will identify with these (admittedly rather cool) individuals and refuse to wear safety equipment as well. With the abundance of well designed equipment around today there is no need for it.

Firstly this thread started about how to wear all the different bits of gear.

In order from inside out;

1.  Rash top
2. trap harness
3. If those pesky Sailing instructions call for it( serious racing) life jacket
4. 2nd rash top

You are going what about the bottom well either nude.... unlikly or long 3mm wetsuit pants to just below navel hight (well it is austalia)

As for the life jacket I wear an inflatable jacket so I can dive down if I have to for my own safety. Maybe most of the rule makers have never sailed a skiff before and would never have any idea

Larger areas to get trapped under without air which are literally solid and things generally happen a lot quicker. Take for example Fiona's case where she was trapped under the sail and almost drowned, with a large fully battened sail the method of "punching upwards" and working yourself to the nearest edge doesn't work just because of the rigidness and weight in the sail. I don't think it's a case of whether people think it's cool to wear a bouancy aid or not, they would prefer to do whatever is the safest option they consider for the boat they sail. Whenever we go over, we try and flip ourselves over to the daggerboard or have to position where we fall and then watch for the wings coming over on us. Capsizing to windward is especially nasty because the sail does come over on top of you and you have to be quick to get out of the way from an outward position on the wing. Still, I'd choose to wear a bouancy aid but I always make sure I can take it off really quickly. I'd only wear one with a front zip because they are easy to slip out of when you need to.