It’s always safety first at Pretty Sailing… This week it was time for the team to take our Mustang lifejackets in for their first annual service. We met Nicky at Marine Safety in Lathbury Barracks Gibraltar, who was kind enough to show us his process of inspecting and servicing lifejackets.

An automatic lifejacket inflates when a casualty enters the water because of the ingenuity of a small and simple item called a “bobbin”. It’s essentially a spring-loaded firing pin positioned to pierce the seal on a CO2 canister in the lifejacket, held back by a salt tablet. Once wet, the salt tablet dissolves very quickly and the pin fires to release the CO2 and inflate the lifejacket. Regular inspection of your lifejacket is incredibly important as the bobbin and the CO2 canister have expiration dates, and can degrade in the presence of salt water, something that’s pretty hard to avoid on a sea-going yacht!

Nicky’s process involves unpacking each lifejacket, followed by a visual inspection of the materials and components. Once satisfied, each lifejacket is inflated using dry air from a compressor to ensure no moisture ingress, then left to stand for 24 hours to check the integrity of the bladders. Finally they are deflated using suction, any in-date and serviceable components are reapplied, and the lifejackets are then meticulously repacked. This is very often where things go wrong as folding them incorrectly or simply stuffing them into their packing without care can damage the seams and compromise the integrity of the lifejacket. Fortunately our Mustang ones have a very handy diagram on the bladder which shows exactly how and where to fold!

Many thanks are due to Nicky and the team at Marine Safety for keeping us all safe at sea. Next time we see them will be in a few weeks’ time when they’ll be giving one of our liferafts the same treatment.