SEAPRO/BLUE FIN EDITORIAL

HOW THE DECENT, HARDWORKING MEMBERS OF THE U.S. COAST GUARD AND THE BOATING PUBLIC ARE BEING BETRAYED BY A HANDFUL OF GROSSLY INCOMPETENT AND/OR CORRUPT BUREAUCRATS.

We'd like to take this opportunity to thank the vast majority of decent, hardworking members of the U.S. Coast Guard who every day put their lives on the line to save others...

--We wish we could say the same about some of the brass who are running your life vest approval program!

THE FAILURES OF THE U.S. COAST GUARD LIFE VEST APPROVAL PROGRAM

ANOTHER MAJOR GOVERNMENT SCANDAL AND COVERUP:

HOW THE LIFE VEST APPROVAL PROGRAM HAS KEPT The Swimmer's Safety Belt™ AND MANY OTHER NEW LIFESAVING PRODUCTS OFF THE MARKET IN ORDER TO PROTECT THE STATUS QUO OF HOT, BULKY, OBSOLETE  LIFE VESTS THAT FEW BOATERS WEAR--AND FAR TOO MANY DROWN IN!

SAM'S CLUB

We recently learned that there's a new Commandant for the U.S. Coast Guard, Admiral Thad Allen, so in the hope that a fresh face might right some very serious wrongs within the Lifesaving and Fire Safety Standards Division's life vest approval program, on October 24, 2006, SeaPro sent him a letter that outlines the many unlawful acts that Sam Wehr and some other members of the approval program have committed.

Sam is the de facto head of the approval program, the man who for years has been hiding behind the skirts of his various bosses. He only emerges every now and then when some bad news breaks about approved life vests or when critics like us turn up the heat and he's forced to defend the actions of  Sam's Club.

A classic example of Sam at his duplicitous best took place when SeaPro discovered that some approved inflatable life vest manufacturers were skimping on stitching to save a few cents per life vest so that some inflatable life vests could almost be pulled apart by hand. Here's what Sam told an Asbury Park Press  reporter about this problem and the role of the approval program's life vest testing arm, Underwriters Laboratories, Inc. ("UL").

Sounds good, right? But let's take a closer look at what Sam is really saying. Don't the words "changes that have snuck into the production process" that cause life-threatening problems sound an awful lot like product defects?   In most other consumer products such life-threatening defects would warrant a total recall--but Sam makes them sound like harmless, routine  mistakes!

Sam also knows very well that UL inspectors are supposed to be on hand to run a random 200 pound pull test for every production run of 1,000 life vests to be sure that exactly this problem doesn't happen--so where were these UL inspectors?

Obviously Sam thought it best and to leave out this little fact in his discussion--after all, how many readers even know what UL inspectors are and what they're supposed to do?

But even the Asbury Park Press reporter should have picked up on  Sam's next ridiculous remark:

"UL requested sample vests from the other manufacturers to test them again."

Instead of simply walking over to a marine store and buying the full range of approved inflatable life vests so that UL could objectively test and determine which life vest manufacturers were guilty of this production violation, Sam and UL politely asked the manufacturers to mail in their life vests...

Maybe law enforcement should take a lesson here--cut down on your workload by  simply asking your suspects to mail in all the evidence against them!

This outrageous directive gave any guilty life vest manufacturers the chance to cheat and beef up the stitching on the life vest samples that they sent in to UL in order to pass the 200 pound pull test--and there's evidence that at least one of them did exactly that!

