Stay safe on the water Life jackets save lives, but only if they are worn. A recent incident on the Chatfield Reservoir highlights the importance of wearing a life jacket. A boater fell into the reservoir after their sailboat flipped over. Fortunately, they were wearing a life jacket and were rescued, but that isn’t always the case. In the most recent United States Coast Guard boating statistics, three out of every four boaters who died in a boating accident drowned, and of those deaths, 87% were not wearing a life jacket.