Sea Tow Foundation to hold life jacket photo contest on Facebook

The Sea Tow Foundation wants to see more boaters wearing life jackets while having fun on or in the water. Starting today, the Foundation will hold a month-long online photo contest for a chance to win one of 30 Revere ComfortMax Manual inflatable life jackets, valued at $155 each, along with the grand prize of a one-year Sea Tow Gold Card Membership. To enter the Sea Tow Foundation Life Jacket Photo Contest, all participants need to do is submit a photo of themselves and/or their friend(s) wearing a life jacket via the Sea Tow Foundation’s Facebook* page.

Photo entries will be accepted from October 1-31, 2012, and online voting for the photos will be held from November 1-30, 2012

The Sea Tow Foundation is a nonprofit, 501(c)(3) organization created by Sea Tow Founder Capt. Joe Frohnhoefer with the mission of promoting safe boating practices. The contest is part of a grant project funded by the Sport Fish Restoration & Boating Trust Fund, which is administered by the U.S. Coast Guard to raise awareness of the importance of wearing life jackets while boating.

The U.S. Coast Guard requires that a properly fitting life jacket be available for every passenger aboard a boat, and that anyone under age 13 wear one at all times. To help promote life jacket use, the Sea Tow Foundation stocks more than 100 life jacket loaner stands throughout the country where boaters can borrow a life jacket for free. The Sea Tow Foundation also is working with the Coast Guard to identify and catalog another 2,000 loaner stand sites around the country. To find the nearest life jacket loaner station, all a boater needs to do is visit the Sea Tow Foundation website at www.boatingsafety.com/safety_resources/.
« For those people who forgot to pack their life jackets or decided at the last minute to invite a friend to go boating, our life jacket loaner programs are there to help out, » said Sea Tow Foundation Executive Director Gail R. Kulp, CAE. « Everyone, including children, can find a life jacket that fits to wear for their day on the water, then return it for someone else to use the next day. »
While none of the Foundation-sponsored life jacket loaner stands currently offers inflatable life jackets, these lightweight, comfortable PFDs provide an excellent alternative for many boaters. « Most boaters don’t realize they have the option of wearing an inflatable life jacket, » said Kulp. « We hope that this contest will encourage more people to consider purchasing one – and wearing it all the time while boating. »
In order to enter the contest, contestants must be at least 18 years of age and legal residents of the U.S. They also must have a Facebook account. Additional rules are posted on the Sea Tow Foundation’s Facebook page. The contest begins on October 1 and runs through November 30. For more information on the Sea Tow Foundation or the grant project, please visit www.boatingsafety.com.
*This contest promotion is in no way sponsored, endorsed, administered or associated with Facebook.