The sun is slowly setting, a soft breeze is blowing, the blue-green water is lapping up against the boat: a perfect Kodak moment -- except for the huge, bulky life jackets obscuring both people and scenery.
While wearing a flotation device can ruin an otherwise perfect picture, failure to wear one can result in serious consequences: As many as 400 deaths a year can be attributed to boaters' failure to wear life vests, according to Coast Guard studies.
University alumnus Adam Malcom, decided to take action against bulky life jackets. His life jacket design won the $5,000 grand prize in a competition sponsored by the BoatU.S. Foundation for Boating Safety and the Personal Flotation Device Manufacturers Association. The competition attracted 182 entries from around the world.
"The purpose was basically to come up with a design that people would be willing to wear," Malcom said. "The best life jacket is one that you can get someone to put on."
Malcom was flown to Florida for the award ceremony, which took place at the Miami Boat Show.
"The Miami Boat Show is the biggest boat show in the world, so that was kind of cool," Malcom said.
He said he submitted a design because he is a boater, and the project was along his lines of interest.
"The life jacket [I designed] is unique because it is an inflatable belt," Malcom said. "When you don't need the life jacket, you just wear the slender belt. If you decide you need it or if you're unconscious and you fall in, there's a switch or an automatic activation method [that] activates air bladders. These air bladders roll into the belt. You also have to carry a CO2 cartridge which holds gas which inflates the belt."
Malcom said the design process involved taking many different goals into consideration.
"The key thing is that most of the time you don't need a life jacket, so people don't wear them," Malcom said. "But if something happens, you do need it. So, in its deflated condition, it gives you a lot of maneuverability -- [you get] increased air circulation with decreased material around you. And you don't have much visual distraction. It doesn't make you look stupid. It has a slender appearance so you don't really notice it."
Second-year Engineering student Matt Henry, who has experience sailing, agreed with Malcom.
The design "looks very unintrusive," Henry said. "You wouldn't really notice it after a while. The life jackets now, I feel like I notice them, especially when I'm sitting down, and I have to rotate my torso. It looks like a greatly improved design over what I'm used to."
According to Prof. Dana Elzey, Malcom's co-advisor on his master's in science degree, such design objectives made this a unique project.
During "one of the discussions I had with him, he told me what some of his design objectives were," Elzey said. "It was clear that it was difficult to come up with a design to meet all of the objectives that he came up with. In the end, he came up with a design that was a nice balance among the competing goals."
Elzey also said Malcom was committed to the design process itself.
Malcom "took the whole engineering design process very seriously," Elzey said. "He was doing it methodically, taking it step by step. But he was having fun with it and being independent with it -- having ownership of the problem."
Elzey said he was very pleasantly surprised when he found out Malcom won the grand prize.
"He's doing a lot of thinking and working on the design very diligently, but a lot of it you don't see," Elzey said.
The result of this work -- winning the grand prize -- has garnered a lot of attention for Malcom. He said he has been featured in numerous publications, including about 20 different magazines and various Web sites and newspapers.
"I think it was 'Power and Motoryacht Magazine' [that called me] one of the most notable people in the industry, so that was pretty cool," Malcom said. "I've done a couple of radio interviews, but it's mostly been magazines and newspapers, and they've just been putting out the story, both to tell people about the contest and that I won it, and also to remind people that life jackets are important, and you should be wearing them."
Malcom said the attention is flattering.
"It's nice to know that people like what you developed and are looking forward to seeing where the idea is going," Malcom said.
In regards to pursuing this design, he is currently forming a small business called Pionetic Design which will focus on innovative design, research and prototyping.
The company is "just in the startup stage," Malcom said. "That's why I work part-time at the University. The rest of the time I spend working on getting my company up and running."
Malcom already has a provisional patent for his life jacket design and is in the process of trying to obtain a utility patent and find someone to license the idea.
"Because of the attention, I've had several companies contact me indicating that they really like the design and would like to work with me further to bring it to the market," Malcom said.
The task is not without difficulties.
"The biggest obstacle is Coast Guard approval," Malcom said. You "have to meet certain specifications. I didn't take any of that into consideration with the initial design. Now I have to go back and redesign and make sure everything falls into line. [The progress] is slow but sure."
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