Matt the Bat goes into bat for life jackets

by Bob Wonders on 28 Jan 2008 Australian cricket’s prolific run maker, Matthew Hayden, otherwise known as ‘Matt the Bat’, has donated his time to act as a spokesman for the National Marine Safety Council’s (NMSC) summer campaign, ‘Life Jackets – Skippers Take the Lead.’

Hayden, who last weekend notched his 30th Test ton again India at the Adelaide Oval, took time out from his demanding cricketing schedule to support the campaign.

He had a very personal reason for becoming involved.

A dedicated angler, Hayden, accompanied by fellow Test player Andrew ‘Roy’ Symonds and friend Trent Butler were out fishing in 2006 when their boat was swamped by a rogue wave off North Stradbroke Island and the trio were washed overboard.

None were wearing life jackets.

“When you go out boating it’s easy to think nothing dangerous will happen, it’s a mindset that removes the X factor,” the cricket champ explained.

“This campaign allows me the opportunity to demonstrate that not only do incidents happen, they happen very quickly and in an instant people’s lives are at risk,” he added.

Hayden and his fishing mates took more than an hour to make it to shore, battling strong currents, rough seas and eventually shock and exhaustion.

The campaign involving Hayden was launched in Sydney by NMSC chairman Neil Aplin.

He described Matthew Hayden as “a wonderful role model” for the campaign, which was formed as a result of a Personal Flotation Device (PFD) Wear Rate Study conducted last year.

The study, reported in Powerboat-World last year, was undertaken by marine safety authorities and the Monash University Accident Research Centre.

It recorded PFD wearing on powered recreational vessels at 116 locations across Queensland, NSW, South Australia and Western Australia during the 06/07 boating season.

The study observed 9537 boaters aboard 3847 vessels and added Victorian data compiled the previous year to the data base.

When a skipper wore a PFD, the wear rate among passengers ranged from 50 percent to 94 percent.

However, in contrast the wear rate for passengers when the skipper was not wearing a vest fell to figures as low as four percent.

The NMSC campaign will run throughout the 07/08 boating season and will feature magazine and radio advertising, television community service announcements and promotional material for major Australian boat shows.

Here is obtain more information at www.nmsc.gov.au/skippers%5Fmicrosite
You can see Matt at www.safeboating.org.au/MHSkippers.mov