Months later this same manufacturing defect still existed. At a major NJ marine outlet, the store manager and D. Brown, the President of SeaPro , found an approved $100 inflatable life vest lying on a display counter in two pieces --the stitching so flimsy that apparently a customer had accidentally pulled the life vest apart when he tried to put it on, proving that this life vest still failed the 200 pound pull test!>

When we finally received a response to the letter we sent Admiral Allen a few months ago, it was drafted by a new Sam's Club member we hadn't heard from before. We could only compare his letter to the ludicrous slapstick style of Irag's "Baghdad Bob", who also had the ability to completely deny the existence of dropping bombshells that, unfortunately his viewers could see and hear every day.  This man's name is H.L. Hime, who apparently has been appointed the approval program's new Minister of Disinformation. H.L. dismisses the literally dozens of unlawful incidents we've documented by some members of the approval program. Here's how he magically waves away all this evidence--evidence that we submitted to a U.S. attorney, whose office took it so seriously that it was turned over to the FBI:

"The bulk of your letter reiterates numerous unsubstantiated and false allegations about the Coast Guard approval program that you have made in extensive earlier correspondence."

But what do other critics say about this program? Here are just a few of their comments:

Powerboat Reports:

"Did anyone ever tell you that the line 'Coast Guard Approved' is a crock? Even the Coast Guard, in many cases, prefers to use gear and equipment that doesn't carry their own seal of approval."

REBUTTAL, Sam's Club new Minister of Disinformation,  H.L. "Baghdad Bob" Hime:
     "Unsubstantiated and false allegations about the Coast Guard approval program."

From a 1998 DATELINE television report, sarcastically titled, "Life Savers?"
Air Force water safety expert, Wayne Williams:

"I'm absolutely certain that a lot of people have drowned in these (Coast Guard approved life vests), could be drowning today, will be drowning next week."

REBUTTAL, Sam's Club new Minister of Disinformation,  H.L. "Baghdad Bob" Hime:
"Unsubstantiated and false allegations about the Coast Guard approval program."

1998 DATELINE "Life Savers?" commentator:

"Boaters all across the country are not getting the information they need about the life vests they're wearing and are putting themselves at risk by using those vests in sea conditions the vests can't handle. We've also learned the Coast Guard stamp of approval may be giving boaters a false sense of security ... some of the most popular types of approved life vests on the market don't keep your head and face out of the water in rough conditions and they can float you face down if you're unconscious, leaving potentially millions of people at risk."

REBUTTAL, Sam's Club new Minister of Disinformation,  H.L. "Baghdad Bob" Hime:
     "Unsubstantiated and false allegations about the Coast Guard approval program."

Every year many boaters--too many of them children--drown or are put at risk because some life vests are inadequately labeled and others have serious problems. Despite repeated pleas from many sources, Sam Wehr, his turnstile bosses and other corrupt and/or grossly incompetent members of the approval program have refused to properly label all approved life vests.

     In a Consumer Reports letter to SeaPro Marine Products:

     "Thank your for your letter to Dr. David Pittle about belt-style inflatable life jackets (belt packs) and their design drawbacks. When I compared the deficiencies noted in the letter about this type of life jacket, I found them to echo many of the same concerns described in our May, 1999, Consumer Reports test article on life jackets ... In our own tests over the vears we have frequentlv turned up life iackets that we felt did not perform adequately despite certification."}

     REBUTTAL, Sam's Club new Minister of Disinformation,  H.L. "Baghdad Bob" Hime:
"Unsubstantiated and false allegations about the Coast Guard approval program."

For years SeaPro has accused the approval program of being a "good old boy" club that has driven off many new and innovative lifesaving devices like The Swimmer's Safety Belt**and the Blue Fin Safety Inflator** in order to protect the  special interests of  bulky, outmoded life vests that few boaters wear and far too many drown in.     Over the years SeaPro has compiled volumes of videotaped field test evidence, emails, eyewitness reports and other documentation to support this and many other allegations of corruption and/or gross incompetence within the life vest approval program.     

REBUTTAL, Sam's Club new Minister of Disinformation,  H.L. "Baghdad Bob" Hime:
"Unsubstantiated and false allegations about the Coast Guard approval program."    

Our feelings about H.L.'s ridiculous comment is best summed up by just this one of the hundreds of e-mails that we've received asking why the Swimmer's Safety Belt** and Blue Fin CO2 Safety inflator** are no longer being sold:    

Does this mean that these belts are no longer available...? And who cares about their approval anyway?... We all know that these quasi-government approval schemes are geared to some kind of commercial protectionism.(Underline and emphasis added by us.)    

