New Yamaha life jackets place on a Sea Tow Foundation Loaner Stand hosted by The City of Oceanside, CA.

Yamaha Motor Corporation is generously donating 800 brand-new adult sized life jackets to be used in the Sea Tow Foundation Life Jacket Loaner Program. These life jackets are located at Yamaha facilities in California, Georgia and Wisconsin so the Sea Tow Foundation reached out to hosts of our nationwide Life Jacket Loaner Program in the nearby areas and they jumped at the chance to add these life jackets to their loaner stations and put them into immediate use during the current and upcoming boating season.

In California, roughly 225 jackets will be used in loaner stations hosted by Sea Tow Newport Beach, Sea Tow LA, the City of Oceanside Harbor Division and the LifeSail Organization. All of these loaner stations are located in busy areas featuring a wide variety of boaters including stand-up paddleboarders, sail boaters and powerboaters.

Additionally, 320 life jackets in Georgia are headed to Sea Tow Lake Sinclair, Sea Tow Lake Allatoona, Sea Tow Lake Oconee and Sea Tow Clarks Hill Lake to be used at their combined 12 loaner stations. Also, they will be used in local state parks through a partnership with Georgia’s DNR Law Enforcement Division. And, they will also go to the US Army Corps of Engineers in Lake Allatoona who manage 22 loaner stations in the region.

1st photo:US Army Corp of Engineers volunteers Greta and Jody Bales, Jon Gridley of Sea Tow, Jack and Linda Croach and James Mills from Yamaha Motors. 2nd photo: Chris McCarthy of Sea Tow Newport Beach/LA. 3rd photo: Matt Schulz of LifeSail in Marina del Ray, CA. 4th photo: US Army Corp of Engineers Lake Allatoona, GA Lead Ranger Chris Purvis and Linda Croach. 5th photo: Mike Weidel from the Milwaukee Sail & Power Squadron and a Yamaha representative.

Nearly 250 life jackets in Wisconsin will go to the Milwaukee Sail & Power Squadron who manage two loaner stands as well as to other Sail & Power Squadrons in the region. There are also plans to use these life jackets at upcoming boat shows in the area.

If you have brand new or gently used life jackets that you would like to donate to a life jacket loaner station near you, use the Sea Tow Foundation’s Life Jacket Drive online form and we’ll be in touch about a local life jacket loaner station that is in need of more life jackets. You can also find out more in this video blog about how to inspect your gently used life jacket to know if it is in good shape to donate.

For more information on the Life Jacket Drive and Life Jacket Loaner Program go to www.boatingsafety.com/page/life-jacket-loaner-program