If you love kayaking or any other water sports, then your gear list must have Life jackets as a necessity. Having the perfect life jacket that fits you is very important as it will stick to your body in the water and keep you on the water’s surface, and also is comfortable enough to wear while kayaking. The life jackets are designed so that when you fall into the water while kayaking, it doesn’t let you sink and helps you float on the water without any effort. Kayaking is an adventurous sport and full of thrill, so it is important to wear a life jacket of good quality and the perfect size to get back to your kayak safely after getting down from it.
Choosing a Life Jacket for Kayaking can be a bit of work because many factors should be kept in mind before choosing one, so we have come up with a detailed article that will help you choose the best option for you.
What should you look for?
Life jackets are life-saving equipment, so it is essential to choose them wisely and according to your body requirements to fit you perfectly. More factors should be considered while looking for a Life Jacket for Kayaking, such as the quality of material used, size, rating, and more. So let’s look into a detailed review of the important facts while choosing the Best Life Jacket for Kayaking.
Quality of the material used.
The most important and simple point is the quality; it is the easiest and first thing to check while buying a life jacket. The buoyancy and balance of the life jacket totally depend on the quality of the material used to make it. Back in the time, kapok, cork, and balsa wood were used widely to make life jackets because these woods provide the best buoyancy and balance on the water. But nowadays, foams of plastic are used as the prime material of these life jackets, and the foams are usually made of polyethylene and polyvinyl chloride. So if you are a beginner, you must go for life jackets that have plastic foams in them, and if you are at an advanced level or higher, you can choose the wood-based life jackets for the best result.
Standard of the Jacket
Life jackets are usually approved by government authorized labs and have their rating and sizes mentioned on them along with a CE mark to distinguish and choose them according to their need. Standards are important to know about the life jacket’s buoyancy; usually, they are mentioned in Newton(N). The most perfect and important buoyancy rating is 100 N, and the jacket must have silver strips on them that reflect light and a whistle tagged along so that one can reach out and point you in case of an accident.
Type of the Jacket
Another important fact that is necessary to look at when choosing a Life jacket is the type of jacket. There are two types of Life jackets based upon the sports, the intensity of usage, and body weight. These two types are Inflatable PDFs and Foam jackets. The best Life jackets for adults are type 5 and type 3 life jackets because of their great buoyancy offering and body balance, although type 5 is mostly used as pullovers and rescue jackets. The type category of the jackets is decided by their usage and rating of the intensity that they can take. Type 1 Life jackets can also be used for kayaking, as they provide a perfect buoyancy rating.
Based on your body size and weight
The sizing of the life jackets is one of the most important points to cover while choosing one. A perfectly fit and comfortable jacket is necessary when going Kayaking because it is a super adventurous sport, and it’s hard to get a grip on anything on the boat.
Jackets for adults
When choosing a jacket for adults, the chest and waist size are more important than your weight, as it is necessary to fit into your body to provide you the best protection. You need to measure your chest size and match the numbers with the product recommendation and find the right life jacket for you. A good life jacket should have a lot of straps and locks so that it holds on to your body tightly and doesn’t loosen up in any condition. A perfect-sized Life jacket should fit into you tightly by grabbing your body and side by side; it should also allow you to move freely and comfortably. The Life jackets designed for women work more effectively because the cup-designed space into the bust area offers more hold than the unisex jackets.
Jackets for children
Choosing a Life jacket for children is different from choosing one for adults because it needs the kid’s weight to determine the type of the jacket. It doesn’t need the chest size and height of the children to choose the best fit; there are classifications based upon the weight of the children. The Life Jacket for 1-year-old children is classified in the weight group of 30-50 pounds, and children bigger than 5 or 6 years are classified for weight groups of 50-90 pounds, and the infants are specially categorized in the group of 8-30 pounds.
Other important features to lookout
Several other features should be available in the life jacket to make it the best and perfect. One such is Ventilation; it is crucial to have ventilated sides so that your body can breathe and take fresh air to avoid clumsy sweat. The second one is the pockets, and it is also indispensable because carrying gears is a part of kayaking. Then comes the color and the reflective type strips; these features are also critical so that one can find you and rescue you when an accident occurs.
Conclusion
Life Jackets are named so because of their quality to save one’s life while kayaking. So your life jacket must-have qualities that match the standard of a good life jacket. You should look out and choose the best Life jacket for you according to your need and body requirements. To help you choose the best Life jacket for kayaking, we have laid a detailed article about choosing the Best Life Jacket for Kayaking. Check every fact and point to choose the right option for you. It is necessary to check every detail about a jacket before choosing it because your life depends upon it.