Best wishes.

Bob

These photos are of test subjects floating face down in Type III approved foam life vests. Did you think this could happen with these flashy, expensive Type III life vests? Very tiny print on the life vest label and the Think Safe pamphlet sold with these life vests tell you that it can, but Sam Wehr in a 1998 DATELINE interview admits that people aren't reading this pamphlet. So why aren't these life vests boldly and correctly labeled to warn you when and how this could happen? (Hint: The Type III foam life vest is one of the most profitable and the most popular life vest sold, over 5 million each year, supposedly because it's so slim and comfortable to wear. Even though the $5 Type II foam life vest is bulkier than the Type III life vest, it performs just as well if not better in the water.

REBUTTAL, Sam's Club new Minister of Disinformation,  H.L. "Baghdad Bob" Hime:
"Unsubstantiated and false allegations about the Coast Guard approval program."    

The photo on the far left shows the SeaPro  Model SSB25 (U.S. Coast Guard approval illegally suspended by Sam's Club members) doing an excellent job keeping well over 90% of unconscious wearers' head up out of the water, as does another inflatable life vest in the photo next to it. However, note that both approved inflatable life vests in the right hand photos do a poor job keeping a wearer's head out of the water. All inflatable life vests should easily pass this test, but they don't.

Is this the kind of "consistent" life vest underwriting that slippery Sam keeps crowing about?

And is this kind of performance that you expect when you see the stamp of U.S. Coast Guard approval and spend over $100 to buy an inflatable life vest?

REBUTTAL, Sam's Club new Minister of Disinformation,  H.L. "Baghdad Bob" Hime:
"Unsubstantiated and false allegations about the Coast Guard approval program.   

Again, here's the comment about approved life vests from Consumer Reports:

"... In our own tests over the years we have frequently turned up life jackets that we felt did not perform adequately despite certification."    

How is it possible that such poorly performing U.S. Coast Guard approved life vests are being sold to the American public?

There are several answers to this question--and boaters won't like any of them.

First, no matter how poorly a life vest or any of its components perform, it's usually very difficult to prove that they're directly responsible for a drowning death--especially if there aren't any eyewitnesses around.

Second, a 2004 Congressional report states that many boater fatalities--a staggering 40%--are found floating face down while wearing approved life vests, but 27% (not 20% as stated in this quote) of these victims supposedly die of other causes, such as trauma or hypothermia:

"In looking at the actual figures, Boat US finds that of 2,446 drownings for      the 5 years 1998-2002, 2,139 (87%) did drown without wearing a life jacket. However, of the 2,446 drownings, there were also 13% of the victims (307) who were wearing a    life jacket and perished anyway. Additionally, over these five years there were    679 boaters, or 20% of all boating fatalities, who died while wearing a life jacket, mainly from causes other than drowning, such as trauma or hypothermia."

Trauma is a severe injury or shock, e.g., a boater falls overboard and breaks his arm, while hypothermia is low body temperature caused by cold water, e.g., a boater freezes to death because he falls into icy waters.

But what happens first? Does trauma--the broken arm--kill the boater, or does  hypothermia--the icy water temperature--kill him? In either case the victim will most likely first become so exhausted that he'll pass out, go face down in the water and drown before he dies from either the broken arm or the cold water...

This raises the question as to how many of these thousands of victims over the years would still be alive today if the approved life vests they were wearing had good warning labels or did a good job in keeping  their heads out of the water for only a few more hours--or even minutes--which SeaPro's Swimmer's Safety Belt™  proves can easily be done.

So no matter how bad a life vest is, proving that it was a direct cause of boater's death can often be very  difficult.

And the third reason that some poorly performing approved life vests can be sold to the  American public is the best one of all--no matter how bad a life vest performs, if it has the stamp of Coast Guard approval, it's practically a solid gold liability shield against any lawsuit And if the approval program really is corrupt, this opens the door for millions of cheaply constructed, poorly performing life vests that cost very little to make, but turn very handsome profits--and only at the cost of a few hundred American lives every year.

