Ray Scott Outdoors

Inflatable-style SOSPENDERS® Life Jacket
Passes U. S. Coast Guard's inspection…

FRUITLAND, Idaho - Western Idaho, on the rim of the Great Rockies, is an unlikely destination to find the U.S. Coast Guard's center of attention for the future of boating safety. But, here in a metal frame building in the back-country setting of Fruitland's industrial park "children's lives may be saved."

Under testing for fail-safe operation is a breakthrough in kid's life vests. An inflatable personal flotation device (PFD) for children's use to be approved by the U.S. Coast Guard's standards.

Sporting Lives, Inc., the manufacturer, and its president Scott Swanby - in their tests and checks - are confident of the results.

But, only the findings by the Underwriters Laboratories, Inc. (ULI) to be presented to the Coast Guard's Lifesaving and Safety Standards Division will count. The ULI's vote is a mandate. No recounts. In-water performance tests must pass a rigid approval process as well as specifications for manufacturing.

In preparation for the ULI tests, Pat Jorgensen, Sporting Lives's Director of Quality and Allen Van Camp, Senior Engineer, studied the product for over one year and enlisted community volunteers to test the new innovative product. "After testing 150 children we realized we truly have an exceptional inflatable flotation device which does not exist in the marketplace," explains Scott Swanby about the new innovation.

Rarely has the Underwriter Laboratories, Inc., staff made field tests outside the ULI's Research Park laboratory in Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina. But, in the interest of time and face-to-face understanding on any problems, two ULI representatives traveled to the Sporting Lives, Inc. home base. Here is a state-of-the art, in-house, testing facility.

For three days, they put the new Sporting Lives, Inc. life jackets through the numbers. "Survival tests." Stress tests. Swim tests. Comparing the new Sporting Lives, Inc. products to a Coast Guard-approved reference device.

"Our children's model life jackets must meet or exceed the specifications on the reference device in order to qualify for approval," points out Scott Swanby, a 12-year innovator-manufacturer in PFD devices.

Scoring par isn't Swanby's goal. "Most life vests designed for children on the market are sorely inadequate," opines Swanby. "Our aim is not just to keep a child afloat, but to provide a vest that turns a child on his or her back, keeping their head out of the water, so they can breathe."

Sporting Lives, Inc. is known for its SOSPENDERS® life vest design, a comfortable, suspender-like vest, inflated with a CO2 cylinder when needed. After long trials, the U. S. Coast Guard approved the adult automatic inflatable life jacket last year.

With the two new youth models, Sporting Lives, Inc. will offer an improved foam-type vest, and a "hybrid" PFD, which combines the use of foam with the automatic inflation, safety-feature. Vests are designed for children from 30 to 50 pounds, and for youths weighing 50 to 90 pounds.

In repeated tests, the Sporting Lives, Inc. life jackets supported the test subject by rolling the child over from a face-down position, upright and their head above water with no difficulty in breathing.

"We've over-engineered these kids PFD's," says Swanby. "There's more than enough buoyancy to pop on top and stay there. They'll (kids) float like a cork."

In a letter Chief R. L. Markle, the Coast Guard's Lifesaving and Safety Standards Division, informed Swanby, "These will be the first approvals in these higher performing class of children's PFDs." That statement came after the Coast Guard had poured over every line in the ULI's report and findings.

With that said Sporting Lives, Inc. will switch from testing to manufacturing and shipping for the 2001 boating season. Swanby says, "The new children's jackets went into final production shortly after Christmas and will be shipped to dealers in the near future."

For Scott Swanby, "Christmas" - in the form of the U.S. Coast Guard's approval process - arrived as a special gift. In the future, for some youngster, it may be the "gift of life."

Contact: Scott Swanby Sporting Lives, Inc., 1510 West 17th St., Fruitland, ID 83619. Or on the web: sswanby@sospenders.com

ALL IN THE FAMILY - Ray Scott, founder of the Bass Anglers Sportsman Society (B.A.S.S.), as a safe boating advocate has been the leader in promoting mandatory wearing of life jackets in bass fishing tournaments. With the U.S. Coast Guard's approval of new inflatable life vest for children by Sporting Lives, Inc. Scott is outfitting his four grandchildren with the new SOSPENDERS-type inflatable for kids. Pictured with Ray are Weston, age 8, Jessica, 9, Sarah, 6, and Elisabeth, 7, children of Jennifer Scott Epperson. "In repeated tests, the Sporting Lives life vests supported my grand kids by rolling them over from a face-down position, upright and their heads above the water with no difficulty in breathing," said Scott, who serves as national spokesman for the Fruitland, Idaho-based manufacturer of SOSPENDERS® high-performance inflatable life vests.

SAFETY VEST PASSES TEST - Sporting Lives, Inc., manufacturer of the inflatable SOSPENDERS® life vest, has received approval from the U.S. Coast Guard to market a new line of life jackets for children. Two new youth models will offer an improved foam-type vest and a "Hybrid" personal flotation device (PFD), which combines the use of foam with the automatic inflation, safety feature. The new Sporting Lives, Inc. life vests are designed for children from 30 to 50 pounds and for youths weighing 50 to 90 pounds. Pictured is the new "hybrid" inflatable, a high performance life jacket, designed to position the wearer upright with maximum freeboard and the head above water with no difficulty in breathing, as in case of rough water.