Swap Old Life Jackets for Free New Ones

If you’re a boater, you know how life jackets can get moldy and musty after spending months (or years) stuffed into damp storage bins on a boat. But did you know they should be replaced every five years, regardless? That’s the advice of Arizona Game and Fish Department, which is giving away brand spanking new life jackets if you’ll bring in your old ones.

From 10 a.m. to noon on Saturday, July 8, Game & Fish will do the swap at the 10-lane boat ramp at Lake Pleasant — while supplies last. We’re assuming these will be the basic orange variety, not the sleek and stylish $80 models.

“While state law requires that anyone 12 and under must wear a life jacket when out on the water, it’s a good idea for all boat and watercraft users to wear one,” Josh Hoffman, the agency’s Boating Safety Education coordinator, said in a statement. “Wear it. Don’t just store the life jacket on your boat to check the box.”

In Arizona, there were five deaths from boating accidents last year. Nationwide, 80 percent of fatal boating accident victims drowned and of those, 83 percent were not wearing a life jacket, according to the U.S. Coast Guard.