Peter Oliver (left) and John Scott (right) from HERO, with RLSSWA's Lauren Nimmo (centre) who wears the new HERO inflatable rash vest.
New HERO Rashie making waves
We were lucky to meet with Peter Oliver and John Scott from HERO inflatable rash vests recently who gave us a demo of their amazing piece of water safety kit!
The HERO Rashie is a WA designed revolutionary and alternative everyday option to a lifejacket. The vest has been designed for all water sports and automatically inflates when its ripcord is pulled or can be manually inflated. Peter tells us that with the change of a bobbin, it can also inflate when it hits the water. “This means if people are doing an out-of-water activity like fishing or on a boat, they can change the bobbin in the cartridge, so it will automatically activate if they fall and hit the water.”
The local Perth pair have been rigorously designing and redesigning the HERO for years, with more than 200 different vests in their Wangara warehouse to ensure they got it right. That includes using UV rated SPF 50 material to also help protect those who wear the vest from the sun.
John says there’s nothing like this on the market and they’ve already received support from Recfishwest who are keen to see it out on the market, the Marmion Angling and Aquatic Club and the Scarborough Beach Pool. Further afield the New South Wales Department of Primary Industries has also shown a keen interest in the product, as they look after fisheries and aquaculture.
The shirt and inflatable bladder are re-useable over and over again, while the cartridge needs to be replaced after activation in the same way as a slimline regular lifejacket works.
Our friends at HERO Products are launching their Inflatable Rash shirt on the 13th of July 2018, with a Kickstarter campaign currently underway. They’re offering the first 500 HERO Inflatable Rashies at a 53% discount. So why not support this locally made and designed wearable piece of water safety gear? Register now to make sure you don’t miss out on this fantastic offer!
