Don't Like Wearing Life Jackets? Design A Better One And Win $10K

ST. CLAIR SHORES (WWJ) -- Life jackets save lives, but a lot of people still choose not to wear them. One organization is holding a contest to design a life jacket that boaters might want to wear -- with a $10,000 prize.

West Marine St. Clair Shores store manager Roy Breyman says, after 13 years in the marine buisiness he has some ideas to make life jackets more wearable.

"Some people think they're too bulky, some think they chafe around the neck." Breyman said. "You have a lot of bass fisherman and walleye fisherman that are out in extremely cold weather, so you'd want to design something warm for that application. Then when it's really hot out, something that's more comfortable for people to wear."

Incorporate Breyman's ideas -- or your own -- and submit a design to the BoatUS Foundation's 2015 Innovation in Life Jacket Design Competition by April 15 and you could win $10,000. Entries can be as simple as hand-drawn theoretical designs, to working prototypes.

The entries will be judged based on four criteria: wearability, reliability, cost and innovation.

The contest is open to anybody -- boaters, armchair inventors and high school students alike. The design does not have to meet U.S. standards or materials regulations.

The best entries will be posted on the BoatUS Foundation website and Facebook page for voting by the public in June and those votes will assist a panel of experts who will ultimately pick the winner to be announced in September.

Mike Tusa, owner of Mike's Marine in St. Clair Shores, said that no one really likes to wear life jackets -- especially children.

"The main thing -- to get kids to wear them -- I think would be number one, they've got to be lightweight. Number two, crazy colors -- maybe characters from Frozen -- something that they can relate to, that they like, so they don't feel like they're being forced to do something that they don't want to do," Tusa said.