REBUTTAL, Sam's Club new Minister of Disinformation,  H.L. "Baghdad Bob" Hime:
"Unsubstantiated and false allegations about the Coast Guard approval program."    

For all the above reasons considerable evidence exists that if no Coast Guard life vest approval program existed at all, a free market system would provide a far wider selection and far safer, more innovative life vests for boaters. If these life vests perform well, the manufacturers will prosper, but if their life vests are hazardous, perform poorly and cost lives, they'd quickly be taken off the market because of intervention and lawsuits, just like most other bad consumer products.

REBUTTAL, Sam's Club new Minister of Disinformation,  H.L. "Baghdad Bob" Hime:
"Unsubstantiated and false allegations about the Coast Guard approval program."    

UL cost SeaPro eight excruciating years and hundred of thousands of dollars to have its Swimmer's Safety Belt™ and Blue Fin Safety Inflator™ approved, only to have that approval illegally suspended. How many other small companies with innovative new lifesaving products would have the thick hide and resources to go through the same ordeal? Not many we think, and as long as Sam Wehr and others like him are in control of the life vest approval program, such innovative devices will most likely never reach market anyway.    

In short, we think that the best approach to completely opening up the life vest market to small companies with innovative, better lifesaving products is to get rid of the monopolistic grip that Sam's Club special interests have on this program, scrap the present approval program and set up a program that can't be unduly influenced by any large manufacturers, something like the FAA's life vest program, which is simple, cost-effective and doesn't have any rules committees that are stacked with large life vest manufacturers. Life vests are not rocket science. All that's needed to find out the difference between a good life vest and a bad one is to 1. run about a half-dozen simple tests in a swimming pool and 2. be sure that all life vest material and components meet a consistently high standard--exactly what's required for all FAA life vests that are currently inspected through regional offices.

Today life vest report after life vest report states the obvious: present approved life vests are bulky, obsolete and worn by few boaters. One such report, dated August 25, 2004 by the NATIONAL TRANSPORTATION SAFETY BOARD, states that only about 22% of all boaters wear their life vests at all times (some critics say that even this figure is too high), and they conclude:    

"Unfortunately, data continue to show that PFD (Personal Flotation Device) wearage overall has not increased despite U.S. Coast Guard public outreach campaigns ... Further. there is a growing sentiment that the industry needs to foster new and improved technology in PFD options that do not hinder the enioyment of recreational (emphasis added) boating."     

The Swimmer's Safety Belt™ is exactly the "new and improved technology" stated above (see more @ seapromarine.com below). Model SSB25 is a slim belt that inflates into the one of the top performing life vests in the world, and it's so compact and comfortable that it can be worn by swimmers as well as boaters (over 5,000 swimmers drown in the US alone each year). This device could go a long way in saving thousands of boaters' and swimmers' lives and solving the problem of hot, bulky life vests that few boaters wear at all times.     

The Blue Fin CO2 Safety Inflator™ is also the "new and improved technology" that everyone needs, but no one has. It's the world's first automatic C02 signaling inflator--a device that can reduce a potential non-inflation rate as high as 25% on all inflatable life vests. Not having this device is the main reason that the Coast Guard for years didn't want to approve any inflatable life vests at all, but instead of immediately making this device mandatory on all approved inflatable life vests, Sam's Club members actually passed a special loophole regulation that allows inflatable life vest manufacturers to continue to use the old, high risk inflator. Why? Because the old inflator is cheaper and it requires an expensive, highly profitable rearming kit while the CO2 Safety Inflator™ requires only a charged CO2 cylinder that only costs around $5.    

