To officially kick off National Safe Boating Week, on May 21, 2016, boating safety educators, marine enforcement officials, politicians, media, and the general public will gather across North America and throughout the world to try to beat the 2015 world record of 10,917 life jackets worn and inflatable life jackets inflated. Ready, Set, Wear It! Life Jacket World Record Day aims to raise public awareness of the importance of life jacket wear and general boating safety practices.
The event is being done to officially launch National Safe Boating Week, which run from May 21 – 27 this year. This timing positions the campaign just before the Memorial Day weekend in the USA, and before the Victoria Day long-weekend in Canada, the “unofficial start of summer” when the water is dangerously cold and throughout North America, historically, a large number of boating incidents occur.
Ready, Set, Wear It! events, including inflations of the life jackets makes great TV and photo opportunities, but it is just the beginning of the Wear It! message. The purpose of the event and the yearlong campaign is to raise public awareness of the importance of life jacket wear and general boating safety practices. The event is coordinated by the National Safe Boating Council (NSBC) in partnership with the Canadian Safe Boating Council (CSBC) along with their respective members and affiliated organizations.
2016 event aims to break world record
Local events will be held by marine enforcement officers and boating safety educators who will engage the public, politicians, and you, the media, the participate. Many of these events are expected to take place at government buildings (the states of your state capital, city hall, etc.), popular ramps or marinas, and popular retail stores like Cabela’s and West Marine.
A complete list of the venues and event coordinators is posted at www.ReadySetWearIt.com so you can find a location that will serve your audience. Simply go to the “View a Location” and find an event closest to you. The organizer’s contact information can be found there and you can simply drop them an email and let them know you’d like to cover the story and maybe even join in.
To document each Ready, Set, Wear It! Life Jacket World Record event, pictures and videos will be taken by the event coordinators and posted to www.ReadySetWearIt.com. Once the numbers have been confirmed, the official number of participants will be posted to the website. We hope to beat the record set in 2015 of 10,917 participants!
Here’s how you can join in:
Please take a few moments to explore the information on www.ReadySetWearIt.com to gather some background on life jackets and the different options that are available, including the comfortable, light-weight inflatable life jackets. It is proven that life jackets save lives and now, with so many styles and colors, there is no reason not to find one that is comfortable and fashionable enough to wear whenever you’re on the water.
A customizable press release to have your company participate in “National Wear Your Life Jacket to Work Day” on Friday May 20th is available here.
If you have any questions, please contact Fred Messmann, NSBC Deputy Director at deputy@safeboatingcouncil.org or (703) 789-2730, or John Gullick, Chair of the Canadian Safe Boating Counsel at chair@csbc.ca.