So why do so many life vest "experts" continue to completely ignore the world's finest, most compact life vest that their studies conclude boaters (and swimmers) desperately need? Again, The Swimmer's Safety Belt™ is so slim that even swimmers can wear it, and it does an excellent job in keeping close to 100% of all boaters and swimmers' heads out of the water, so you can easily understand why Sam's Club members and their friends who call themselves "life vest and boater safety experts" would never allow such a life vest to keep its approval, and why so many of these so-called objective "experts" never even mention The Swimmer's Safety Belt™  or the breakthrough Blue Fin Safety Inflator™ in any of their life vest reports.    

REBUTTAL, Sam's Club new Minister of Disinformation,  H.L. "Baghdad Bob" Hime:
"Unsubstantiated and false allegations about the Coast Guard approval program." 

Evidence of this unholy alliance of some boater safety/ life vest "experts" and special interests was recently demonstrated when we entered The Swimmer's Safety Belt™  in a well-known boater organization's life vest contest and, but it failed to even place. After we found out that the winning life vest almost exactly matched The Swimmer's Safety Belt™'s   unique features, we then asked the contest judges if a working prototype for the winning model existed. We received no response. We also asked these judges to respond to almost a dozen obvious omissions, design and production problems that made us think the winning life vest was a slick looking graphics fantasy that wouldn't even work--and whether any of these contest judges had any direct or indirect relationship with any of the major life vest manufacturers--but only one judge replied, and not very convincingly.    

REBUTTAL, Sam's Club new Minister of Disinformation,  H.L. "Baghdad Bob" Hime:
"Unsubstantiated and false allegations about the Coast Guard approval program."    

Knowingly selling any approved life vest that's hazardous and not in compliance with the law is a crime punishable by a heavy fine and/or imprisonment--and even H.L. Hines would look pretty ridiculous in front of a grand jury if he tried to deny all the mountain of factual evidence that we've built up against some members of the approval program...    

So if you know any decent Congressman or law enforcement officials who can help us reinstate The Swimmer's Safety Belt™ approval and think the approval program should be investigated or even scrapped, please let us know.    

Thanks.

COMING SOON--
MORE ALARMING FACTS ABOUT THE U.S. COAST GUARD LIFE VEST APPROVAL PROGRAM

*** ILLEGAL ACTS AND OTHER MAJOR PROBLEMS WITH APPROVED LIFE VESTS

***  INFLATABLE LIFE VESTS--THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY

*** HOW INHERENTLY BUOYANT (FOAM) APPROVED LIFE VESTS ARE UNNECESSARILY  COSTING HUNDREDS OF AMERICAN LIVES EVERY YEAR.

*** HOW THE WEBSITE fraudulenttestingbyul.com--SO HEAVILY DOCUMENTED THAT UL LAWYERS HAVEN'T SAID A WORD FOR OVER TWO YEARS--REINFORCES MANY OF OUR CLAIMS AGAINST SAM'S CLUB MEMBERS.

*** CAUGHT TELLING TWO MORE HUGE  LIES--SLIPPERY SAM WEHR, ERIC HEINZ, H.L. HINES AND OTHERS TAKE CREDIT FOR APPROVING THE LIFE-SAFER™, A SMALL COMPANY'S INNOVATIVE NEW LIFESAVING BUOY  THAT'S ALREADY SAVED MANY LIVES-- BUT THE TRUTH IS THAT WEHR AND HINES HAVE REPEATEDLY TRIED TO OBSTRUCT THIS COMPANY'S MARKETING OF THIS PRODUCT--  THE SAME WAY THAT SAM'S CLUB MEMBERS DID WITH  THE SWIMMER'S SAFETY BELT™--AND THEY'RE ALSO TRYING TO KEEP ANOTHER LIFE VEST TESTING  LABORATORY OUT OF THE APPROVAL PROGRAM IN ORDER TO PROTECT SAM'S CLUB'S "GOOD OL' BOY" CONTROL OF THE BULKY, OUTDATED  LIFE VEST MARKET.

***  AND MUCH, MUCH MORE!    

REBUTTAL, Sam's Club new Minister of Disinformation,  H.L. "Baghdad Bob" Hime: "Unsubstantiated and false allegations about the Coast Guard approval program."